Funerals for Horses [Hardcover]

Catherine Ryan Hyde (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

What if you were to descend into madness again? In this gritty, compelling tale of a woman's search for her lost childhood, Ella Ginsberg slips into and out of insanity, and manages to cling by a slender thread to the flattened earth of her existence.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Ella Ginsberg, the narrator of this debut novel, comes from a dysfunctional home: her sister commits suicide, her mother descends into psychosis, and her father is imprisoned. Ella, who feels she was "born the wrong species," escapes into her own private world and is protected by her brother, Simon, who takes over the parental reins in their dissolving family. As a growing adult, Ella discovers the tragedy of her abnormal behavior through the help of a therapist. Simon, on the other hand, who never dealt with the horrors in their family, disappears one day without warning from what appears to be a happy family and a successful career. Ella embarks on a journey to recover her brother and, in a series of dramatic episodes, learns to accept her past and move on with her life. Hyde, a noted short story writer, successfully offers a rich blend of metaphors and genuine characters that will touch the hearts of readers. Highly recommended for all collections.?David A. Berona, Univ. of New England, Biddeford, Me.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Brutally lyrical . . . . Compelling." -- Publishers Weekly

"Hypnotizing." -- San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune

Every true work of art creates a world subject to its own laws. San Luis Obispo writer Catherine Ryan Hyde's enchanting first novel, "Funerals for Horses," adroitly illustrates that point. The book blends the narrator's realistic bout of mental illness with a quixotic search through the desert for her missing brother. Far from raising skepticism, this juxtaposition--of the stuff of reality with that of fable and epic journey--results in a compelling evocation of a world in which hidden purposes abound and all creatures of goodwill are linked by subterranean currents of understanding and sympathy. [A] moving novel of mourning, celebration and salvation. -- Evelin Sullivan, The San Francisco Chronicle, July 27, 1997

In her brilliantly wrought, finely plotted first novel, Hyde sends Ella into the Sonoran desert to find her missing brother whom she adopted many years before as her interim God. Ella's red rock journey detours through a parallel hell as we flash back to her terrorized childhood and explore the depths of her mental illness. An established academic author, Catherine Ryan Hyde is a masterful craftswoman with a writing professor's precise draftsmanship. Every scene is sketched with beautiful brevity, to keep the yarn spinning and to detail only that which hones the tale and enthralls the reader. Every vista takes your breath away, but a satisfying sense of clarity and order prevails even through the worst of the craziness. -- Small Press July/August 1997

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 253 pages
• Publisher: Russian Hill Pr; 1 edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965352439
• ISBN-13: 978-0965352437
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #872,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of 18 published and forthcoming books. Her newer novels are Becoming Chloe, Love in the Present Tense, The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance, Chasing Windmills, The Day I Killed James, Diary of a Witness, Jumpstart the World and the UK titles When I Found You, Second Hand Heart, and Don't Let Me Go. The US editions of Second Hand Heart and When I Found You are now available on Amazon.

Older works include the story collection Earthquake Weather, and the novels Funerals for Horses, Pay it Forward, Electric God, and Walter's Purple Heart.

Forthcoming is When You Were Older (Transworld UK, '12).

Pay It Forward was adapted into a major motion picture, chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than 23 languages for distribution in over 30 countries. The paperback was released in October 2000 by Pocket Books and quickly became a national bestseller. Love in the Present Tense enjoyed bestseller status in the UK, where it broke the top ten, spent five weeks on the national bestseller list, was reviewed on a major TV book club, and shortlisted for a Best Read of the Year award at the British Book Awards. Both Becoming Chloe and Jumpstart the World were included on the ALA's Rainbow List, and Jumpstart the World was a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards.

More than 50 of her short stories have been published in The Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train and many other journals, and in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts and the bestselling anthology Dog is my Co-Pilot. Her stories have been honored in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest and the Tobias Wolff Award and nominated for Best American Short Stories, the O'Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Three have been cited in Best American Short Stories.

For more information, please visit the author at www.catherineryanhyde.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading for all sentient beings., March 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Funerals for Horses (Hardcover)

This is a book borrowed from the library, which I must now purchase to have on my bookshelf to reread in several years to check whether I went where my instincts want to lead me now. Funerals for Horses is one of those rare books wherein a seemingly weak woman harnesses her nature to exceed even her own expectations. The protagonist, Ella, embarks on a journey to locate her missing brother and in the process discovers herself. Any woman who has suffered deeply and wanted to leave that pain for the road she can now see ahead, will feel that Catherin Ryan Hyde gave voice to her emotions. What woman has not wished to hear the words offered to Ella by an old man she meets at a critical juncture of her journey: "You have a mission. Most of us only wish we did. It's the purest, most untarnished way to live a life. All the universe envies you. All the people, the animals, even the sun and the clouds and the night. If we could trade places with you, we would. So we line up at your back in admiration. We are all with you, Ella." The lyrical prose which is Ella's voice will stay with you like the hawk on the Mesa. Bravo.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make time for this book, March 2, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funerals for Horses (Hardcover)

Funerals for Horses is a novel that adds an incredible physical journey to the kind of emotional voyage of The Yellow Wallpaper. Ella's "descent into madness" is more a series of frightening dips into a breathtaking clarity, where the surface of the mind is broken again and again with the haunting memories that threaten to ruin her. Ella's final aim seems not to triumph over these visions but to come to an understanding of their impact and, utlimately, of their origins. Catherine Ryan Hyde creates seamless transitions between the levels of Ella's reality. Most striking to me is the development --within Ella's mind-- of the character of DeeDee. More than a stabilizing, conscience-type voice, DeeDee is a parallel to Ella, an other-world, alternate life version of her. DeeDee's urgings to make decisions based on other-than-sensible logic may be Ella's best defense against her own emotions. The novel's voice is a crushing one, heavy with layers of sensation that must be felt simultaneously before they can be experienced separately. Catherine Ryan Hyde has created a story that cannot be interrupted, one that will make you miss your stop on the bus, eat cold cereal for dinner, and stay up long past your normal bed time. Plan accordingly; Funerals for Horses is not to be missed.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well orchestrated dance through the dysfunctional family, April 1, 2000

By 

"bevjkelly" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funerals for Horses (Hardcover)

A beautiful, seamless blend of yesterday's memories and today's realities I was drawn to follow Ella through her dysfunctional childhood to the one place in her life where she makes a conscious decision. She pulls herself together and takes charge in an effort to find Simon, her missing brother, following her instincts and trusting her strengths. Becoming responsible for her destiny instead of constantly being dragged through the dirt by life's past experiences. It reminds me how fragile and random life is and how brave we sometimes have to be to overcome our weaknesses. A deep and powerful read.