---
product_id: 1501595
title: "All the Pretty Horses: Border Trilogy 1 (National Book Award Winner)"
price: "2656 kr"
currency: ISK
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.is/products/1501595-all-the-pretty-horses-border-trilogy-1-national-book-award
store_origin: IS
region: Iceland
---

# Authentic 1949 Texas & Mexico setting National Book Award Winner 6,894+ rave reviews All the Pretty Horses: Border Trilogy 1 (National Book Award Winner)

**Price:** 2656 kr
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 📖 Saddle up for a literary journey you can't afford to miss!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** All the Pretty Horses: Border Trilogy 1 (National Book Award Winner)
- **How much does it cost?** 2656 kr with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.is](https://www.desertcart.is/products/1501595-all-the-pretty-horses-border-trilogy-1-national-book-award)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Timeless Prose:** Savor McCarthy’s poetic, unforgettable writing style that lingers long after the last page
- • **Immersive Setting:** Travel through the evocative landscapes of 1949 Texas and Mexico 🌵
- • **Critically Acclaimed:** Join thousands of readers who gave it a stellar 4.5-star rating 📚
- • **Award-Winning Masterpiece:** Experience the literary brilliance that earned the National Book Award 🏆
- • **Thought-Provoking Narrative:** Dive into a complex, richly layered story that challenges and rewards discerning readers

## Overview

All the Pretty Horses, the first book in Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy, is a National Book Award-winning novel set in 1949 Texas and Mexico. Celebrated for its poetic prose and deep narrative, it has captivated over 6,800 readers with a 4.5-star average rating, making it a must-read for fans of literary and Western fiction alike.

## Description

desertcart.com: All the Pretty Horses: Border Trilogy 1 (National Book Award Winner): 9780679744399: McCarthy, Cormac: Books

Review: Very fine indeed. - This is the second time I've read "All the Pretty Horses," the previous time being eleven years ago. Now as then, I found it superb, as many others have done. McCarthy's prose is stunning. I could wish he used quotation marks and a few more speech tags, but he writes so well he gets away with it. Many of the paragraphs are poetry. Even the occasional Spanish dialogue -- which I don't speak -- is mostly intelligible. The book opens in Texas in 1949, then moves to Mexico. The main character, John Grady Cole, rode into my heart. As did the landscape and the horses. I don't intend to describe the plot, nor to say much more. It's not a soft book, nor a beach-read, but it is, to me, very fine indeed. About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
Review: A great read but sometimes frustrating and difficult - There are many good reviews here about the plot and the character development, read them. I'm only going to mention why I took one star off. McCarthy has a unique style that can be hard to follow. I frequently had to re-read passages to be sure I understood them. Particularly the dialog sections can be difficult to know which character is speaking. He also throws in frequent sections in Spanish. When it's just a phrase or two I try to figure it out but when it's most of a page I just skip down. Someone said that doesn't matter but as carefully as McCarthy has chosen his words I have to think they all matter. So this is no throw away romance or crime thriller. This is a book that you have to think about what you are reading. Probably the closest thing to Moby Dick that I've read in a long time. Overall I greatly enjoyed this book and I've already ordered books 2 & 3 of the trilogy. I'll probably watch the movie too.

## Features

- Great product!

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #3,062 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #10 in Westerns (Books) #38 in Family Saga Fiction #204 in Literary Fiction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 6,894 Reviews |

## Images

![All the Pretty Horses: Border Trilogy 1 (National Book Award Winner) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/716XjGV8m7L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very fine indeed.
*by M***E on November 22, 2025*

This is the second time I've read "All the Pretty Horses," the previous time being eleven years ago. Now as then, I found it superb, as many others have done. McCarthy's prose is stunning. I could wish he used quotation marks and a few more speech tags, but he writes so well he gets away with it. Many of the paragraphs are poetry. Even the occasional Spanish dialogue -- which I don't speak -- is mostly intelligible. The book opens in Texas in 1949, then moves to Mexico. The main character, John Grady Cole, rode into my heart. As did the landscape and the horses. I don't intend to describe the plot, nor to say much more. It's not a soft book, nor a beach-read, but it is, to me, very fine indeed. About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A great read but sometimes frustrating and difficult
*by F***D on January 4, 2024*

There are many good reviews here about the plot and the character development, read them. I'm only going to mention why I took one star off. McCarthy has a unique style that can be hard to follow. I frequently had to re-read passages to be sure I understood them. Particularly the dialog sections can be difficult to know which character is speaking. He also throws in frequent sections in Spanish. When it's just a phrase or two I try to figure it out but when it's most of a page I just skip down. Someone said that doesn't matter but as carefully as McCarthy has chosen his words I have to think they all matter. So this is no throw away romance or crime thriller. This is a book that you have to think about what you are reading. Probably the closest thing to Moby Dick that I've read in a long time. Overall I greatly enjoyed this book and I've already ordered books 2 & 3 of the trilogy. I'll probably watch the movie too.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RIDEON, COWBOY, RIDE ON!!!!!!!
*by G***! on July 17, 2015*

To say that Cormac McCarthy has a unique writing style would be a seriously gross understatement, bordering on defamatory untruth. To say that when he writes, he single handedly redefines (and improves) the English language, would be closer to the mark, and a much more worthy compliment to a man blessed with so much talent. Book one of the Border Trilogy - All The Pretty Horses - is at times hysterically funny, incredibly profound, relatively violent, moving (of course), and at times, tragic. Small parts of the book are incomprehensible, unless the reader knows native Mexican, but no large part of the story is lost or wasted on the reader who fails this particular general knowledge assessment. Two young boys (John Grady Cole and his BFF Master Lacey Rawlins) decide to leave the family land they were brought up on in search of the quintessential life for a cowboy. Along the way, they meet trouble in the shape of sixteen year old loner Blevins; trouble in the shape of a beautiful young woman looking for love; and trouble in the shape of said beautiful young woman’s very wealthy and very powerful father. Having said all of that, the story opens with a funeral. Cole’s grandfather has passed away before the story even commences, and the opening paragraph will tell the reader if they are destined to be McCarthy fans, or not. I was hooked with the opening sentence. And yes, I am a fan. This is not the first McCarthy book I have read, and I am happy to announce it wont be the last. Not by a long shot. There is beauty aplenty to be found in this book, too. You should not be surprised by that, but as an example, given the context of the story at this point (pages 72 and 73) makes this particular achievement even more remarkable. McCarthy begins here by talking about the rain, and thunder, and finishes the section off by discussing how a horse would interpret the sound of two humans retching (yes, I said, retching!) Truly brilliant stuff. So what happens to the story's principle characters? Do Cole and Lacey ride off into the sunset, hand in hand with their respective girlfriends? McCarthy books aren’t that simple. There are lessons to be learnt here, not just for the characters in the story, but for the readers, too. Reading a book crafted by this truly great individual is like blessing yourself with a college degree, majoring in nothing less than art, beauty, love, loss, hurt, death and of course, life itself. The classic saying about life’s most important lesson being the journey, not the destination, can very much be applied to this book. I think, therefore I am. I read, therefore I live. Cormac McCarthy, may your books be remembered forever.

## Frequently Bought Together

- All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy, Book 1)
- The Crossing (The Border Trilogy, Book 2)
- Cities of the Plain: Border Trilogy (3)

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*Product available on Desertcart Iceland*
*Store origin: IS*
*Last updated: 2026-03-03*