Overbreak Reading: The Horse Whisperer

The first time I ever heard about the book "The Horse Whisperer," by Nicholas Evans must have been some years ago when I watched my Dad read it over the course of a weekend. When I asked him about it, the small review I recieved on the novel, went something like this: "It's really not a book for children. It's pretty depressing stuff."

My preteen self wasnt acustomed to hearing a review like that for a book with horses on the cover.
So I went on with my life, not really remembering about the book until it surfaced in my mothers bookshelf a couple days ago. I had originally signed up to read Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, and had originally gone to take it out of my mothers bookshelf. Instead I found Nicholas Evan's novel,and started reading it over the course of 48 hours. (Just like my father had done years before.)

Finally, I understood why a book with horses on the cover wouldnt be suited for 10 year old girls. Infact the first sentence of the book is haunting enough: "There was death at the beginning just as there would be death at the end" (Evans 1). Throughout the novel, the narrator takes an omniscient tone, tracking the lives of multiple people until their lives collide. In some lines, such as the opening of the book,the narrator forshadows events yet to come, letting the book take on an ominous tone.
The book encompases around a disfunctional family; the working class mother and father raising a mildy rebellious teenage girl.However, all the tension of the family rises to the surface when the teenage girl and her horse get into an accident leaving the girl with one leg, and the horse in a mental turmoil.

Although the main theme of the novel was loss of self-worth due to tragic events, the more important theme seemed to be reconciliation.
As the tragic event occurs, it brings the family closer together as they travel across the country in order to find help for the girl and her horse. The theme of the novel then becomes reconciling a broken mother-daughter relationship as the two seek help. This blending of themes advances the complexity of the nature of humans to rise above otherwise debilitating events in order to find a better place. Right after the accident, Grace goes from questioning "Who's going to want me now?" (53) to feeling a strong sense of self-worth and pride.