Cities of the Plain

The Border Trilogy, Book Three

By: Cormac McCarthy

Narrated by: Frank Muller

In his novels, best-selling author Cormac McCarthy creates a western landscape filled with characters that are both mythic and authentic. Cities of the Plain, the stunning conclusion of his award-winning Border trilogy, brings together John Grady Cole and Billy Parham—the two lifelong friends who began their adventures in All the Pretty Horses. It is 1952. As Grady and Billy work a remote New Mexico ranch, Grady falls in love with a young Mexican prostitute. Determined to free her from her owner, Grady embarks on his dangerous quest of the heart. Billy tries to protect and help him, but the forces at work soon demand sacrifices greater than either can control. Capturing visions of the American West during its last decades, McCarthy’s powerful work is destined to leave a permanent mark on contemporary literature.

©1998 Cormac McCarthy (P)1998 Recorded Books, LLC

Best Epilogue Ever

"The Crossing" is my favorite book in this exquisite and sad trilogy, but the epilogue to "The Cities of the Plain," in my opinion might be the best single chapter in all literature.

marvelous book

I have read the whole series 2 or 3 times now and just love everything about it

The best and the best

I want only to comment on Frank Muller’s performance, by no small margin the best I’ve ever heard, even from among his own outstanding repertoire (even his reading of Moby Dick). The art of his reading here is in and of itself something at which to marvel — he feels so deeply the world of the novel and the words through which it is communicated that, more than just retaining or recreating its heavy saturation with heart and life and love and destiny (thank God for Cormac McCarthy in today’s almost putrid literary landscape), he lends it greater depth and color and vitality. It feels like every word is enunciated as if it were a gift to us and to him, and his voice is sonorous and slowly intoned, you might say resonant with the landscape of the novel, reverberating almost with its earth and its sky and its men, making the effect of the book linger even longer in the heart.

Narration was great

I failed to state how much I love d the narrator’s voice throughout. Captivating and true and wonderful.

Amazing

this was my first book from this author. I am absolutely impressed. the writing, the story, and the narration were all outstanding. I will be reading more of his stories.