Very much a story of the tragedy of romance. Beautifully written with engaging characters and a story that made me cry. It was published 1996 by Dell Publishing Company and was suggested to me when I asked for a romance written by a man and from the 90s. It holds the Swedish title, mannen som kunde tala med hästar, which is translated to, the man who could talk with horses. A very specific title for a cowboy but I’ll take it.
It starts with a tragedy and ends in one. The young girl Grace rides out with her friend only to get into an accident leaving her friend died, her without a leg and a seriously hurt horse, Pilgrim. Gracie’s mother Annie, not giving up on either the daughter or horse, seeks the help of Tom Booker. A man who has dedicated his life to help horses and their owners heal only to fall in love with Annie. A relationship forbidden as Annie is a married woman and the book is set.
I hate tragic endings, especially those who comes out of nowhere. It makes it more realistic since that is tragedy but, in this book, it made the whole thing feel hollow. There was no real ending of this book. Neither to Annie’s character or for Tom’s. I guess Grace grows up and heal which was the main point of the book… I guess. It is hard to say as the book follows so many people’s perspective that Grace get lost among the people, but I assume that was the goal at least. But her happy ending comes at the expense of everyone else’s. Well, except the husband Robert who is just there to be a doe-eyed deer.
Now, this book is long. It feels lengthy and boring. Much because the writer loves to write everything in detail. I had read at least nine chapters before Annie, Grace and Tom even meets which is there the book takes off and becomes good. What happen before that, well, al lot of flashbacks, random people’s perspective, like the veterinarian, the trucker who hit Grace and so on. Which was frankly weird since the story of the book was never really about the incident but the healing the grief afterwards so the nine chapters of random info just did not grip me.
When the plot takes off it becomes more focused and frankly far better. Annie is a interesting person with flaws and strengths. She is a career woman who has earned herself recognition as a writer and an editor despite coming from an abusive past. Her daughter hates her though and blames Annie for everything going wrong. Much seem to be because she things that her mother is controlling and never spend time with her but when Annie tries to spend time with Grace she is met with contempt so I can understand why she would not.
The husband is flat at best. Kind and understanding but is merely just there as a plot point. Tom Booker has a similar problem though I would think this has more to do with the writer idolizing the man he decided to use as inspiration to create Tom. Tom is in many ways perfect. Kind, wise, having no troubles with the ladies and seem to be all knowing. He had barely any flaws which to me makes him less of a character. I still liked him well enough but he felt weirdly closer to a god to me, especially considering the ending.
There are also strange points of views in the book so foreign to me that I can barely understand them. Infidelity is one of them, where I am from, you dump your other half before you jump into bed with another. You don’t sleep with someone and THEN consider leaving your husband. If you desire another man then that is a clear sign that it is time to pack your bags. Sleeping with another man to then wondering if you should stay with your husband is just plain weird to me but I have noticed that in certain countries, especially those with strong religious believes this is very common because divorce is a disgrace.
Here in Sweden it’s just a part of life. People grow and change with times. So those relationships. The excuse that we need to stay together because of the pain we cause to others is just… Wrong. The pain you live in and causes by staying together is often far worse. I know that from experience.
Well, either way. I find this book to be hard to rate. It is in no way bad. It is well written with a dark but intriguing plot. At least it is when it reaches the plot. But I did not like it that much, it left me feeling hollow. I would recommend this one for people who enjoys tragedies but I am not one of them. I will never read this book again, that I can say with certainty but I might look into other books from the same author because Nicholas Evans is a good one. With all this considered, I would rate it 6 out of 10 but I would think that many people would give it a higher score. Maybe you will as well.
With Kind Regards
Senefer
Read with Senefer 