53 pages • 1 hour read
All The Pretty Horses
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book Brief
302
Novel • Fiction
Texas And Mexico • 1940s
1992
Adult
18+ years
940L
Super Short Summary
All the Pretty Horses, a novel by Cormac McCarthy, follows young John Grady Cole and his friend Lacey Rawlins as they flee to Mexico on horseback in the late 1940s, seeking a life centered around horses. They face numerous trials, including conflict with local authorities, imprisonment, and heartbreak, ultimately forcing John Grady to confront harsh realities and his shattered dreams.
Melancholic
Adventurous
Mysterious
Bittersweet
Gritty
Reviews & Readership
135,826 ratings
Loved it
Mixed feelings
Not a fan
Review Roundup
All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy has received widespread acclaim for its lyrical prose and vivid depiction of the American West. Critics praise its complex characters and philosophical depth. However, some find the narrative's pace slow and the dialogue challenging due to minimal punctuation. Overall, it’s a must-read for fans of literary fiction and Westerns.
Who Should Read All The Pretty Horses?
A reader who enjoys Cormac McCarthy’s All The Pretty Horses typically appreciates richly descriptive prose, and deeply explores themes of adventure, existentialism, and human struggle. Fans of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men will find the novel’s rugged yet poetic narrative captivating.
135,826 ratings
Loved it
Mixed feelings
Not a fan
302
Novel • Fiction
Texas And Mexico • 1940s
1992
Adult
18+ years
940L
Continue your reading experience
Subscribe now to unlock the rest of this Study Guide plus our full library, which features expert-written summaries and analyses of 8,000+ additional titles.