strangely compelling trilogy of the west, but not a western!
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The border in question is the Mexico/USA border in the first half of this century, but don't let any impression that these books are westerns put you off! There are indeed horse thefts, ranchers and gunfights, as you might expect, but the atmosphere is far from Shane, or indeed Blazing Saddles. I've already reviewed the first book under its own name. The second book, The Crossing, concerns 16 year old Billy Parham, who leaves home and crosses into Mexico with a wolf he has captured alive, intending to release it into the wild, only to return to find his parents murdered. He and his brother spend the rest of the book attempting to regain possession of their father's stolen horses, and meet with both friendship and brutality on the way. The third book brings Billy Parham together with the main character of the first book, John Grady Cole. All three are written in a spare prose style entirely devoid of emotion or overblown description. McCarthy does not attempt to enter his characters heads or make us empathise with them, yet by the end you do. The style is just right for the material, and for the reader. Brad Pitt reads well, in a soft smokey emotionless drawl just right for the characters.
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