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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
I feel like I came at this book from two positive angles: Griffiths was with my wife at Sewanee, and the subject matter, horses and small-town love, are near and dear to the hearts of the students I teach at my predominalty equestrain college. And this didn't disappoint:
There's the a-plot, which deals with Joannie and her romantic problems, which are saved from being trite or flat by the believably escalating actions of a former lover and some strong backstory and character work. Griffiths never seems to run out of things to tell us about Joannie that we didn't know, but it all feels natural. A strong supporting cast and good dialogue helps a lot, too.
The horseflesh elements of the book, it's b-plot jostling between Foxfire and Zephyr, as Joannie tries to make something out her skills and desires as a horse-jumping fool, were more of a voyeuristic thrill for me. I'll never understand the relationships people have with their horses. I'm not sure I understand them better after reading this, but Griffiths writes about it with convincing poetry, and there's some good work here in that regard, especially at the very close of the novel, when the jumping stuff does take flight as metaphor.
I wished for a little more from the metaphor of the title. I think that it hints at something harder to talk about-- the way lots of talented riders are in very complicated relationships with the owners of the horses they ride. Everyone I know in that world feels those pressures, but this novel, while it engages them, never fully commits to exploring the feelings that make those dynamics so perilous. And on the level of metaphor, I wanted Griffiths to say something about whether another woman's husband is more or less than a borrowed horse, but Griffiths in the end shied away from going there.
A rich and rewarding read, despite my modest quibbles.
There's the a-plot, which deals with Joannie and her romantic problems, which are saved from being trite or flat by the believably escalating actions of a former lover and some strong backstory and character work. Griffiths never seems to run out of things to tell us about Joannie that we didn't know, but it all feels natural. A strong supporting cast and good dialogue helps a lot, too.
The horseflesh elements of the book, it's b-plot jostling between Foxfire and Zephyr, as Joannie tries to make something out her skills and desires as a horse-jumping fool, were more of a voyeuristic thrill for me. I'll never understand the relationships people have with their horses. I'm not sure I understand them better after reading this, but Griffiths writes about it with convincing poetry, and there's some good work here in that regard, especially at the very close of the novel, when the jumping stuff does take flight as metaphor.
I wished for a little more from the metaphor of the title. I think that it hints at something harder to talk about-- the way lots of talented riders are in very complicated relationships with the owners of the horses they ride. Everyone I know in that world feels those pressures, but this novel, while it engages them, never fully commits to exploring the feelings that make those dynamics so perilous. And on the level of metaphor, I wanted Griffiths to say something about whether another woman's husband is more or less than a borrowed horse, but Griffiths in the end shied away from going there.
A rich and rewarding read, despite my modest quibbles.
Pretty blah. Poetic and lovely writing at places, but not enough realistic horse stuff, plausible situations or real characters.
I picked this book up at our local library's "withdrawn books" sale. For only $1, I bought it based purely on the title and the little info given on the back. Finding a synopsis for this book was oddly difficult, even here on Goodreads. This book had a lot of promise and a few major highlights.
The book is centered on the life of Joannie, who recently moved back to her Idaho hometown after a failed Olympic show-jumping stint in New Jersey. She arrives home to deal with some ghosts: the untimely death of her high school best friend, and her mother's fight with MS. When her truck breaks down outside of a town, she meets Dave, a stranger who comes to her rescue. They begin a brief but torrid affair which is ended upon Joannie's discovery that he is married. The fallout of this affair, and trying to deal with her demons, make up the bulk of the book. It is punctuated by Joannie's horse life, which is all-consuming, for better or worse.
First, what I liked about the book: the horses! Clearly, Griffiths is a horse-woman because she wrote Joannie's interactions with her horses and her rides with the knowledge that only a true horse-person could capture. I have been a "horse girl" most of my life; like Joannie, it is my passion that runs deep. Nothing ruins a book for a reader like spoiling the very basics of what they love...so many horse centered novels do that to equestrians. I saw so much of my own (former) horse in Zephyr that it left me in tears because it felt so real.
However, there were two major things that spoiled this book for me, despite the deftness of her horse-centered writing. First, this book needed a better editor. The exposition was much too long for the rapid fire pace that it ended with. Nothing really happened for at least the first 100 pages and with a total of only 300, that's far too much. There were many places where it seemed that Griffiths was trying so hard to be profound that the turns of phrase (and sometimes whole paragraphs of musing) made little sense. Joannie would be thinking of one thing, then randomly remember Mouse (her friend who passed) and then muse about something completely nonsensical. This happened nearly every other page. The second thing that bothered me **spoilers ahead** was Joannie's reaction to nearly everything that Dave did. He was completely unhinged from the outset and I have no idea why she would just shrug off this behavior from someone she had a very brief fling with. He attempted to abduct her and smashed her head into a car door and she thought this was just normal? She spent the whole book talking about her parent's wonderful relationship and the fact that she never had boyfriends, so I'm not sure where that would resonate as okay in her mind. And then to flaunt Timothy in his face, purposely make plans with Dave and his wife?? Seriously?? Who does that? The entire relationship was bizarre and completely unbelievable.
Griffiths is a promising writer and I think that this was her first novel. Hopefully she finds some editing help in the future, but I would certainly read another of her novels if they are horse focused. The fact that she got the horses so right that I was crying was enough for me to forgive my glaring issues with the writing.
The book is centered on the life of Joannie, who recently moved back to her Idaho hometown after a failed Olympic show-jumping stint in New Jersey. She arrives home to deal with some ghosts: the untimely death of her high school best friend, and her mother's fight with MS. When her truck breaks down outside of a town, she meets Dave, a stranger who comes to her rescue. They begin a brief but torrid affair which is ended upon Joannie's discovery that he is married. The fallout of this affair, and trying to deal with her demons, make up the bulk of the book. It is punctuated by Joannie's horse life, which is all-consuming, for better or worse.
First, what I liked about the book: the horses! Clearly, Griffiths is a horse-woman because she wrote Joannie's interactions with her horses and her rides with the knowledge that only a true horse-person could capture. I have been a "horse girl" most of my life; like Joannie, it is my passion that runs deep. Nothing ruins a book for a reader like spoiling the very basics of what they love...so many horse centered novels do that to equestrians. I saw so much of my own (former) horse in Zephyr that it left me in tears because it felt so real.
However, there were two major things that spoiled this book for me, despite the deftness of her horse-centered writing. First, this book needed a better editor. The exposition was much too long for the rapid fire pace that it ended with. Nothing really happened for at least the first 100 pages and with a total of only 300, that's far too much. There were many places where it seemed that Griffiths was trying so hard to be profound that the turns of phrase (and sometimes whole paragraphs of musing) made little sense. Joannie would be thinking of one thing, then randomly remember Mouse (her friend who passed) and then muse about something completely nonsensical. This happened nearly every other page. The second thing that bothered me **spoilers ahead** was Joannie's reaction to nearly everything that Dave did. He was completely unhinged from the outset and I have no idea why she would just shrug off this behavior from someone she had a very brief fling with. He attempted to abduct her and smashed her head into a car door and she thought this was just normal? She spent the whole book talking about her parent's wonderful relationship and the fact that she never had boyfriends, so I'm not sure where that would resonate as okay in her mind. And then to flaunt Timothy in his face, purposely make plans with Dave and his wife?? Seriously?? Who does that? The entire relationship was bizarre and completely unbelievable.
Griffiths is a promising writer and I think that this was her first novel. Hopefully she finds some editing help in the future, but I would certainly read another of her novels if they are horse focused. The fact that she got the horses so right that I was crying was enough for me to forgive my glaring issues with the writing.