Helpful Score: 10
First I must fess up that Gloss gets extra points here because of the locale of the story. She has claimed northeast Oregon as her stomping grounds, inventing Elwha County from the wheat lands and foothills of the region just as deftly as Faulkner invented and claimed Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. More important, she gets it right, and grants this reader multiple little thrills of recognition throughout the narrative.
That said, you dont have to know Canyon City from the Grand Canyon to relish this honest tale of a young woman choosing her own way in WWI-era Oregon. Martha Lessen casts off from her Pendleton home, determined to make her own way in an amalgam of youthful fantasies of a West that never was, mingled with a set of real-life skills in horse-taming that runs counter to the rope-em-and-bust-em philosophy of the era.
Along the way, she meets and becomes part of the lives of various small ranchers and wheat farmers in this still-raw country where aging homesteaders and the adult children of homesteaders mingle uneasily with newcomers trying and sometimes failing to bend the land to their will.
Gloss writes like shes the love-child of Sandra Dallas and Cormac McCarthy, with a spare and open style and a clear understanding of the hearts of her characters two-footed as well as four-footed. The majority of them are beautifully and realistically drawn, and even the horses become individuals, without falling into Disneyesque anthropomorphism.
Elwha County is a place you want to visit, and the only quibble I have with the book is that Gloss seems reluctant to leave it, as the last couple of chapters seem superfluous and are definitely anticlimactic.
Overall, this quickly-read novel is as welcoming as a warm kitchen on a winter day, and almost as hard to leave.
That said, you dont have to know Canyon City from the Grand Canyon to relish this honest tale of a young woman choosing her own way in WWI-era Oregon. Martha Lessen casts off from her Pendleton home, determined to make her own way in an amalgam of youthful fantasies of a West that never was, mingled with a set of real-life skills in horse-taming that runs counter to the rope-em-and-bust-em philosophy of the era.
Along the way, she meets and becomes part of the lives of various small ranchers and wheat farmers in this still-raw country where aging homesteaders and the adult children of homesteaders mingle uneasily with newcomers trying and sometimes failing to bend the land to their will.
Gloss writes like shes the love-child of Sandra Dallas and Cormac McCarthy, with a spare and open style and a clear understanding of the hearts of her characters two-footed as well as four-footed. The majority of them are beautifully and realistically drawn, and even the horses become individuals, without falling into Disneyesque anthropomorphism.
Elwha County is a place you want to visit, and the only quibble I have with the book is that Gloss seems reluctant to leave it, as the last couple of chapters seem superfluous and are definitely anticlimactic.
Overall, this quickly-read novel is as welcoming as a warm kitchen on a winter day, and almost as hard to leave.
Helpful Score: 4
Reviewed by LadyJay for TeensReadToo.com
It is the winter of 1917, and the United States has finally aligned itself with the allies of World War I. Times are hard. Young men are being shipped overseas at an alarming rate. Ranchers and farmers are scrambling to find adequate help. They must settle for older hired hands and young women looking for work.
Nineteen-year-old Martha Lessen has left her family in search of such work; specifically, horses that need "gentling." She makes her way to Eastern Oregon territory and sets up a circle with several horses that need breaking. During her stay in Elwha County, Martha becomes a part of the ranchers and farmers lives. She learns their secrets and listens to their stories. The female broncobuster who wished only to tame horses becomes a part of their community.
THE HEARTS OF HORSES has a quiet profoundness about it. Readers will not find anything flashy about this story, and in this time of thirty-second sound bytes and fast-food media, that sounds just fine. Gloss' main character is a worthy protagonist. A sturdily built young woman who has dreamed of the places mentioned in Western romance novels, she only wishes to roam free amongst her horses. It is a beautiful, poignant story that many people will enjoy reading.
Horse lovers will be especially drawn to the novel because of the care that Gloss takes while describing each animal and his/her temperament. Take the time to read this tale of a female horse whisperer - it will not disappoint.
It is the winter of 1917, and the United States has finally aligned itself with the allies of World War I. Times are hard. Young men are being shipped overseas at an alarming rate. Ranchers and farmers are scrambling to find adequate help. They must settle for older hired hands and young women looking for work.
Nineteen-year-old Martha Lessen has left her family in search of such work; specifically, horses that need "gentling." She makes her way to Eastern Oregon territory and sets up a circle with several horses that need breaking. During her stay in Elwha County, Martha becomes a part of the ranchers and farmers lives. She learns their secrets and listens to their stories. The female broncobuster who wished only to tame horses becomes a part of their community.
