Colt Tailing (Paperback)

~ Ute Carson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

You make a skittish colt follow, or tail, a calm one, to get him to cross a strange river. At 55, Clara, a horsewoman, wife and mother, is menopausal—crossing from middle age into old age. She finds her body, her former trusted and reliable ally, failing her, suddenly and unpredictably. As the confidence and sense of self she had built up over many years are shaken, she is drawn back into the intense feelings of vulnerability first experienced during her fatherless youth in war-torn Germany. To make her crossing, she must tail her grandmother and others from her past in an attempt to disentangle herself from early hurtful connections that still complicate her life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 283 pages
• Publisher: PublishAmerica (July 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413724736
• ISBN-13: 978-1413724738
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,485,401 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read!, September 17, 2004

By	Angela Whitacre (Highland, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!, August 31, 2004

By	Reader (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

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.