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Post by Claire on Jul 12, 2015 17:08:01 GMT 1
This book is also part of quite a few people's reading challenge lists but I'm setting up a separate thread so people can vote as well as discuss. I know a couple of people have already read it so feel free to start a discussion straight away.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2015 18:48:38 GMT 1
I've copied this over from the other thread. Hope that's O.K. Just finished Dark Sunshine, thanks Susan. I'll have to comment now otherwise I shall forget what it's about. So spoiler alert! I haven't read very many American pony books and I'm curious to know if Rattlesnakes causing riding accidents is the U.S. equivalent to falling in bogs and gypsies stealing ponies in British pony books? I enjoyed it on the whole. I liked the build up to and the rescue of Dark Sunshine from the secret Blind mans Pocket and the way she was broken in sympathetically by Blythe and all the care she took of her. But it seemed a shame Dark Sunshine wasn't mentioned at all right at the end of the book when she had done all the hard work galloping to the rescue and nearly died because of her efforts! It seemed to finish abruptly. I guess it was more about how Blythe overcame her disability than about her horse in the end. The thought of coming face to face with a rattle snake...Ugh!! Thanks Susan for your answers:- I'm glad you kind of enjoyed Dark Sunshine, Rosie...you're right in that it is not a typical pony book....anyone looking for a book which consists of a girl and pony gazing soulfully into each others eyes should look elsewhere I always think of it as a "life beyond the paddock gate" book....family plays a role, school friends, career ambitions outside of the horse world, etc. I've always liked this kind of book because it felt more real than the "horse is everything" book, because really, very few people get to make a living out of horses, which is the only way your life could continue to revolve around them into adulthood. A lot more people (sadly not me) have been able to have a horse in their non-horsey lives though...whether they own or just ride. Blythe's "rounded" childhood seems like it's headed to a fully realized adulthood, where she'll engaged in a non-horsey career, but always have Sunny at home. Re the abrupt ending.....it's been a while since I read it, will have to wait till my re-read to comment.....lol...the comment I expected most to hear is the pretty offbeat way she gets a horse. While Lyons books are in many ways realistic, that does NOT apply to how her heroines get their horses, which is almost always unlikely, to say the least. Her motto seems to have been "get the girl and the horse together and get on with the story"! rosie...almost forgot to answer re the rattlesnake...I don't think I've hit it in many books, but then I don't read a lot of books set out west, which is where you find them. They are plentiful, and yes, you could very easily find them on the trail, so it's not really very far fetched. (One of the reasons I will NEVER live out west!).
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Post by Claire on Jul 12, 2015 21:57:40 GMT 1
Thanks for posting the comments Rosie
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Post by brumby on Jul 14, 2015 23:38:40 GMT 1
I really couldn't find must to fault with Dark Sunshine, I really enjoyed it. I agree Rosie that the way Blythe obtained Dark Sunshine was really interesting and made the beginning of the book quite intriguing. The book was well balanced in that there was a lot of 'pony stuff' with Blythe working with Sunny but also the characters were well rounded and believable not just obsessed with ponies (although probably nothing wrong with that!) I was impressed with the way Lyons handled Blythe's disability, her family were supportive, caring and yet practical and weren't over the top with being protective. Blythe herself was a really likeable gutsy character, I especially enjoyed the slow, step by step approach she took in getting used to people and then the saddle and being ridden and Blythe developed a wonderful relationship with Sunny. I guess for me this was a 'feel good book' and it was a pleasure to read, without being schmaltzy! However there was one jarring moment in the book, I am hoping that this attitude has now changed, It seems barbaric to me, here in Victoria, Australia snakes are a protected species and you are not allowed to kill them. Anyway I gave Dark Sunshine 4 horseshoes
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 6:03:14 GMT 1
I really couldn't find must to However there was one jarring moment in the book, I am hoping that this attitude has now changed, It seems barbaric to me, here in Victoria, Australia snakes are a protected species and you are not allowed to kill them. I agree that bit jarred with me too. The older pony books are a bit like that, drowning puppies and kittens was perfectly acceptable and often in children's books. Ugh!
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Post by Claire on Jul 15, 2015 23:03:30 GMT 1
I totally agree about the snake bit, it jarred (especially as I actually really like snakes) but it didn't shock me as I have read a lot of US books in which certain animals are considered almost evil and are routinely brutally killed. Yes Rosie I would say that rattlesnakes (and even more so cougars attacking horses) are pretty much a cliche in American horse stories of a certain era.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2015 6:05:32 GMT 1
Thanks Claire.