THE HEARTS OF HORSES has a quiet profoundness about it. Readers will not find anything flashy about this story, and in this time of thirty-second sound bytes and fast-food media, that sounds just fine. Gloss' main character is a worthy protagonist. A sturdily built young woman who has dreamed of the places mentioned in Western romance novels, she only wishes to roam free amongst her horses. It is a beautiful, poignant story that many people will enjoy reading.
Horse lovers will be especially drawn to the novel because of the care that Gloss takes while describing each animal and his/her temperament. Take the time to read this tale of a female horse whisperer - it will not disappoint.
Helpful Score: 3
I was initially drawn to this book because it has "horses" in the title, but it turned out to be very engaging. It takes place during WW 1 in a small western town where a young woman arrives looking for work breaking horses. She finds the work, and the descriptions of her work with horses are wonderful. In addition, all of the people she meets are unique and interesting, as are the changes and growth that she experiences. The characters ring very true to life and true to the era. I really enjoyed the book.
Helpful Score: 2
This is a wonderful book about life in rural Oregon during WWI. The main character, Martha Lessen, is a young cowgirl searching for work breaking horses "to saddle." As the story opens, she is itinerant, but she is taken in by a family and eventually by a community. This story portrays kindness and friendship as critical glue for the survival of both individuals and their community. An absorbing book, but also a quick read.
Helpful Score: 1
This was a delightful slice of life book. It showed the effect of WWI on ordinary rural people of the Northwest. You see the world thru the eyes of Martha Lessen, a young woman alone with her own ideas of horse breaking. As she begins to know her neighbors and care, so does the reader. It was nice to see the animals personalized without making them humans with fur. If you enjoyed "The Faraway Horses" or anything by Monty Roberts, you will enjoy her "horse whispering". I am recommending this book to anyone interested in history and horses. An excellent people book.
Helpful Score: 1
I bought this book a couple of weeks ago and read it once for my book club. I really enjoyed it. I gives great insight into life in Eastern Oregon around 1917. I grew to like the main character and all her friends. I also learned a lot about horses! Enjoyable read.
Helpful Score: 1
I found this book a little hard to get into at first but very quickly it became a "can't put down" kind of book. The characters that Martha Lessen encounters in rural Oregon during WWI are so finely drawn they almost seem real. The author's writing style is straightforward but not simplistic. This is a really good read. Sad to see it end.
Helpful Score: 1
Great book. You will not be able to put it down.
Very interesting. Reads more like a well researched biography than a novel. Set during WWI, when women had to take over many jobs that the men would normally do. Very well written, very enjoyable.
If you like horses, history and a good, quiet story this is a good read. Laid in Oregon during WW1, it's about a girl horse trainer circuit rider who uses gentle methods instead of the "breaking" of horses that was the norm at the time. No sex or violence, just good character development, and assorted horses. A part of Western history we don't hear about.
Beautiful book, from start to finish. You'll love not only the main character but all the people in the book by the time you're finished. This one should be made into a movie.
Why isn't she writing more horse novels?
Lovely story. Good for all ages. Great for readers that like stories about horses, cowgirls or early 1900s.
Beautifully written, spare and eloquent, truly the hearts of horses and the people, especially one woman, who loves them.
A poignant novel about a young woman finding herself in the joy of training horses. The author gives a glimpse of what Elwha County, Oregon was like during the war years. The cast of characters gives a gut wrenching peak at life and death and love.
I loved this book. It started out a tiny bit slowly, but I didn't have to stick with it too long at all before I got sucked in. This is a book that takes place on the "home front" of World War I, in rural Oregon. The main character is a female horse wrangler. She helps people domesticate wild horses. I would consider it somewhat of a coming-of-age tale for her, and a great historical fiction read in general.
I read this against the backdrop of "Downton Abbey" which covers the same period of time, yet with a wildly different cultural context. The contrast between the books heroine and the Crowley sisters is really interesting--I learned a lot about early 20th century American West, and about the roles available to women. While "Downton Abbey" chronicles the lives of the privileged, this book shows readers ordinary people--less pretty, more physically hardy, less bound by class--but equally challenged to find a way in their world. Among other things I learned in this book was that condoms were illegal in the early part of the century. Who knew?
