The Lady

Rating:
Summary: I've read this so many times the pages are falling out
Review: Anne, Anne, when will you gift us with a sequel to this wonderful story? As a long time lover of and collector of horse stories, I was thrilled to discover this book. It has everything I enjoy in a story...horses, a young girl with big dreams, a couple of lovers with great obstacles to overcome, and a whole background of heartwarming characters, with a few bad guys thrown in to add spice. As I said, Anne, Anne, when can we have a sequel?

Rating:
Summary: I've read this so many times the pages are falling out
Review: Anne, Anne, when will you gift us with a sequel to this wonderful story? As a long time lover of and collector of horse stories, I was thrilled to discover this book. It has everything I enjoy in a story...horses, a young girl with big dreams, a couple of lovers with great obstacles to overcome, and a whole background of heartwarming characters, with a few bad guys thrown in to add spice. As I said, Anne, Anne, when can we have a sequel?

Rating:
Summary: Too many insignificant details... not enough horses
Review: I love good horse stories, but this was not one in my opinion. Lots and lots of words spent on details that really didn't matter, made the story drag for me, and there wasn't near enough true horse detail. I struggled through the whole book but was quite disappointed. The love scenes were very watered down. I get the feeling the author has dabbled in horses but does not know them in depth. The most glaring error being the American girl who gushes on about showing "Standardbreds", when by a few other comments it becomes apparent she must mean SADDLEBREDS.

Rating:
Summary: captivating, again and again
Review: It seems almost silly to review a book I've read as many times as I've read The Lady; however, I find myself enjoying each new "read" as much, if not more than I did the very first time I discovered the book and thought I'd share my thoughts.

The cover (at least the American paperback version) does not do this book justice. The artwork gives the impression of a dated romance novel, which this book is not. There's romance yes, but beyond that is the rich beauty and history of Ireland, her people and their passion for horses.

From the very first words, as the reader follows her directions to Cornanagh, Ms. McCaffrey invites you into her world and makes you feel a part of the story. You almost expect to be asked to enjoy a cup of tea.

No character is introduced gratuitiously, each has a purpose and moves the action along. She introducecs a wide variety of flavors to add to the mix; tinkers, aristocrats, farmers and just plain old horsemen. Each have a texture all their own - you almost feel as if you know them.

My poor first copy is so badly worn that I've begun the search for another to replace it - until the much anticipated sequel is written. I recommend The Lady as a change from Ms. McCaffrey's usual genre and eagerly look forward to her next invitation to visit with the Carradynes.

Rating:
Summary: Who is the audience for this book?
Review: Much of it seems to be a classic coming-of-age-ish book about girls and horses. From that perspective, the main character is endearing and the horsey life is reasonably well captured. But then there are these glimpses of complicated facets of adult life from inside those characters' heads in a way that seems inappropriate for a teen reader. From the adult side, there are many awkwardly written parts, with several characters and relationships given rather two-dimensional handling, stretches of events and/or character-development happening by way of a few quick sentences, and generally painfully predictable romantic arcs.

There's also a strange anachronistic feeling to the fact that it's occurring in the modern age (for some reason very specific about 1970) but the women are so pre-feminism that it can be difficult to watch their unreasoning deference to their husbands and guardians. Thus there are regular digressions into the way that Irish families don't talk about sex, divorce is illegal, there's little support for battered wives, it's crazy to think a girl can show horses, and so forth. The rest of the book is sufficiently time-independent (as opposed, say, to a medieval setting) as to make those things feel like interruptions to the flow, or stuck in for some ulterior purpose, which is also a distraction.

I am a long-time fan of McCaffrey, for all her different characters and worlds, but maybe she needs the scifi context to generate enough suspension of disbelief (and flights of empathetic imagination) to carry the reader through the interpersonal stuff -- without my going back and rereading a dragon book, say, (at ten years' remove) I can't really calibrate my current impatience against my previous complete enthusiasm. I did get pulled along by curiosity about a few things, but I ended up consigning this one to a local lending library out of embarrassment at having read it, even as "summer trash"... The cover is over the top, but only by a tiny percentage.

Rating:
Summary: Long lost love
Review: The Carradynes ... the father, Captain Michael, his daughter Catriona who is almost 13 and her mother Isabel own a well known stable. To Catriona and Michael their lives seem to revolve around the stable and the horses. Catriona's life is all horses much to her mother's bitter disappointment. Isabel is determined to make Catriona a respectable, ladylike, socially involved, young girl even if that's not what Catriona wants. Michael gets tired of Isabel's ideas and soon the household is an unpleasant place to be, tense and strained. Fate decided to play its hand finally and Mrs. Selina Healy comes onto the scene. Poised, respected, beautiful, elegant, understanding, an accomplished horsewoman, and all that Catriona hopes to become when she grows older. Michael soon comes to apprechiate Selina's skills and Catriona comes to love Selina for all she is. But when Selina faces the truth how will that effect the atmosphere and when Michael comes to face reality what will that bring him? I have read this book so many times that the book is starting to become ragged and think that for anyone over 12 it will be a splendid read!!!

Rating:
Summary: Another Awesome McCaffrey Book
Review: The Lady is an incredibly vivid book: the startling beauty of Ireland and the innate grace of the horse are described with an accuracy born of appreciation for both. I too have read this book so many times it no longer has a cover, and it never loses its appeal. This book will make you wish, not only that you rode, but that you rode like an irishman/woman.

Not many authors can write a book for adults, and make the main character a child. Catriona, while only in her pre-teens, captivated my attention because her inner strength was apparent. McCaffrey does not skimp on characterization, even for the lesser figures. I want a sequel to this beautiful book about the relationship between horse and rider, child and family, husband and wife, and man and woman.

Rating:
Summary: A nice way to get into a different kind of Anne McCaffrey...
Review: The Lady was my first non-science fiction/fantasy Anne McCaffrey experience, and I was totally hooked! She is truly a great storyteller, and this book had me riveted from the get-go; I found myself rooting for the characters here just as much as any of her Pern or otherwise books. If you`re looking for a good read, pick up The Lady and enjoy Anne just as much as you always have in her other storylines.

Rating:
Summary: almost turned me Republican
Review: Warning: This review contains spoilers.

When the horses and the minor characters are considerably more likeable than the main ones, there might be a problem. The three main ones are Michael Carradyne, described as "a very manly sort of man," the trainer/owner of the stable, who cheats on his wife not only during the marriage, but when she's in hospital and also right after she dies; Selina Healey, who like Michael has a monstrous spouse that she is unfaithful to; and Michael's daughter Catriona, who at least is too young to start copying the infidelity of her elders.

Oh, and all three are beautiful, well off and superb riders. With the child, we get hammered with her perfection page after page. About the only thing she does wrong is because a stablehand tells her to, and this is sort of laughed off when it's discovered, because well, she's perfect. She can ride better than anyone except the dead grandfather. Plus her mother was a horrible you-know-what when she was alive. Case closed.

The only character I felt sorry for was the soon-to-be dead wife of Michael. And I only felt sorry for her because all the other "good" "sympathetic" characters hated her, and her husband trots off to a horse show the moment her funeral is over.

Frankly, I was appalled at the behavior in this book. I don't think you can excuse someone's moral shortcomings by their superb riding ability. Not here anyway.