The Border Trilogy
by Cormac McCarthy · first published 1999
67% recommend29% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Sparse, understated Western coming-of-age story of young men on the US-Mexico border. It serves as a gentler, more accessible entry point into McCarthy than Blood Meridian.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The Border Trilogy is a series of novels by the American author Cormac McCarthy: All the Pretty Horses (1992), The Crossing (1994), and Cities of the Plain (1998). The trilogy revolves around the coming of age and adventures of two young cowboys, John Grady Cole and Billy Parham, and is mainly set on the border between the Southwestern United States and Mexico.
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…bone. “If it doesn’t concern life and death,” he says, “it’s not interesting.” [0] If you're looking for lighter (but still excellent) storytelling on similar Western/survival themes I'd suggest the Border Trilogy [1] by McCarthy. My high school English teacher had us read these instead of Blood Meridian (his favorite book of all time) because they're much less violent. You won't get the full experience, though,…
on “Cormac McCarthy Explains the Unconscious” ↗The big ones for me: 1) Antifragile by Taleb (Skin in the Game is so far excellent as well) 2) The Border Trilogy by McCarthy 3) The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky 4) East of Eden by Steinbeck 5) Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut
on “Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?” ↗I bought Cormac McCarrthy's Border Trilogy on a whim (had seen and loved the film of No Country for Old Men before). I'm based in the UK, but it honestly takes you places you can never go. Read the whole three books four or five times nows. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6163.The_Border_Trilogy
on “Ask HN: What is your comfort book?” ↗Highly recommend The Border Trilogy as well as No Country for Old Men. The Coen Brothers did a fantastic job adapting the latter, but it just can't compare to the book.
on “Cormac McCarthy’s tips on how to write a great science paper (2019)” ↗Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. As with some of his other work, the punctuation can be a challenge and the prose can sometimes border on the ponderous, but I'm enjoying it. Currently about half way through.
on “Ask HN: What Are You Reading?” ↗You might like Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy then! Easily one of my favorite series (first 2 books are better than the last one IMO)
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗…One of the biggest hurdles, besides the violence, is the lack of punctuation, but I encourage anyone put off by that to stick with it. Once you adjust it flows very well. And with that said, I like the Border Trilogy more and find those novels better westerns, but that's because it's more romance and less apocalypse.
on “Crossing the Blood Meridian: Cormac McCarthy and American History” ↗Maybe it's just because it was the order I read his work in, but I'd start with "Blood Meridian". It's just beyond so many other books out there. Same with the Border Trilogy. I'm coincidentally reading "The Road" right now for the first time -- somehow I never made it to it over the years -- and honestly I'm not sure I'd have gone into the rest of his work so deeply if I…
on “Early Cormac McCarthy Interviews Rediscovered” ↗I would certainly recommend Blood Meridian in spite of the nastiness (and I like the Border Trilogy well enough for their extremely sparse prose), but I found The Road a little underwhelming. His post-apocalypse vision seemed surprisingly less terrible than I was expecting, frankly. People all over…
on “Cormac McCarthy Explains the Unconscious” ↗From McCarthy ? I'd start with his Border Trilogy which is 3 books sold together. Or just All The Pretty Horses if you want to dip your toes to see if you like his writing. I've also enjoyed Elmore Leonard quite a bit recently. More pulpy I suppose,…
on “Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?” ↗Try the books from the Border Trilogy or Suttree. They're very different to Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men.
on “Crossing the Blood Meridian: Cormac McCarthy and American History” ↗…good guys". Blood Meridian certainly the most hopeless, and possibly a reflection how he was feeling about these fears at the time. I'm not a literature person but that's my take on those. Consider the Border Trilogy if you ever want to give him another chance. Blood Meridian is an anti-western, but the Border Trilogy looks at the frontier lifestyle from a more humanist perspective and deeply mourns the loss of it.
on “Crossing the Blood Meridian: Cormac McCarthy and American History” ↗Read The Border Trilogy first (a coming-of-age story set on the US-Mexico border): * All the Pretty Horses * The Crossing * Cities of the Plain Then Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men.
on “Cormac McCarthy, Novelist of a Darker America, Is Dead at 89” ↗The border trilogy (All The Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Cities of the Plain) is understated compared to many of his other books, but gets to something about young men becoming who they are that I haven't found elsewhere.
on “Cormac McCarthy, Novelist of a Darker America, Is Dead at 89” ↗> Could be that I liked "All The Pretty Horses" even more than "The Road". Have you read the others in the Border Trilogy, The Crossing and Cities of the Plain? If you liked Pretty Horses, you'll probably like them, too. Pretty sure I've read all three twice.
on “Cormac McCarthy's Library” ↗