Book Review

The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans Cassette: Corgi Audio Ł12.99 Paperback: Transworld - publishers price Ł6.99 but at Tindalls Ł5.99
Review of the Cassette and the Book Well now you take your pick; read the book; listen to the cassette or go and see the film ! No doubt everyone will have heard of this story by now, and yet there must still be many who haven t read the book . If you have not, you should. Most of my reading is of necessity conducted at bedtime and I commenced reading the book at midnight and at 3.30am I reluctantly put it aside The joy of this book lies not so much in the story but in the writing of it. Nicholas Evans is a gifted and natural writer and you will flow through this book with a total ease. The storyline of The Horse Whisperer is so well documented that I need hardly mention it . The tragic accident to a girl and her horse, their deep mental and physical scars and how they are helped to recovery by Tom Booker - definitely a man of our times - who has a complete knowledge and understanding of horses . There is the inevitable romantic element too - yes this story has everything except a plausible ending. What was Nicholas Evans thinking of when he wrote the conclusion to this book where our hero abandons his infinite knowledge of horses and makes a fatal error. I didn't believe it when I first read it and I didn't feel any differently about hearing the cassettes . But don't let it put you off - 99% of this book is very good indeed. If you make a choice between the book and the cassettes the I strongly recommend the book since it is such a pleasure to read, but the cassettes are well narrated by Peter Coyote and are certainly worth having too.