Customer Reviews

Colt Tailing

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Although this book is described as a story about one woman's struggles with growing older and coming to terms with menopause, it's actually much, much more than that. This is a story about a woman trying to untangle the complicated threads that tie family and friends together in an effort to find her own place in life. The author seems effortless in putting to words the things that most of us acknowledge in our relationships, but never speak of. The book reads like a wonderful travelogue, jumping between past memories and present day. The protagonist, Clara, is not flawless by any means, but much loved and respected by this reader by the end. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Upon my first reading, I was swept along, smiling, crying, pondering and enjoying the flow of the book, the narrative of a horsewoman dealing with getting older. Then I read Colt Tailing again and soaked up the images laid out in a manner unique to the author whose first language of German influences her sense of what English prose can do, and whose breadth of knowledge from her worldly experiences of people and places comes through as an authoritative compassionate voice of a heroine. It is a book which frees the reader to sensitively consider the themes of womanhood such as motherhood and marriage, but also the realities of birth, visits to the gynecologist, menopause. This is true for a reader of any age; I am 27. Colt Tailing also considers unique relationships to outsiders, bonds with animals, and a foundation in memories to which everyone can relate. I want to read it yet again.

The idea of a grown women pursuing her daughter's friends for sexual purposes is just disturbing. And the excuse for this sexual betrayal to her husband and family. . .menopause?!