Riding Lessons

Rating:
Summary: Riding Lessons
Review: This lovely novel is so well written and maintains your interest so well I read it in an afternoon. I didn't want to put it down to eat. The plot is captivating but not too complicated, and it reads so fluidly you'll never once stop and wonder what the heck is going on. The characters have their own personal flaws and struggles, but are realistically believable. Information regarding the horses is correct and knowledgeable, without being overly detailed or confusing to a non-rider/horse owner. The romance is real and touching, withough being overdone or graphic, and the mother-daughter relationships are dynamic and well developed. Most importantly, Sara Gruen succeeds in conveying the magnetic draw to a horse, which if you have not experienced, is difficult to explain. This is a wonderful book that I highly suggest whether you are a horseperson or not, but if you share a love of horses, you will enjoy this even more.

Rating:
Summary: Better than cheesecake
Review: This novel is smarter than your average NY Times Bestseller, but reads fast and furious, like a guilty pleasure. Annemarie's a protagonist you can relate to, but not one you can resist. Passionate, funny, conflicted, and flawed, she could be your best friend, your sister, maybe even you. Riding Lessons is the singular most satisfying novel I've read in ages, confirming what I'd hoped was true about contemporary literature, but didn't quite believe: you don't have to choose between smart and entertaining. Put down the Mary Higgins Clark, back slowly away from Nora Roberts, don't stoop to Danielle Steele. There's a new writer in town.

Treat yourself to a good book. Read Riding Lessons.

Rating:
Summary: I bought this book with great hope
Review: Though the author seems to know horses, the character of Annemarie left much to be desired. She was written as to be so absorbed in self pity, that she couldn't see any of the characters around her.
When I read that her father was suffering from the last stages of ALS I would have thought that she would come out of herself to some extent and read on in that hope. But these characters were shuffled aside while she whined and cried over what she couldn't have for most of the book.
I read on in hope, but found that whether it was her daughter going through the throes of growing up, her mother trying to give her father dignity in his last days or even the man she professes to fall in love with.... the character is so mired in her self interests as to be almost disgusting.
I was sadly disappointed in the story.

Rating:
Summary: Tissues and chocolate
Review: Tissues and chocolate because they're what kept me company while I read RIDING LESSONS by Sara Gruen. I needed the tissues for all the poignant touching scenes that pulled me in, and the chocolate because I had to have something to consume while I chewed my nails over Gruen's characters and all they go through in this amazing debut. That is to say I was engrossed. That is to say I was touched, moved, shaken, over-joyed, angry, on fire, torn to pieces and put back together again. That is to say this is a fine, fine book by an author who's now an automatic buy for me. Please put RIDING LESSONS at the top of your to-be-read pile. You'll love it. I can't wait to read the next book by Ms. Gruen. She's fantastic!

Rating:
Summary: Oh, please
Review: What a waste of time this book is. Where was the editor? I skipped over paragraph after paragraph of junk to find the story thread, only to find that the 38 year old protagonist has the life skills of a 5 year old.

Don't bother.

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Summary: Outstanding crossover novel for teens
Review: What's harder on a woman? Loving horses? Or men? For Annemarie Zimmer Aldrich both are equally heartbreaking.

At age 18, Annemarie oozes with confidence and talent as an equestrian athlete. She and her beloved horse Harry are soaring to the top of the eventing world, and riding a path -- carefully chosen by her overbearing Austrian Pappa -- toward the Olympics. During a final jump at competition, Harry shatters his leg and lands on top of Annemarie, crushing her and their future together. Harry's injuries are too massive to mend and he's put out of his misery on the spot. But Annemarie's misery just begins as she's pieced back together physically, yet remains broken emotionally.

She swears off horses and riding, for a life with Roger and their daughter Eva, in Minnesota far from her parents' New Hampshire horse farm. She earns a degree in technical writing and buries herself in a career editing software manuals to avoid the pain of coming to terms with her huge losses.

Twenty years after the accident it all comes crashing down. She is laid off at her job. Roger leaves her for a younger woman. Fifteen-year old Eva hates her. And Pappa is dying of ALS. Her life in shambles and harboring a rather self-absorbed sense of obligation to Mutti and Pappa's desperate situation, she drags Eva with her back home to the horse farm.

Instead of finding refuge, Annemarie sets off on a collision course with her past, present, and future, which happen to be contained in the body of a horse she names Hurrah -- who's almost identical to her Harry -- and the heart of Dan, the man she abandoned along with her passion in that other life. But she can't have either of them until she comes to terms with the pieces of her own shattered soul. So she smothers herself in failure. She can't deal with Pappa's dying or Mutt's hardened resignation. And she can't stand his nurse, Brian. She can't cope with Eva's growing up. She can't handle the details of her divorce, much less Roger. She can't manage the horse farm for Mutti. She can't understand her relationship with Jean-Claude, the horse trainer. She can't bring herself to ride Hurrah, or figure out the strange mystery surrounding his sudden arrival in her life.

A calamity of errors -- pretty much of her own making -- sends her spiraling in a downward tailspin as she pushes everyone away until she's alone and looking like she's lost everyone and everything she ever loved. Because Annemarie is truly her own worst enemy, her journey back to soul's passion is that much more heart wrenching and spell binding.

"Riding Lessons" is the perfect crossover novel for teens. They'll be captured by the mystery of who is Hurrah. They'll root for Eva as she twists herself free of Annemarie's suffocating grasp and discovers her own passion in a horse named Flicka. They'll feel the joy and pain of life and death through the intergenerational conflicts played out so realistically through all the characters. They'll taste the romance between Eva and Luis, the stable boy. And cringe as Annemarie flits from Dan to Jean-Claude until she learns what love really means for her. Gruen's engaging storytelling and unique combination of intrigue, horse story, love story, soul searching, and true grit make "Riding Lessons" an outstanding novel for young adult readers.

Rating:
Summary: Read it in a day!
Review: Whether you have owned a horse, riden a horse or loved a horse, this story is universal and wonderfully written. It is a tear jerker as well! I felt that I was reading about a friend and that the horses were real. I wanted to shake the crap out of Annemarie, the lead character, for some of the stuff going on around her - but again, the way this book reads you feel like it is like real life and the scenes are progressing the way they should, instead of in a hollywood fashion. There are a lot of issues going on in this book besides Annemarie's messy life, I won't mention specifics because I don't want to ruin the story. Give it a try, it is wonderful from beginning to end. I can almost guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Riding Lessons
Review: Wowsers! What a great book. We have a lady who's life falls apart in the span of 24 hours. Where does any good daughter go when everything falls apart? Why home to mom & dad of course. The only problem is that her father is dying, she & her mom don't get along, and her daughter currently hates her for taking her away from everthing she knows. The family dynmics in this book are enough to blow you away. The mother cracks part of the way through the book from all of the pressure of reliving the most tragic event of her life, all the while trying to help her daughter & herself. I could go on & on about how fabulous this book is, but really you just need to read it to love it.