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A review by gregzimmerman
The Horse by Willy Vlautin
4.0
This novel is a simple parable about finding purpose in life. An old man lives alone in a cabin in rural Nevada, reminiscing about his life as a guitarist and songwriter with several country music bands. He'd struggled with alcohol addiction his whole life and has basically come to this cabin to die. Mysteriously, a horse shows up outside his house, and this sends him into sprawling reminiscences about his life and his loves and his ups and downs.
But he has to decide what to do about the horse. It'd be so much easier if it'd just go away. But it doesn't. So he has to confront the problem, something he hasn't done in a long time.
Some books you read for plot, some for characters, some for any number of other reasons. You read Willy Vlautin, I've quickly learned, for voice. I don't know how to describe it exactly, except to say it's just so readable. You don't even feel like you're reading -- the mark of the toppest of top-notch storytellers, in my view.
But he has to decide what to do about the horse. It'd be so much easier if it'd just go away. But it doesn't. So he has to confront the problem, something he hasn't done in a long time.
Some books you read for plot, some for characters, some for any number of other reasons. You read Willy Vlautin, I've quickly learned, for voice. I don't know how to describe it exactly, except to say it's just so readable. You don't even feel like you're reading -- the mark of the toppest of top-notch storytellers, in my view.