The Horse Whisperer

Rating:
Summary: Promising story turned lackluster
Review: I was attracted to this story as I am both a lover of horses and the mountains of the American West. I knew the book had very mixed reviews, but decided to give it a try anyway. While Evans did a great job of setting up the story it never quite takes off and engages the reader. The ending was simplistic and not in line with the characters. Not a book I'd re-read.

Rating:
Summary: Sensational
Review: I thought this was a great book. I wouldn' t have changed a thing if I wrote it myself. I thought it had good detail and a good story.

Rating:
Summary: The Most Amazing Book!
Review: The Horse Whisperer, by Nicholas Evans, is one of the most amazing books I've ever read in my life. It really pulls you in emotionally. Since I have a horse, I found the accident so realistic it really shocked me. I give it 4 stars because I think the ending could be happier. To continue with tragedy is overkill. It didn't add to the realism of the book. It made me feel like, enough already!

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful book, but it did not need the love story.
Review: 5 stars, 1 star, 5 stars, one star. I've been going through reviews and feel obliged to enter my opinion, though I hadn't planned on it when I began. So here goes, for the people who read the one at the end of the list of 322! The writing and description were beautiful. You could see the places described. (yes, I live in MT, but that's beside the point) I don't think anyone can truely cut that statement up. The characters were THERE. Robert was put in the background just enough to let the main story go on without him. Annie was....the worst character, to put it bluntly. Grace was the most real. Being around her age myself, I can relate with a bit more insight to her problems, those at home and at school. Having an imagination (as I get the feeling some of the writers of the above reviews did not) I can think how it must be to be handicaped all of a sudden. To be no longer independent, which is probably the biggest thing that teenagers strive for these days. The relationship between she and her mother is more than believable. I should know...! Tom is a great character, until about a third of the way into the book. There is no way he could change so much. And he wasn't the suicide type, even after he changed. I hear the Mr. Redford didn't like the ending and changed it. I hope it is for the better. I think it would by no means have hurt the book to focus more on the horse and the "horse whispering" which is what the whole thing was named for after all. And also to have cut out the love story completely. I thought this book was going to be the family and the horse, dealing with getting back together after the accident, with the help of the horse whisperer. To me, that sounds like a great plot in itself. Sure, it needs a little something to make the climax near the end, but it DID NOT have to turn into a soap opera to do that. To sum it up, I enjoyed the thing all the way through, but at various levels of enjoyment, with a wide range between each.

Rating:
Summary: Horses whisper in Madison County
Review: I had high hopes for a book so highly recommended by so many; but upon its completion I felt only anger for wasting time on it; with all of those stacks of wonderful literature awaiting me. I suggest that a baseline IQ or literature degree be required for those writing reviews. Inane, trite, nonsensical and just plain bad.

Rating:
Summary: It was great.
Review: I just finished reading, "The Horse Whisperer", and it was a great book! The author detailed every event and explained their emotions, but it did not drag on! Perfect for a teenager and up!

Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable book filled with emotion and inspiration!
Review: This book is my favorite! Nicholas Evans has a great way of illustrating a story through words. I became really involved in the story as if I were a part of it. I highly recommend this book to all animal lovers, and especially people who do not understand animals!

Rating:
Summary: Bad editor! Bad, bad!
Review: This book was bought for big money based on a proposal of the first 100 pages plus an outline of the rest of the story. The first part of the book was great, riviting, good writing, really drew you in. But before finishing the book, the writer had money in the bank and got very, very lazy. The editor NEVER should have accepted the final manuscript without significant changes. What a weak, cop-out ending! The actions taken in the end were NOT in character. If the writer wanted to make this ending believable, he sure should have written a character that would have made such decisions. Where was the editor when he needed one? There is an old writing workshop adage: if you are going to have a character shoot himself at the end of the story, you'd better put a gun on the mantle in the first scene. Where oh where was the "gun"????

Rating:
Summary: Where have all the good ones gone?
Review: While my preference has always been for informed and interesting non-fiction works, I was "persuaded" to read this book by Mr. Evans, as per the choice of others in my book club. Fortunately, now I have a trump card to recommend we avoid reading a "best seller" for a while. While I approached the book with some eagerness, it soon turned to utter boredom and criticism. The plot, characters, dialog, setting, etc. remained as flat and predictable as the paper it was printed on! Everything was so stereotypical--the self-absorbed corporate woman wanting power (Annie), whose family is constantly wounded by her selfishness--the girl next door daughter (Grace) pressured by her perfect mother strives to be everything, and the loving and misguided husband (Robert) that tries to be the glue that keeps everything together. Of course, to allievate the "pain" of their lives, they need a spiritual balm in the form of a loveable, yet mysterious cowboy (Tom)--who teaches the mother to "feel" again, who instills confidence in the lost daughter, and the naive husband who just continues on without questioning the "miracle" that happens between his wife and daughter. While some of the book borders on interesting, the contrived plot and characters cloud Evan's sometimes hopeful descriptions of the Montana countryside and the lives of the characters, as well as Tom's somewhat intriquing interaction with the horses. Alas! Even that could not save this book for this reader! By the time we reach the final chapter, Evan feels the need to quickly resolve his plot that trots along for over 400 pages, and like many authors falls short. After having endured that many pages, I felt cheated by the canned ending and the knowledge of a "love child" that symbolically attempts to carrying on the healing of a family begun by his father. I now know why the movie rights sold before the book was released--it is a perfect Hollywood movie--perhaps the movie will do the book some j! ustice!

Rating:
Summary: Horse Poop
Review: phew! This book tries desperately to be mystical and romantic but fails. Horrifically. It is a wonder why this one made the bestseller list, much less a film! The characters are wishy-washy and so is the entire plot(?). And the ending! Ho-hum. I tried to give this book the benefit of the doubt, but in summary, I was suckered by the opine of the masses. Please don't bother.