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Loading... The Horse Whispererby Nicholas Evans
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Sentimental kitsch. (  ) BraveKelso | Dec 6, 2009 |  ein fantastisches Buch: Ich kann mich dem vorherigen Rezensenten nur anschließen: ein fantastisches Buch. Ich habe Gott sei Dank zuerst das Buch gelesen und dann den Film gesehen... und das war gut so..... Das beste Buch, das ich seit langem gelesen habe... r1hard | Nov 22, 2009 | A big fan of the film, it took a trip to Montana in order for me to pick this book up. Set in the stunning mountain state, the Horse Whisperer concerns exactly what it says on the tin. The story begins with a wealthy, somewhat dyfunctional family in New York, who are struck suddenly by a terrible accident involving their daughter. This accident, filmed so wonderfully for the screen, is equally poignant on the page, if not more so. Written in a lot more detail than I expected, the accident is horrifying and suspenseful...all the more worse because you know what is coming. Its aftermath is all too familiar to many a family, but in this case, the mother, Annie, focuses her pain and anguish on the horse. His survival and recovery is the key to not losing her daughter, Grace, into a pit of depression from which she may never return. Thus Annie contracts Tom Booker, a Montana horse whisperer with a past of his own, to help her daughter's maimed and traumatised horse, Pilgrim. Evans' writing beautifully captures this magnificent state, all the more poignant due to my being on a Montana ranch and working with horses at the time. Evans has obviously done his research, and for much of the book I felt the same ardour and enjoyment that I had for the film. However, the end ruined it for me. And I truly mean ruined. Not the subtle, classy and painfully touching ending that the film had (albeit unresolved for some), but a dramatic conclusion that I felt was entirely over the top and unwarranted. Some may disagree, and I definitely have the downside of having seen the film before reading the book. But I am saddened that I did not love the book as much by the end, and am no longer inspired to read more by Evans. It felt a bit like a cop out to me, cashing in on Hollywood drama, which ironically, Hollywood did not deliver. aleya79 | Nov 2, 2009 | Better than I thought it would be. A few cliche's but overall a good story. (  ) Neale | Sep 13, 2009 | this book is just breath taking, i could'nt put it down, i read this after the movie but it so much better and the ending much more dramatic then the film, this was the first Nicholas Evans book i read but he's an amazing author, (  ) sarah-p | Sep 10, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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One morning while teenage Grace Maclean is riding Pilgrim, her goofy, loveable pony, she has a horrendous glass-shattering, bone-splintering, ligament-lynching meeting with a megaton truck that leaves her and her four-legged friend damaged in mind, body, and spirit. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, her jaded, brilliant, bitchy mom, Annie Graves (Kristin Scott Thomas in the 1998 film) is working out a wrinkle in her self-absorbed existence when she gets a call at her plush, Manhattan office about Grace's accident. Racked with guilt, Graves makes it her calling to find the mythical horse whisperer, an equine Zen master who has the ability to heal horses (and broken souls) with soothing words and a gentle touch. Just when it seems he can't be found, what do you know, she finds him. He arrives in the form of Tom Booker-- a rugged, sensitive, dreamy cowboy who helps Pilgrim and Grace repair their fractured selves. To add more mesquite to fire, Booker has a way with not-so-injured, attractive, married women--like Annie. As the plot thickens, so does the familial strife, which threatens to undo Booker's healing work.
Like an expert cinematographer, Evans deftly crafts each scene with precision and clarity, sprinkling in ominous signs and foreboding images. For example, in the opening paragraphs, as Annie starts out on the tragic ride, she comes across a bloody bird wing that seems to have fallen out of nowhere. The weight of impending doom is further strengthened by the truck driver's bad luck--he has a run-in with the highway patrol just moments before his meeting with Grace and Pilgrim. These not-so-subtle subliminal messages are masterfully stitched in throughout the story and may compel readers to act as if they were watching a B-grade horror movie, shouting aloud, "Don't go there!" However sentimental, The Horse Whisperer is an engaging read, sort of like a finely tuned, well-edited film. --Rebekah Warren
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:52 -0400)
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