Post by tintin on Nov 24, 2014 18:08:29 GMT 1
On finishing this book I thought was it was quite a moral, even religious, book:-
“As ye sow, so shall ye reap”
We have a man who belonged to the harsh and unsympathetic school of horse training, so well described by Monty Roberts, who becomes so caught up in a battle of wills with the mare Freedom that he bullies her unmercifully resulting in her death and his being crippled for life (I would not like to get on the wrong side of those of you who found this insufficient punishment, particularly for an active professional horseman). The horse herself is so locked up in this battle of wills that her very spirit is imprisoned in the barn in which she is buried.
However, in both cases the message is basically that it’s never too late.
I found the end very surprising, and quite touching in that Freedom gets literally a second chance on life (I think her parentage is quite deliberately left ambiguous to give the reader something to think about)
My printed volume started with the car ride to the new home so I can’t comment on the stables sequences – though I would have liked to have known more about that part of their lives.
I liked the heroine – childish enough to be convincing, but mature enough to be likeable. I also liked the way she summoned up reserves of courage (both physical and moral) she did n’t know she had – to rebuke the man and to enter the stable.
I do think several readers are being a little harsh. She misses both the horses and the people at her old stables (at one time the experts seemed to be continuously telling us horses were social animals that should n’t be kept alone). My opinion, for what it’s worth is that horses are social in that they like mental stimulation, not necessarily from their own kind.
I do agree though about the candle. No naked flames in the stable! Someone who spent so much time in a stable MUST have had that drilled into them (though perhaps not nowadays when so few people smoke?) Surely they could have had a battery torch or put it in a jar? I saw a Russian war film recently where the stable sentry was smoking, it spoiled the whole picture for me. In real life he would have got such a slap off the guard NCO he would never have done that again. Then again the author did need something to dramatically destroy the barn (and the rock) and there is symbolism to fire (purifying?)
I liked her relationship with her new friend. I liked the fight with temptation to do the right thing.
I found it went too fast, but probably not for its intended readership. I thought the joking was actually very mature. This is very often how those who actually work with the dead or body parts cope. It does n’t mean they are n’t distressed or don’t care.
On the whole I thought the writer was very good at conveying pretty mature themes to quite a young target readership.
It did make me want to read the other volumes, which is a good test of a book.
“As ye sow, so shall ye reap”
We have a man who belonged to the harsh and unsympathetic school of horse training, so well described by Monty Roberts, who becomes so caught up in a battle of wills with the mare Freedom that he bullies her unmercifully resulting in her death and his being crippled for life (I would not like to get on the wrong side of those of you who found this insufficient punishment, particularly for an active professional horseman). The horse herself is so locked up in this battle of wills that her very spirit is imprisoned in the barn in which she is buried.
However, in both cases the message is basically that it’s never too late.
I found the end very surprising, and quite touching in that Freedom gets literally a second chance on life (I think her parentage is quite deliberately left ambiguous to give the reader something to think about)
My printed volume started with the car ride to the new home so I can’t comment on the stables sequences – though I would have liked to have known more about that part of their lives.
I liked the heroine – childish enough to be convincing, but mature enough to be likeable. I also liked the way she summoned up reserves of courage (both physical and moral) she did n’t know she had – to rebuke the man and to enter the stable.
I do think several readers are being a little harsh. She misses both the horses and the people at her old stables (at one time the experts seemed to be continuously telling us horses were social animals that should n’t be kept alone). My opinion, for what it’s worth is that horses are social in that they like mental stimulation, not necessarily from their own kind.
I do agree though about the candle. No naked flames in the stable! Someone who spent so much time in a stable MUST have had that drilled into them (though perhaps not nowadays when so few people smoke?) Surely they could have had a battery torch or put it in a jar? I saw a Russian war film recently where the stable sentry was smoking, it spoiled the whole picture for me. In real life he would have got such a slap off the guard NCO he would never have done that again. Then again the author did need something to dramatically destroy the barn (and the rock) and there is symbolism to fire (purifying?)
I liked her relationship with her new friend. I liked the fight with temptation to do the right thing.
I found it went too fast, but probably not for its intended readership. I thought the joking was actually very mature. This is very often how those who actually work with the dead or body parts cope. It does n’t mean they are n’t distressed or don’t care.
On the whole I thought the writer was very good at conveying pretty mature themes to quite a young target readership.
It did make me want to read the other volumes, which is a good test of a book.