Rating: 
Summary: Predictable plod ,uh, plot cliche char. AND bad writing!
Review: Okay, here's the scenario: Mom is the quintessential yuppie-from-hell, Dad the benevolant Uber-NPR dude, and the daughter is a paper cutout teen. All have the reader wondering "why should I care?" Well, it gets worse. At the core of this book is a tendency to tell rather than show. If Nicholas Evans didn't constantly remind the reader of the transformation Annie (wench-yuppie Mom) undergoes, how much pain Grace (Valley girl teen, attending private school on the upper east side of NYC - like fer sure! How EIGHTIES Nick!) feels, and how spendidly _SUBTLE_ Tom the Horse Whisperer is I would forget myself in cheap cinematic descriptions of weather, sunsets, urban life, western landscape et al. The "lovely" juxtaposition of western "folk" with the urban Annie is another cliche in characterization. Annie clashes with a "Country" contemporary (i.e. another woman in her 40's) and what could be a revealing interaction between the two culminates as a weak plot device at the climax of the story. Yikes. Flat as the characters are, the plot is Death Valley - below sea level that is. One anticipated event plods it's way after another marching along to a predictable, and pat, ending. It leave the reader with a bad case of "what did I just do?". Why waste a few hours on nothing more than a movie treatment when you can just see the flick in two. Ack, Ack. It's a hairball of a book. If you want Gothic romance, even with a horse and a bit of adultery, read Jane Eyre, bathe in the light of great writing and give this poorly disguised harlequin romance a rest. And, yes, the horse should have been put down. The only believable trait the main character (Annie) had was selfishness - even Mr. Rochester tried to explain his away.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the greatest romances of all time
Review: I absolutely fell in love with this brilliant work of art from the beginning! The unique charachters against the beautiful backdrop make this the best romance since The Bridges of Madison County. I can't wait to see the movie, because all through the book I imagined Kristin Scott Thomas in Annie's part, and lo and behold, Redford put her in the movie. It takes a woman like Thomas to convey the incredible passion in this powerful story that will live on through the ages.
Rating:
Summary: This book gives a account of the way to train horses
Review: The novel is very good. The romance part I could do without, but about the training of a horse is terrific. I hope that may horse people read this book, or at least watch the movie. They will get a better understanding of how to treat a horse with respect. Horses don't plan to be cared by us - they rather be free. But, with the right approach to training, as in the book, they can be our best companion.
Rating: 
Summary: In retrospect, they should have shot the horse.
Review: I was captivated by the beginning of the book, but when it turned in to a tawdry romance I felt betrayed. The ending was absurd, and I have to think that Grace will be even more shattered by Tom Booker's death than she was from the consequences of the truck accident.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent with more
Review: This book was hard to put down. I found myself reading the whole thing in a matter of two days. It cant hurt you, just read it, and I can guarantee that the begining will grab you attention.
Rating:
Summary: Wish it could have gone on and on
Review: Stick with it through the difficult beginning.
It is a beautiful story and I thoroughly enjoyed
every moment of the book. Hope the movie
does it justice.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: I don't want to reiterate what many of you have so elonquently expressed (specifically Geneva, 4/11; Wild Colorado, 4/08; and Montana 3/27). But - This is NOT good writing or storytelling. I agree that using affairs to "heal" yourself will seldom do that. She found Tom exciting? Of course she did. Do any of you in a long-term relationship remember what it felt like at first? That fire doesn't last (it does creep back in at different times, though!), but the loyalty and constant love that Robert gave his family - that's real love. Why women (I am one, by the way) find stories like this and Madison romantic, is beyond me. The women are portrayed in a favorable light only when they are stripped of their strenghts. Annie had a husband who adored her and supported her in all her pursuits. Poor, poor Annie. I am so very dissapointed. Weak characters, weak, eak writing.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of the best, and I loved it!
Review: Just wanna say that this is one of the best books I have ever red. I'm 15 years old and I really felt with Grace, we have a lot of the same sides, not that I have lost my leg, but..... I also like the way Tom helpes Pilgrim, but I didn't like it when Tom died. He was a person in the book, who the readers got to know, and suddenly he died. I want to know more about Annies child and how it goes on. You get to know the nature, and sometimes I really miss it. Living in Norway which is a very different contry from the US, is hard when I'm reading all about the beautiful nature and the country and so on. When you read about the horse, Pilgrim I think you see it from an other way if you know hoses and are used to them, which I am . This book is great, and I also know that a lot of my friends think too. P.S. I'm really looking foreward to the film. Lots of love from Irene Sandivik Solberg.
Rating: 
Summary: Alrighty then..(with apologies to Jim Carrey)
Review: I was jarred everytime I read the word "alright." I don't believe this spelling is acceptable so why was it allowed? It is alwrong. Although the ending is a bit contrived, the rest of the book is fairly predictable. The adulterous affair was only a matter of when not if. Too long, but readable enough for me to want to finish although the writing was pedestrian, needed a bit more Sidney Sheldon and a little less Nicolas Sparks and Robert Waller.
Rating:
Summary: Don't read this book if you don't like romance...
Review: I chose a 3 because the beginning was great. I thought it was going to be about a horse that's spirt was broken by a horrible accident, and they were going to put it back together. Well, i was right but from the 450 pages, only about 75 of them were about the horse. I read it because i love horses, but this wasn't about horses.
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