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Cities of the Plain

Border Trilogy, Book 3

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Cities of the Plain

By: Cormac McCarthy
Narrated by: Frank Muller
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About this listen

Two men marked by the boyhood adventures of All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing now stand together to confront a country changing beyond recognition.

In the fall of 1952, John Grady Cole and Billy Parham are cowboys on a New Mexico ranch, encroached upon from the north by the military. On the southern horizon are the mountains of Mexico, where one of the men is drawn incessantly in this story of friendships and passion to a love as dangerous as it is inevitable.

©1998 Cormac McCarthy (P)1998 Recorded Books Inc Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural

Critic reviews

"This haunting deeply felt novel completes one of the literary masterworks of the 1990s." ( Daily Telegraph)
"McCarthy makes the sweeping plains a miracle." ( Scotsman)
"Like the Western settings he captures to perfection, his work is both heart-wrenchingly beautiful and uncompromisingly brutal." ( The Express)
All stars
Most relevant
It was a Moving story. Beautiful characterisation. A story of love. Read it slowly. It’s worth it.

Short

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Prose and wit, writing as you have never experienced.
I whole heartedly recommend this book to all.

Sheer joy

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I had such high hopes for this book with John Grady Cole teaming up with Billy Parham. I wanted epic adventures of two young cowboys in big country and it didn't really happen. Did modern life encroach too much? Or had they done all their adventuring in the other books? This book is good and definitely worth a read but not as good as the first two books. Not sure I was satisfied with the John Grady story. But, I must say I was pleased with warmth the ending provided.

Saddle up and finish the trilogy

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I’ve clip-clopped my meandering way through this entire trilogy. Now my eyes are full of wonder, my head is as soar as a caballero’s bum, but my soul is still, somehow, still restless. I think this is because the 2nd book in the series had two complete, successive plots; but this one, disappointingly, had only one. If, like me, you speak no Spanish, you’ll find the frequent & lengthy lapses into that language tiresome. Keep going though. Like the hardships of an empty belly & a week in the saddle, they will lead you through to some other mystery. For example, every man in Mexico is a kind of met-physical philosopher poet - how come? Every woman is silent, though I’d like to hear what she has to say. And any American man is easy to spot - he would think himself talked out if he uttered three syllables in a day. The trilogy, I think, is about the proximity of Mexico, a kind of irresistible Hades

Third and final slice of wonderment

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A story of love and tragedy with one of the saddest endings 💔 abd I believe his best friend loves him and it ruined his life 💔

Loced the voices

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