The Horse Whisperer (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THERE WAS DEATH AT ITS BEGINNING AS THERE WOULD BE death again at its end..." (more)
Key Phrases: creek house, doing clinics, prosthetic leg, New York, Tom Booker, Great Falls (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Horse Whisperer is a story made in Hollywood heaven. The novel was written by a first-time author, and the film option was snapped up by aging heartthrob Robert Redford for 3 million smackers. Why take such risks on a brand-spanking-new author? The answer becomes clear upon reading the touching tale.

One morning while teenage Grace Maclean is riding Pilgrim, her goofy, loveable pony, she has a horrendous glass-shattering, bone-splintering, ligament-lynching meeting with a megaton truck that leaves her and her four-legged friend damaged in mind, body, and spirit. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, her jaded, brilliant, bitchy mom, Annie Graves (Kristin Scott Thomas in the 1998 film) is working out a wrinkle in her self-absorbed existence when she gets a call at her plush, Manhattan office about Grace's accident. Racked with guilt, Graves makes it her calling to find the mythical horse whisperer, an equine Zen master who has the ability to heal horses (and broken souls) with soothing words and a gentle touch. Just when it seems he can't be found, what do you know, she finds him. He arrives in the form of Tom Booker-- a rugged, sensitive, dreamy cowboy who helps Pilgrim and Grace repair their fractured selves. To add more mesquite to fire, Booker has a way with not-so-injured, attractive, married women--like Annie. As the plot thickens, so does the familial strife, which threatens to undo Booker's healing work.

Like an expert cinematographer, Evans deftly crafts each scene with precision and clarity, sprinkling in ominous signs and foreboding images. For example, in the opening paragraphs, as Annie starts out on the tragic ride, she comes across a bloody bird wing that seems to have fallen out of nowhere. The weight of impending doom is further strengthened by the truck driver's bad luck--he has a run-in with the highway patrol just moments before his meeting with Grace and Pilgrim. These not-so-subtle subliminal messages are masterfully stitched in throughout the story and may compel readers to act as if they were watching a B-grade horror movie, shouting aloud, "Don't go there!" However sentimental, The Horse Whisperer is an engaging read, sort of like a finely tuned, well-edited film. --Rebekah Warren --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Screenwriter Evans's debut novel spent 38 weeks on PW's bestseller list.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Dell; later printing edition (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440222656
• ISBN-13: 978-0440222651
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (638 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #188,165 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The movie only hinted at doing justice to this story., November 16, 2000

By	LMB (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Horse Whisperer (Hardcover)

Unlike some other reviewers I wasn't expecting this book to be a great work of modern literature but rather a beautiful story that everyman could relate to with a bit of thought. I wasn't disappointed. Maybe the author was a screenwriter and maybe the sentimental story itself is set out to read like a movie plot unfolding, none of that, to my way of thinking, diminished the simple zen beauty of the authors prose which reflected the search for an inner calm in each of the main characters.

Others here have commented on the gore and adrenalin surging accident of Grace and the conveniently named Pilgrim and I from similar experiences found it traumatic - for the horse, but not for Grace herself because her story is really the means by which she and her mother find grace. Her mother Annie is forced to take stock of a life that she fears is not satisfying and which casts an effect on her child and her marriage.

If Tom, in a typical display of the western horseman, seems wooden through a lack of dialogue it is because he relates to the world through the horses he works with, espousing the simple wisdoms of a man who has learned to read what is subtle and unspoken. His loneliness is echoed in the souls of Pilgrim, Grace and Annie.

That Annie and Tom predictably fall in love and betray her marriage vows, in a different rendition of Graces relationship with Pilgrim, is not an issue. It is that only through the catalyst for change in Tom and the nature of his work with Pilgrim we find the key to the characters, that they too must sacrifice the instinct for self preservation to be remade with maturity.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Characterization weak and inconsistent, February 19, 2007

By	Hannah Fowler - See all my reviews

I was drawn to the story because the horse and the family needed healing on many levels. I wanted to know more about how the horse and teenager were rehabilitated. Tom Booker, a.k.a. the Horse Whisperer, was an appealing character because he was a very balanced person. It was his role to be the healer. He had his wounds, but used them intuitively to help others. The author portrayed him as a spiritual sort of guy. Suddenly, we are led to believe that he has an epiphany: He needs Annie! Unfortunately, their mutual desire was portrayed on a superficial level. Tom kept remembering her eyes, her smile, etc. This was teenage crush material; not at all in keeping with his stature or implied integrety. Furthermore, without giving the ending of the book away, Tom's final decision was totally unbelievable to me, considering the fact that he'd earned the teenage girl's trust. Just what she needed, more fodder for Post-Traumatic Stress disorder!

The book begins in a promising way, especially when Tom comes on the scene. However, the ending just didn't live up to my expectations. I skipped the sex scenes and think the main characters would have been a little better off if they had, too!

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not much to like, June 21, 2002

By	John Sloan "sloanjohn" (right there) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I started reading this book only knowing that it involved a mystical sort of man who could communicate with horses. This concept sounded intriguing. The novel turns out to be more about the thoroughly unlikable Annie character. She is is a self-centered woman, who makes one grand gesture to help her daughter by visiting the Horse Whisperer. It is obvious from the start that there will be a romance, but I could see no reason why Tom (the title character) should have any interest in Annie. It makes you feel sorry for Annie's husband, who seems like a nice enough guy, but is left behind in New York. The horse is really the most interesting character, but he just falls into the background as the story moves on.
The wild horses in the story could have been an interesting metaphor, but Evans has an annoying habit of using symbolism and then explaining it too. It is as if he thinks his readers are too stupid to figure it out on their own.