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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 Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural
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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)

What listeners say about Cities of the Plain

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Sheer joy

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

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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it's Mccarthy you cannot go wrong

amazing trilogy. beautifully written at one of the best to ever do it. incredible

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2 people found this helpful

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America’s finest living writer

Just a wonderful trilogy. At times dense and difficult to read which makes the audio book a fine form to imbibe the narrative. Can’t recommend this enough to new readers of Cormac McCarthy

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good story.

Good story tying up the trilogy nicely. Long winded philosophies were a bit tiring though

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Saddle up and finish the trilogy

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.

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Wonderful descriptions of the old west with thought evoking images of a time long past. Final book in the trilogy

Wonderful descriptions of the old west with thought evoking images of a time long past. Final book in the trilogy from a great author

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Third and final slice of wonderment

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

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Brilliant writing awful narration

Wonderful prose ruined by a terrible affected whispering voice. He seems to think it’s atmospheric bur it’s very distracting.

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worth reading

not worth the journey, just took too long to get there ,I just couldn't accept the premise

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Corman's Epistemology Laid Bare

A great treat to listen but I wonder if this material isn't better read on the cold page. The book itself isn't his best. Yet, in the context of the others, I think it gives the clearest view into how his worlds work.

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1 person found this helpful