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Post by susanb on Jul 16, 2015 16:34:58 GMT 1
The cougar bit in western-set novels is definitely a thing....it even made it into the horsiest of the original Nancy Drews, The Secret at Shadow Ranch (original, not revised edition, which was retitled The Secret OF Shadow Ranch). At the time most of these books were set, cougars were plentiful, and horsemeat or deermeat a staple of their diet (as well as any cattle they could steal....which is why they're not so plentiful any more), so again, it's made it into books because it did happen (probably not to horses with riders aboard though!) Certainly in older books, and probably in even modern attitudes, set in places where people raise livestock for a living, as well as keeping animals for pleasure, there is little tolerance for wild animals that kill cattle/sheep/whatever. It may be changing; there has long been a movement to return gray wolves to the US, which is becoming successful. There is also a move to innovation in protecting lifestock, rather than killing predators....some sheep farmers are using jennies turned loose with the flock as "guard donkeys"! My family has never moved beyond New England, and the wild hazards are far fewer here than they are in the west, so I'm not sure I'm really qualified to judge....on the one hand, the unchecked hunting of wolves and cougars to the brink of extinction is sickening, on the other, I'm not so sure if I put my pony up in the paddock and night and found him mostly eaten the next morning that I'd be singing about the "circle of life" I have got to get to my re-read of this one....got distracted by my "read and weed" project and read a couple of non-pony books instead.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2015 18:21:29 GMT 1
Wow. That is grim!
What did you think of the ending Susan, did you find it abrupt?
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Post by susanb on Jul 20, 2015 19:16:12 GMT 1
I didn't find it terribly abrupt, I felt most of the ends were tied up. As it's not a "traditional" pony story, but the story of a girl's life....particularly the phase going from being a listless invalid back to engaging with the world and having a productive life again, I wasn't surprised that Sunny wasn't "center stage" in the last pages, the focus of which was really that Blythe had recovered to such an extent that she literally forgets to use her crutch.
I'd agree with Brumby, the best thing about the book is that it IS different from the regular girl and pony book....I love that Blythe's family is, well, part of her life and not just background, that she has school friends, that school itself is included for that matter, so many books take place over holidays and never take in that aspect of a child's life.
That she has talent and ambition outside of the horse world is unusual too...most books seem to either have the heroine aiming for a career with horses (which is fun wish-fulfillment reading, I'm certainly not going to knock it!), or goes the sad "oh well, guess I'll do a secretarial course and ride on weekends" route; more realistic, and fine if the girl likes that kind of work (see Year of the Horse by Erich Hatch), but far less satisfying than aiming for a career that she actually loves AND keeping her horse!. (Of course the most miserable are the books that have girl abandoning horse altogether...I'm looking at you, Ruth post-meeting-Pennington...you should have stuck with the horses!)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2015 6:10:48 GMT 1
Yes I'd go for that too
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Post by rallycairn on Jul 29, 2015 0:14:49 GMT 1
It's sad, but with ebooks and online used bookstores, I don't even THINK about checking out books from a library any more. Well, for once I did, and Dark Sunshine was available in the "stacks" (not in current circulation) from the Richmond Public Library. So I will dive into it once I finish Red Embers.
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Post by darkhorse on Sept 30, 2015 19:00:17 GMT 1
Thanks very much for the book Susan. Sorry I am extremely late to this one. Hope it's not too late to add comments?
I enjoyed the book, although I found it to be almost like 2 separate stories. The finding and training of Sunny, which I enjoyed and then the school/scholarship part which I didn't enjoy so much. It felt almost as if Sunny had taken second place to Blythe's preoccupation with singing and the scholarship. The long distance ride was mainly a means to an end rather than something Blythe wanted to share with Sunny. I did find the ending a bit abrupt especially as Sunny didnt even appear at the end, having been replaced by something else again - horror of horrors, a boy! I found the book very well written and the characters very believable. I just would have liked the horse to take centre stage throughout the book. I know Susan said it's not a traditional horse story but the title is the horse's name so a reader would be expecting a horse story not the story of Blythe overcoming polio to realise her ambitions. I know I'm probably disagreeing with most others on here but I like a horse story to be a horse story and so found my interest flagging a bit in the non-horse parts. But overall I enjoyed it and rated it as good.
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Post by rallycairn on Oct 1, 2015 0:43:02 GMT 1
Darkhorse, I agree with you completely. Sunny was so important to Blythe in the beginning, but then later singing was this great passion. And other than Blythe singing at the campsite by the canyon and I think one other mention of the family singing together, there was no suggestion in the first part of any big ambition of Blythe to be a singer. And I frankly wondered - nitpickingly - if the scholarship committee knew the money was for singing lessons. It really should have been a fine arts scholarship if it was going to non-school- related/non-academic singing lessons. Silly I know but I was like huh? over a general scholarship being used that way. Agree it was well written with good characterizations, but I didn't love it and know why I never before sought to re-read it, even though I had read it as a child. I could admire Blythe for overcoming her challenges but not really warm to her.
