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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
J’ai hésité entre 3 et 4 étoiles.
Il y a quelque chose qui me gêne dans ce livre et j’ai du mal à mettre le doigt dessus. Pour autant je trouve qu’il est très bien écrit et que c’est une belle histoire de guérison et de résilience.
Mais dès que je dis que c’est une belle histoire, je me contrarie parce que en même temps, je trouve qu’il y a beaucoup de clichés. J’ai aimé parfois la profondeur et la justesse des descriptions de certaines émotions et en même temps sur le fond global de l’histoire j’ai eu l’impression de me faire embarquer dans un univers trop superficiel. Je trouve ma propre impression très paradoxale donc je ne sais que dire de plus. J’ai donc mis une note à l’image de ce ressenti, un peu entre les deux extrêmes mais quand même plus bonne que mauvaise.
Il y a quelque chose qui me gêne dans ce livre et j’ai du mal à mettre le doigt dessus. Pour autant je trouve qu’il est très bien écrit et que c’est une belle histoire de guérison et de résilience.
Mais dès que je dis que c’est une belle histoire, je me contrarie parce que en même temps, je trouve qu’il y a beaucoup de clichés. J’ai aimé parfois la profondeur et la justesse des descriptions de certaines émotions et en même temps sur le fond global de l’histoire j’ai eu l’impression de me faire embarquer dans un univers trop superficiel. Je trouve ma propre impression très paradoxale donc je ne sais que dire de plus. J’ai donc mis une note à l’image de ce ressenti, un peu entre les deux extrêmes mais quand même plus bonne que mauvaise.
emotional
informative
inspiring
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
What self-respecting horse loving girl could avoid reading this tragic tale? It's like [book: Black Beauty] for the modern age, with as much back-story and tragedy for the two-legged characters as for the four-legged ones.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
DNF
Pages read: 119/451
I'm not much of an animal lover and I'm definitely not a horse girl, but I still can't stomach pointless animal cruelty. This book has far too much of that for my tastes. Combined that with the glacial pacing and one other issue that we'll get to and I'm calling this one done.
The story starts with two young girls getting into an accident while they're out riding their horses. One girl dies and the other is severely injured. Same goes for the horses. The horse that lives - Pilgrim - has permanent injuries that cause him massive amounts of pain. Pain so severe that no one can get near him, leading him to live in truly horrific conditions. Here are a few quotes about what the horse's life looks like post-accident:
I know that the story is probably going to see Pilgrim magically healed by the end, but I really don't care. It doesn't change the fact that this is animal cruelty. No living creature should be kept alone, in the dark, surrounded by its own excrement for months on end. That is especially true when the creature in question has no ability to understand what is going on and why it's being treated in this horrific manner.
Humans making animals suffer so that the humans can feel better is something I consider inhuman. That situation is what this story is all about: torturing an animal so that its owner and her family can feel better and learn to love again or some other BS. I didn't read far enough to find out.
I might feel differently if the story saw people trying to help the horse right from the start, but as I said above, he's kept locked in this barn for literal months with everyone thinking that there's no way to help him. The only reason he's not put out of his misery is because his owner's mother - Annie - can't stand to let him die.
It's at this point that I should mention that Annie lives in NYC, at least an hour away from where Pilgrim is being kept. The day-to-day care of the horse is handled by others. There's nothing to indicate that Annie or her daughter - Grace - even go to see the horse outside of a single viewing that left Grace traumatized and heaven forbid that we traumatize Grace by confronting her with what she and her family are doing to Pilgrim! But Pilgrim actually going through all that pain? Totally fine, I guess.
Then there's the pacing.
This is an extremely slow story. The accident that starts everything off doesn't happen until about 25 pages in and everything prior to that accident is just tension that builds to set up the accident even though you know it's coming right from the first words of the book, "there was death at it's beginning."
The accident is followed by 75 pages about Grace recovering and Pilgrim being tortured with no hint at how any of that is going to be resolved. I read the first two chapters that start to set up what happens next, realized that it was going to be just as slowly paced as the rest, and could feel dread building in my stomach. This is clearly supposed to be a feel-good story, but there was nothing feel-good about the idea of Pilgrim being tortured for another 300 pages. I don't see what else could fill the book's massive length beyond that, uninteresting character backstories, and weird racial fetishism.
That last one is not a pervasive issue, but I'd be remiss to not mention it because it's just so jarring. These are the lines I'm referring to. Lines that come from a married man working with a professional college:
And then, after Dorothy Chen - a highly respected clinician - gets bit by Pilgrim and mentions that she has a perfect set of teeth marks on her shoulder that she can only see in the bathroom mirror, we get this:
To be clear, Dorthey does not mention her shoulder in a sexy way. It's a casual comment she makes while discussing the myriad of people that have been injured by Pilgrim. None of those injuries spawn any weird comments, but Dorthey mentions her shoulder and then we get this nonsense.
