Riding Lessons

Book Description

Critics

• The Best Reviews: Sara Gruen, Riding Lessons

  Click review title to read full review "Gritty, emotional, superb story." Reviewed by Shayne Sawyer Courtesy Old Book Barn Gazette Posted March 10, 2004 Annemarie Zimmer was an equestrienne and Olympic contender until she broke her neck in a jumping ... (read full critics)

  thebestreviews published on Thu, 16 Sep 2010

• Riding Lessons By Sara Gruen

  Spurred by the success of her best-selling novel, Water for Elephants, which was recently named the 2007 Book Sense Book of the Year, HarperCollins is issuing a new paperback edition of Gruen's impressive debut novel, Riding Lessons. Here, Gruen exam ... (read full critics)

  bookpage published on Sun, 12 Sep 2010

3 Reviews

• 

  You are immediately made to feel sorry for Annemarie who is made redundant and on the same day her husband announces he is leaving to move in with his lover. She receives a call from Mutti (her Mother) to tell her about her Father's degenerative illness and that he has not got long to live. Of cou ... (continue)

  You are immediately made to feel sorry for Annemarie who is made redundant and on the same day her husband announces he is leaving to move in with his lover. She receives a call from Mutti (her Mother) to tell her about her Father's degenerative illness and that he has not got long to live. Of course, thrown into the mix is a troublesome teenage daughter, Eva, aged 15. Not legally old enough to go her own way but old enough to feel entitled to take her own decisions, hence whatever decision Annemarie makes it will not be the right one as far as Eva is concerned.
  Once Annemarie and Eva arrive at the parents horse farm in New Hampshire my feelings towards our heroine changed. Annemarie has a difficult relationship with her parents mainly due to a rigid upbringing and her parents desire for her to become a rider of world class standard. Annemarie has not forgiven them but equally cannot face her Father who has gone from being such a strong figure of authority to a skeleton of himself. She behaves in a cowardly manner by not accepting the situation around her and rejecting those who genuinely try to help her. She treats her daughter in the strict manner she was brought up, saying no and not being open to reason and discussion. Yet Annemarie herself expects people to drop everything for her. She cannot handle her situation and does not engage with her lawyer in preparation for her divorce. I found her obsession over the horse "Hurrah" which Dan (the vet) rescued rather strange. The horse's markings being identical to Harry's, the horse she rode in her prime and I can understand her 'googling' him to find out some history. She discovered that this horse was indeed Harry's brother and had been reported dead by his previous owner for insurance money. Unfortunately, Dan pre-empted her by making the phone call to the horse registry and yes, maybe I would be annoyed, but her character just appears to go off the rails from then on.

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  Booketta said on Oct 2, 2010 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  I really like the style and the plot line in this book. I'm planning to read the next in the series. These are by the same woman who wrote Water for Elephants which is amazing. Great book.

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  Heather Landry said on Nov 9, 2008 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• Riding Lessons

  I really wanted to like this book because I loved Water for Elephants. Sara Gruen must really know horses or she does excellent research because all of the horse parts of the book rang really true. However, the main character was irresponsible, immature, and highly unlikeable. I have the sequel in m ... (continue)

  I really wanted to like this book because I loved Water for Elephants. Sara Gruen must really know horses or she does excellent research because all of the horse parts of the book rang really true. However, the main character was irresponsible, immature, and highly unlikeable. I have the sequel in my TBR pile but am not all that sure that I want to read anything more about this character.

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  Readingrat said on Nov 27, 2007 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• Paperback 416 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0061241083
• ISBN-13: 9780061241086
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Pub date: Apr 01, 2007
• Dimensions: 1290 mm x 839 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Hardcover, Audio CD and Others
• In other languages: other languages Livres Français

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