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Post by Claire on Oct 11, 2015 15:11:01 GMT 1
Well I just realised I haven't contributed much to the conversation myself so I'm adding some last minute ponderings. I have a foot in both camps over the book. I actually quite enjoyed the school section and I don't mind non-pony content in pony stories (probably would have felt differently as I child tho!) but I agree with Rally that the interest in singing came on a bit suddenly and Sunny did seem to move into a seondary place in Blythe's heart in the latter half of the book. I also agree that the horse should have featured at the end of the story in some way. It was an excellent story about a girl overcoming polio rather than a true horse story. I did enjoy the long distance ride section and even tho it was for the sake of the scholarship I do think it strengthened the relationship between Blythe and Sunny. I just hope she didn't lose interest in the horse when she left for college.
Rally, we don't have the same emphasis on scholarships in the UK as the USA does so I don't know much about them but I did wonder why a girl applying for a scholarship to study singing had to prove athletic ability, it seemed a bit odd to me.
Tintin/Kunuma did you read the book and if so what did you think? Its not to late to add comments/vote.
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Post by tintin on Nov 6, 2015 17:28:41 GMT 1
Just finished this (difficulties keeping up) Thank heavens for "Dark Sunshine" I have had my Dad round the house a lot recently and he has read several pony books and this is the first one he liked
Every other one had young kids doing irresponsible stuff and hacked him right off - he did not like "Horses at Home" and I had n't the heart to tell him this was quite mild compared to some...
Good trend is continuing - he liked the first two Jill books
Going back to this book is there a bit of a sub genre of Polio Pony Books - I can think of this one, "The Flying Horseman" and "Showjumping Secret" - any others?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2015 18:30:50 GMT 1
Good trend is continuing - he liked the first two Jill books Going back to this book is there a bit of a sub genre of Polio Pony Books - I can think of this one, "The Flying Horseman" and "Showjumping Secret" - any others? I love the Jill books I'm sure there must be other Polio Pony books, certainly disabled riders in wheelchairs features a lot. Off the top of my head I can think of Worlds End In Winter by Monica Dickens. That one was a riding accident.
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Post by Claire on Nov 6, 2015 20:19:29 GMT 1
Lol glad it met your dad's approval!
Re. Other books featuring polio, there are a few more including Show Ring Rogue by Patsey Gray, King Sam aka Tall and Proud by Vian Smith, Stranger Than Fiction by Joyce Stranger which is a fictionalised account of a real life female jockey who had polio as a child. Its fascinAting as this was years before female jocks were acceptable so she had to dress up as a man! I think you and your dad might enjoy that one. Also there is Alan Marshalls autobiography about how he overcame polio, I Can Jump Puddles. Not completely horsy but a very good read. Additionally the American author of horse stories Betty Cavanna suffered from polio tho I don't think it featured in any of her books.
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Post by susanb on Nov 7, 2015 16:26:57 GMT 1
I'm so glad your Dad enjoyed Dark Sunshine!
I think Claire has listed out all the other polio books I know of, but I'll add that King Sam/Tall and Proud is one of my childhood favorites (as is Dark Sunshine)....sadly, this British author seems to have been more popular in the US than in his native UK....all of his books are easier to find here in the US, and this one in particular, which seems to have had a small printing in the UK, but both a hardcover and a paperback edition in the US.
On a positive note, there weren't many changes to the text....just the following addition at the beginning, presumably to tie in with the new title:
"Gail looked from the window and it was there. Tall and proud, as high on the hill as a king. It seemed to be a dream come true, but the story of Gail and the dream come true did not begin there."
Spelling was Americanized, but NO words were changed at all....the text is absolutely identical (um....full confession: I have all three editions...the British and the two US). We did it for a reading circle, so you can check out comments there, but beware spoilers!
The Patsey Gray book is worth a look too, though it tends to be a little hard to find and expensive, even in the US, and had no foreign printings at all. The girl who has had polio is drawn out of herself by a horse that is also on the mend...he's been used as a picador's horse, and was gored by a bull (top that for bizarre in the children's pony book world!). He now associates any kind of ring with the bull ring, so is badly in need of psychological rehab.
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Post by tintin on Nov 10, 2015 13:14:34 GMT 1
As always thanks for some good info
It is a very good job he did not read "Ponies Next Door" or he would have gone into orbit...
Also my Dad was a Baptist Minister for 40 years and his comments on the Vicar in the Jill books were pretty pungent - "so pompous so young - pity his congregation when he hits middle age, even for 1951 he's a bit of a stuffed shirt"
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