At no point in the book are any of the white woman are ever discussed like this, though we do get lines like this:
What does this even mean? It's such a nonsense line that I probably could have looked past it if it weren't for the Dorthey stuff, but reading it after the Dorthey stuff? It was the point where I went, "Okay, let's take this as a sign, finish this chapter, and call it a day." After reading a few reviews and learning that there's a I'm very happy to have given up when I did because I really can't stand those.
In summary, I don't recommend this book to anyone. Horse books are far from my genre of choice, but I know that there are a lot of them out there and I am certain that you can find one that's better than whatever the heck this one is trying to be!
Pages read: 119/451
I'm not much of an animal lover and I'm definitely not a horse girl, but I still can't stomach pointless animal cruelty. This book has far too much of that for my tastes. Combined that with the glacial pacing and one other issue that we'll get to and I'm calling this one done.
The story starts with two young girls getting into an accident while they're out riding their horses. One girl dies and the other is severely injured. Same goes for the horses. The horse that lives - Pilgrim - has permanent injuries that cause him massive amounts of pain. Pain so severe that no one can get near him, leading him to live in truly horrific conditions. Here are a few quotes about what the horse's life looks like post-accident:
The smell of urine hit her in a sudden, pungent wave and she could see the floor was filthy with dung. (page 94)
Mrs. Dryer's boys devised a sly technique to help [the vet give Pilgrim his shots.] They cut a small, sliding hatch into the bottom section of the door through which they pushed in Pilgrim's food and water. When a shot was due, they would starve him. (page 100)
I know that the story is probably going to see Pilgrim magically healed by the end, but I really don't care. It doesn't change the fact that this is animal cruelty. No living creature should be kept alone, in the dark, surrounded by its own excrement for months on end. That is especially true when the creature in question has no ability to understand what is going on and why it's being treated in this horrific manner.
Humans making animals suffer so that the humans can feel better is something I consider inhuman. That situation is what this story is all about: torturing an animal so that its owner and her family can feel better and learn to love again or some other BS. I didn't read far enough to find out.
I might feel differently if the story saw people trying to help the horse right from the start, but as I said above, he's kept locked in this barn for literal months with everyone thinking that there's no way to help him. The only reason he's not put out of his misery is because his owner's mother - Annie - can't stand to let him die.
The thought suddenly occurred to Annie that perhaps this need she felt to keep Pilgrim alive, to find someone who could calm his troubled heart, wasn't about [her daughter] at all. Perhaps it was about herself. (Page 110)
It's at this point that I should mention that Annie lives in NYC, at least an hour away from where Pilgrim is being kept. The day-to-day care of the horse is handled by others. There's nothing to indicate that Annie or her daughter - Grace - even go to see the horse outside of a single viewing that left Grace traumatized and heaven forbid that we traumatize Grace by confronting her with what she and her family are doing to Pilgrim! But Pilgrim actually going through all that pain? Totally fine, I guess.
Then there's the pacing.
This is an extremely slow story. The accident that starts everything off doesn't happen until about 25 pages in and everything prior to that accident is just tension that builds to set up the accident even though you know it's coming right from the first words of the book, "there was death at it's beginning."
The accident is followed by 75 pages about Grace recovering and Pilgrim being tortured with no hint at how any of that is going to be resolved. I read the first two chapters that start to set up what happens next, realized that it was going to be just as slowly paced as the rest, and could feel dread building in my stomach. This is clearly supposed to be a feel-good story, but there was nothing feel-good about the idea of Pilgrim being tortured for another 300 pages. I don't see what else could fill the book's massive length beyond that, uninteresting character backstories, and weird racial fetishism.
That last one is not a pervasive issue, but I'd be remiss to not mention it because it's just so jarring. These are the lines I'm referring to. Lines that come from a married man working with a professional college:
[Dorothy Chen's] smile was the reason he wasn't going to mind driving a couple hundred miles every day to see Pilgrim. She was like a virgin princess from one of those Chinese art movies his wife liked. (page 67)
And then, after Dorothy Chen - a highly respected clinician - gets bit by Pilgrim and mentions that she has a perfect set of teeth marks on her shoulder that she can only see in the bathroom mirror, we get this:
Dorothy Chen, examining her naked shoulder in the bathroom mirror. Oh boy. (page 84)
To be clear, Dorthey does not mention her shoulder in a sexy way. It's a casual comment she makes while discussing the myriad of people that have been injured by Pilgrim. None of those injuries spawn any weird comments, but Dorthey mentions her shoulder and then we get this nonsense.
At no point in the book are any of the white woman are ever discussed like this, though we do get lines like this:
The girlishness was contradicted by the manly way she walked. It was the walk of someone used to being obeyed. (page 114)
What does this even mean? It's such a nonsense line that I probably could have looked past it if it weren't for the Dorthey stuff, but reading it after the Dorthey stuff? It was the point where I went, "Okay, let's take this as a sign, finish this chapter, and call it a day." After reading a few reviews and learning that there's a
Spoiler
cheating plot in the later half of this book,In summary, I don't recommend this book to anyone. Horse books are far from my genre of choice, but I know that there are a lot of them out there and I am certain that you can find one that's better than whatever the heck this one is trying to be!
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
poop ending
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Animal cruelty, Infertility, Grief