Cormac McCarthy

The Crossing forms second part of Cormac McCarthy's critically acclaimed Border Trilogy, that began with All the Pretty Horses and concludes with The Cities of the Plain. Set on the south-western ranches in the years before the Second World War, Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing follows the fortunes of sixteen-year-old Billy Parham and his younger brother Boyd. Fascinated by an elusive wolf that has been marauding his family's property, Billy captures the animal - but rather than kill it, sets out impulsively for the mountains of Mexico to return it to where it came from. When Billy comes back to his own home he finds himself and his world irrevocably changed. His loss of innocence has come at a price, and once again the border beckons with its desolate beauty and cruel promise.

The Crossing

Ryan LaFerney

** spoiler alert **
           The Crossing (1994) is the follow-up to All the Pretty Horses (1992) and the second part of Cormac McCarthy’s acclaimed Border Trilogy, three novels focused on young American men coming of age in the early-to-mid-20th century on the border with Mexico.

Despite the singular title, it tells the story of young Billy Parham’s three crossings (or quests) into Mexico from New Mexico. So the book is somewhat three novellas in one. And while each story focuses on Billy, each story also focuses upon the beautiful, inconsolable landscapes of the New Mexico/Mexico border. The landscape is just as much a character as Billy is.

Like its predecessor, The Crossing concerns a young American rancher living near the Mexican border in the 1930s, a time when the old West is grudgingly entering the modern world while Mexico is being torn apart by revolution. And like volume one's memorable hero, John Cole Grady, 16-year-old Billy Pawson is drawn south in a nearly mythical journey to find himself. Billy initially crosses into Mexico to take a wolf he had trapped on his New Mexico ranch back to the animal's native mountains. When he returns, he finds that his home has been plundered, and he and his 14-year-old brother, Boyd, set off for Mexico to find their family's stolen horses. Traveling through the lawless ruins of the post-revolutionary Mexican countryside, they encounter Gypsy wanderers, carnival actors, horse-traders, horse thieves, revolutionary soldiers, and men of various religions. 

The Crossing is a wandering tale. It is no tale of love or pure adventure. It is a novel about the harsh realities of the world. I will say I didn't find The Crossing to be as riveting as All The Pretty Horses was. The novel slumps in the middle, but the ending is quite superb and tragic as Billy's journey quickly turns into a quest for Boyd's remains as he was cut down in battle. In an interesting development, Boyd is remembered by ordinary Mexicans, somewhat erroneously, as a champion of the people.

For as beautifully written as The Crossing is, it is an obtuse book. All the Pretty Horses is a perfect novel of its kind - structurally and in terms of character development. The Crossing is a different beast of a book. More fatalistic, more violent, more bleak, with less character development. The Crossing is less Mark Twain and more Faulkner.

 Perhaps The Crossing was meant to be the antithesis to All the Pretty Horses? And if that is the case, McCarthy succeeded.

Max Bodach

Kevin. j Mercil 

Nuno Figueiredo

Phil James

Grenzgänger.

Patrick Baumann

Christopher Wheeler

Pate Hubbard

Geoffrey Landward

Donald

Lori Handelman

Jane McCullough

Alex Gee

Emily K McCullar

Crossing, the

Jan Jackson

In the 1930s, two teenage brothers whose ranch in New Mexico was raided by bandits, cross into Mexico to search for stolen horses. The novel follows them through the revolution-torn countryside, meeting soldiers, peasants, priests and thieves, all proffering advice. By the author of All the pretty horses.

En la frontera

Fernando Andrade

Melody Izard

Wynn Netherland

Ashley Dotterweich

Caleb Yarian

In the 1930s, Billy and his family come to Hidalgo County, New Mexico, where he becomes obsessed with a wild wolf that lives a precarious existence threatened by the region's ranchers. By the author of All the Pretty Horses. 150,000 first printing. $150,000 ad/promo.

Celia Adams

Lindsay Cronk

The Crossing

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