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The Mount (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: halfway hut, dry cakes, white wires, Little Master, Merry Mary, Bright Spot (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

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  • This item: The Mount by Carol Emshwiller

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like Emshwiller's startlingly perceptive short fiction and her previous novel, Carmen Dog (1990), where women begin to degenerate into animals and animals start evolving upward into womanhood, this novel turns our supposed certainties into beautiful and terrible insights. Writing in skeletal prose from the adolescent point of view of Charley, a boy who dreams of becoming a famous racer (ridden by his alien Little Master, the reptilian? avian? marsupial? Future-Ruler-of-Us-All), Emshwiller picks up human history several generations after a successful Hoot invasion has turned most of humanity into "mounts," bred for speed and beauty and trained with whips and savage bits to do their masters' will. In the mountains, though, a few wild humans lurk, led by Charley's father, plotting to rise up against the Hoots and take back the world they lost. Glimpses of arresting sorrow meld here with teenage dreams and hopes and anguish, shaped subtly with a poet's sure touch into finely crafted characterizations of human-as-not-quite-animal, Hoot-as-not-quite-monster, coming together through heartbreak and abandonment of previously hard-held prejudices. Brilliantly conceived and painfully acute in its delineation of the complex relationships between masters and slaves, pets and owners, the served and the serving, this poetic, funny and above all humane novel deserves to be read and cherished as a fundamental fable for our material-minded times.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist

A rider is talking to its mount, a human. The rider (the one who gives a ride) belongs to an alien race, the hoots, that landed human generations ago. Now the hoots keep humans as mounts, breeding them much as humans once bred horses. The very best mounts are imprinted as infants and train with their riders from childhood. Charley, one of the best, is destined to be the mount of The-future-supreme-ruler-of-us-all. When he is about 12, Wilds--renegade humans-- come from the mountains on a raid and kill the hoots. Charley saves his Little Master, though, and becomes the only Wild with a hoot. Mount and rider learn a lot about freedom from the Wilds, and when the humans are ready to fight the rest of the hoots, the solution to a crisis is the unexpected result of Charley and the Little Master's relationship and their understanding of the truth about hoots and their mounts. A memorable alien-invasion scenario, a wild adventure, and a reflection on the dynamics of freedom and slavery. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Paperback: 242 pages
  • Publisher: Small Beer Press; 1 edition (August 1, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1931520038
  • ISBN-13: 978-1931520034
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #566,267 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Carol Emshwiller
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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
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 (7)
4 star:
 (8)
3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible Multi-Faceted Vision of the Future, October 13, 2002
Rather than write another synopsis of the novel, I would instead comment on the number of different themes which present themselves in this incredibly imaginative tale. I see themes of Whites and Black slavery, the relationships between parents and children, the universal process of coming to adulthood, the idea of dominance and submission in relationships, and our treatment of the other creatures on this earth which we call "animals." If we were not the "dominant" species on this planet, would we be treated like the mounts in this story? I believe that we would. And I wonder about something else: If horses could speak, what would they tell us? This is a disturbing story which does what all great literature does. It changes us forever.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent gift for a reading kid., January 5, 2003
By Dr. Steve Irving (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This is a science fiction/young adult novel told from the point of view of 11 year old Charlie.

The story is set in a society where Earth has been colonized by Hoots, who breed, ride and race tame humans. Charlie, a well-conformed Seattle, the strongest and best looking of the human breeds, is chosen as the mount for Little Master, The-Future-Ruler-Of-Us-All.

The story -- a good coming-of-age story on its own fictional merits -- also explores the nature of slavery without pomposity, without simplistic proclamation as Charlie sheds slavery as he also sheds childhood -- both with some regret. The coming-of-age elements (coming to terms with his father, searching for a missing mother, finding a young-adolescent place for himself in terms of family and in terms of a role in society) are beautifully plotted. The fantasy element is imaginative.

A recommendation. Especially if you have a smart 12 year old to read it with.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars So original and really good! (Okay, so I'm bad at titles...), April 26, 2004
By R.K.M. "RKM" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
Woah. Read this whole book on a six-hour flight. Very different from what I expected. It's really good. Carol Emshwiller (the author) really gets inside the heads of her characters. The tale is told mostly from the point of view of Charley, a teenage boy who lives in a world where humans serve as steeds for a ruling class of weak-legged aliens that like to ride around on our shoulders. It's more about the bond between young Charley and an infant alien, the next in line to the alien throne, as they learn together about what it means to live under this current symbiotic(?) system.

Ms. Emshwiller's grasp of psychology is amazing. I especially loved it when she would step outside of Charley's head and spend a chapter from an alien's point of view, or from a different human. The way that she managed to explain the entire society in the first chapter without ever really seeming to lay it on with the exposition. She's a master. I'm definitely going to have to hunt down more of her work.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking science fiction
The Mount is told in the first person by a few different narrators, but mostly by Charley, a young teenaged mount. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Alissa

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read
You have to read this book. Although Emshwiller is really just a poor writer (at age 64, I've read an average of 80 books per year, and at last, with cancer in my bones, I feel... Read more
Published 19 months ago by E. Harrison

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting but over hyped
was a good read but not great
Published on June 13, 2007 by D. Ohrt

4.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful look at master/slave relationships
The Mount, unlike any Carol Emshwiller's previous novels, is fairly straightforward science fiction. In simplest terms, it tells of a revolution against alien invaders. Read more
Published on June 12, 2006 by Richard R. Horton

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book! A must read!!
I picked this book up only after finding nothing else that interested me. My first impression was that the plot line was corny and just plain weird, but in the first chapter my... Read more
Published on March 5, 2006 by M. A. Stamatakos

5.0 out of 5 stars Human Horses Go! Go! GO!
What is slavery? Is it always whips and chains and torture? No. There are many ways a person can be enslaved, and The Mount teaches us this. Read more
Published on February 10, 2006 by Enola

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Novel
It has been a while since I read this book but I greatly enjoyed it.

It seems to be written for younger adults but I believe that people my age (late 20's) and... Read more
Published on August 5, 2005 by J. Akers

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting ideas
This is the first Carol Emshwiller book I've read. I think the idea and the research behind this story is interesting. The characters are interesting and well-written. Read more
Published on July 5, 2005 by TammyJo Eckhart

4.0 out of 5 stars A Light Look at Slavery
In the wake of a small-scale revolt, a human Mount and his Hoot Host, the Future-Ruler-Of-Us-All, learn together what it is to be free. Read more
Published on December 28, 2004 by Silas Traitor

4.0 out of 5 stars Saddle Up!
The Mount is easily one of the best novels I've read this year. Charley, the novel's narrator, is a fascinating and wonderfully realized character who continues to deepen and grow... Read more
Published on January 24, 2003 by Jeff Topham

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