The Horse Whisperer

Rating:
Summary: Satisfying Modern Western
Review: Girl and horse, both with internal and external scars, get help from a cowboy horse-doctor with an unusual hayside manner. Cowboy and girl's mother fall in love and dally around, even though she's still married -- kind of a Bridges of Madison County on horseback. All this inevitably leads to tragedy, which is what a good moral-corral story is all about. And author Nicholas Evans makes it all worthwhile with unequaled foreshadowing that makes you want to turn the pages harder, and descriptions of western scenes that make you want to saddle up and ride the range. No wonder they made a movie of it, but this story doesn't have a Hollywood ending. Which is a good reason in itself to read this version, so you won't miss the big surprise; even in tragedy, there is renewed hope.

Rating:
Summary: An All-Around Fantastic Debut!
Review: Having heard very little about the book or the film, I picked up The Horse Whisperer basically on a whim, and found myself completely glued from the very start. Evan's work as a screenwriter serves him wonderfully in this masterful novel, as the scenery is described so vividly that its cinematic quality is more than palpable. He draws you into a powerful world of emotions and hope, simplicity and underneath it all, that primal animality that pervades all of us. What a way he has with developing his characters too! Every one of them had a separate and unmistakable identity, personality, and history that Evans fleshes out skillfully. however, the story itself was depressing and uncomfortable...I felt angry and disappointed for Robert, Annie's husband, for having to suffer through so much on account of no mistake of his own. And the extremely lucid love scene between Tom and Annie made me feel like getting up to go take a shower. The ending blew me away though...and after I read it, I surely was able to forgive Evans the raunchy events of pages past. I look forward to reading The Loop!

Rating:
Summary: KUDOS :)
Review: I better begin with saying that my husband has already labeled the movie a "chick flick" only because of the emotion involved with the story. We haven't seen the movie yet, but I am looking VERY forward to it. And yes, I have read some very negative reviews about this book, and I found only 2 things that allowed me only to give it a 4 star rating. 1-I agree with is that Evans could have developed the plot a litte more due to some gaps in the story, but overall I couldn't put it down. 2-I don't think he needed all the "romance novel writing" for it to be an enticing story.

This story has a range of emotions to which EVERY reader can relate.Evans has an incredible way of drawing you into the characters, which made the story much more enjoyable. Evans made me laugh, cry and it is refreshing to have an ending that isn't the PC type ending that everyone supposedly wants. I guess I also like the story, because I saw an interview with Evans and some of the folks he "studied" for his characters. This kind of research allowed Evans to "know" his characters, thus being able to portray a realistic version of them in the story. He made his story accessible to our psyche. I feel all of us can relate to and/or know someone like one or more of the characters in this book. I can understand why Redford snatched up this story. It has all the makings of a GREAT movie and I am looking forward to seeing how Mr. Redford plays out the ending. So, KUDOS! Mr. Evans...AWESOME BOOK! I am looking forward to reading your next book "The Loop."

Rating:
Summary: I hope I dont sound like a parrot but...
Review: I first read this book when I was 15, but it's only now after reading it again a year later that I see the obvious talent in Evan's writing...

The Horse Whisperer is simply amazing. I am a keen rider, but I did not enjoy this book because it was based around horses and to be honest, I'd have enjoyed it just as much if it was based around almost anything [*Don't get me wrong, the book was packed full of equine action which was surprisingly accurate and descriptive and might I just add that that was the problem with the film. I felt that it was concentrating more on the action than emotion. I suggest to all to keep the film separate to the book and try not to think of them as the same story for they are both successes in different ways]

Evan's raw ability to describe and express human feelings, love, guilt, shame, blame and most of all pain so truthfully just makes your heart physically ache for the characters and often "bring you to the brink and back" yet you will still be drawn to read on. He has a superb talent of being able to describe from each character's point of view makes it all the more interesting. I think another reason for the book's popularity is its ability to allow the reader to relate to the characters because the feelings and thinking is so real. I don't think that the character were made to be liked but to be understood. It offers such a wide assortment of characters that just about all readers can find someone to relate to...

Looking at my cover I quote, "No. 1 international bestseller" and it truly deserves it. This book was not read because it was famous, it was famous because it was read.

It is a true master piece. I hope to see more and , if possible, greater things from this fabulous natural.

Rating:
Summary: His second best
Review: I read Evans' book "The Loop" first. That is one of my favorite novels. Unfortunately, it created unrealistic expectations for the author's first novel. The Horse Whisperer is a good read, but the characters are just not that likeable -- particularly Annie, who is the kind of person I try to avoid: caustic, arrogant, and cold. Still, the book kept my interest, and made a fine movie.
The Horse Whisperer shares similarities with another first-time effort I completed yesterday -- Dead Hand Control by Tim Stutler (see my review on Amazon.com). The books make for interesting comparisons. Each deals with a developing adolescent, thoughtful plot line, flawed (and adulterous) parent, wonderful descriptive language, and great twists. Dead Hand Control has the added value of well-timed humor -- something The Horse Whisperer could benefit from. Also, unlike Annie and her family, the characters in Stutler's book were sympathetic beings I really came to care about.
Overall, though, The Horse Whisperer is a very good first effort.

Rating:
Summary: I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book.
Review: This is exactly the kind of book I normally hate. It was given to me as a gift, and I felt obliged to read it. Whenever I hear the words "heart warming" used to describe a book, I generally stay miles away.

However, it really isn't bad. While it won't get mistaken for great literature, it's very well-written and compelling. Evans avoids the mistake of so many of his contemporaries and allows his characters to have real flaws and real obstacles. His obvious writing skill makes what could have been a pretty hokey novel very readable.

The story is simple, a girl and her horse are badly wounded in a traffic accident, and the mother turns (in more than one sense) to the only man who can help her rehabilitate the horse (and, by extension, her daughter).

It's been said in a lot of these reviews that the ending is bad, and I rather have to agree. It seems like Evans painted himself into a corner and didn't know how else to get out, but despite that it still earns four stars.

Rating:
Summary: The movie only hinted at doing justice to this story.
Review: Unlike some other reviewers I wasn't expecting this book to be a great work of modern literature but rather a beautiful story that everyman could relate to with a bit of thought. I wasn't disappointed. Maybe the author was a screenwriter and maybe the sentimental story itself is set out to read like a movie plot unfolding, none of that, to my way of thinking, diminished the simple zen beauty of the authors prose which reflected the search for an inner calm in each of the main characters.

Others here have commented on the gore and adrenalin surging accident of Grace and the conveniently named Pilgrim and I from similar experiences found it traumatic - for the horse, but not for Grace herself because her story is really the means by which she and her mother find grace. Her mother Annie is forced to take stock of a life that she fears is not satisfying and which casts an effect on her child and her marriage.

If Tom, in a typical display of the western horseman, seems wooden through a lack of dialogue it is because he relates to the world through the horses he works with, espousing the simple wisdoms of a man who has learned to read what is subtle and unspoken. His loneliness is echoed in the souls of Pilgrim, Grace and Annie.

That Annie and Tom predictably fall in love and betray her marriage vows, in a different rendition of Graces relationship with Pilgrim, is not an issue. It is that only through the catalyst for change in Tom and the nature of his work with Pilgrim we find the key to the characters, that they too must sacrifice the instinct for self preservation to be remade with maturity.