The horse whisperer door Nicholas Evans

A The Story

1.
The title of the book I read is The Horse Whisperer. And it is written by Nicolas Evans.

2. Setting
a) The book is set in the present. Round the year 1995, because Annie is an editor of a magazine. And she works with technological stuff like a laptop. And Annie has also got a computer at home.

b) The story is about a year long. Because in the winter the accident happens and in the summer Tom dies. At the end there is one little part about a year after Tom’s death.

c) The story is set in New York and in Montana. Grace’s parents work in New York and they have an apartment there.

3. Plot
One day Grace Maclean is horse riding with her friend Judith. They have an accident with a truck and Judith dies and Grace got her leg amputated. Her horse, Pilgrim, got so scared, that he starts acting strange. Grace and her mother are going to see a horse whisperer, Tom Booker. At the end Pilgrim is alright and Tom dies.

4. Characters
a) Main characters
Grace Maclean is a thirteen year old girl. Who has had an accident. Before the accident she was a fun, happy girl. But all that changes and she shuts the world out. She is afraid to get hurt mentally and physically. She feels like no one understand her.

Annie Maclean is the mother of Grace. She blames herself for all the bad things that has happened. Like the accident and the miscarriages that she had. And the blame for herself gets between her and Grace. She gives everything up for Grace. She is also feeling very sad, but she got to be strong for Grace.

Tom Booker is the horse whisperer. He is very silent and speaks rarely. The horses are his friends, he knows them inside out. And so he can make Pilgrim better.

b) Minor characters
Robert Maclean
Judith
The horse, Gulliver
Mrs. Dyer
Frank Booker
Diana Booker
Joe Booker
Scott Booker
Craig Booker
Don Farlow
Wayne Tanner

5. Message
I think that the message is about a family and the love the carry. If it’s not going so well, it can change. Like right after the accident. The family is not very close. Grace only thinks of Pilgrim. But when Pilgrim starts getting better, the family grows closer together

B Your Opinion

1. Which characters did you like?
I really liked Anne Maclean. She had a good, but exhausting job as head-editor of a magazine. But she quits when Grace got an accident. So she can be with Grace and support her. Even though Grace is not nice to her mother and Annie is feeling sad, she has to be the toughest to hold the family together.

I also like Grace. She is in a very difficult situation. She lost a friend. She lost her leg. She got to live in a new neighbourhood. Everything around her is changing. And it takes a lot will-power to get back on a horse again, after such an accident.

2. Which characters did you dislike?
I also disliked Grace. She isn’t kind to her mother. Anne has given up everything to support Grace and she doesn’t see that at all. I think Grace need to be kinder to her mom, because Annie is in a difficult time to and Grace need to understand that.

I really disliked Diane. She is the wife of Toms brother. She doesn’t like that Tom is helping Pilgrim. And right at the first meeting with Annie she disliked her and she didn’t even knew her. She is just not a nice person.

3. What did you feel when you read the story?
I felt sad and also happy. When the accident happened and Grace lost her friend, Judith, and her leg I was feeling rather sad. Losing a friend is always difficult. And losing a leg when your thirteen is also rough. When your thirteen you need to run and play and do al cool stuff. I also felt sad for Annie. Because she tries so hard to do everything right, be there for Grace and to be the toughest, but Grace just acts mean towards her mother. And Tom’s dies, that’s also sadly. An accident is right around the corner

I felt really happy when Pilgrim was getting better. Because then Grace would be happier and the whole family was closer. Also when Grace ride Pilgrim for the first time, I felt happy. Because everybody felt happy at that time.

4. What is your favourite part?
I got two favourite parts. One part was the moment Annie and Grace go to Tom Booker to get Pilgrim better. At first Tom Booker had seen Pilgrim at their house but he got angry and went away. So I thought that they couldn’t get any help for Pilgrim. But then they go to Tom. That I really liked. And I also like the part that Grace for the first time could ride Pilgrim after the accident. All the time she was so sad that she couldn’t ride Pilgrim and how he was feeling. But then he is al better and she can ride him again. I felt happy when I read that.

5. What do you think about the theme?
I think that the theme is reuniting with your family. In this case with her mom, dad and horse. And that is a good theme. So many family are torn apart by one little thing and they should be reunited. Because then you feel whole again.

6. Questions to the writer.
Why did you wrote a book about horses, do you like horses?
I would like to know where he got his inspiration from. Not everybody just comes up with an idea to write a story about a horse whisperer.
Why did you choose to let Tom die at the end?
I would like to know that because you think that it’s going to be a happy ending and then suddenly Tom dies. And if he just had made a step away he wasn’t killed.

C The Summary

Grace and her friend Judith are horse riding. They have an accident with a truck. Judith and her horse get killed. Grace lost her leg and her horse Pilgrim has got a trauma and is very aggressive. Grace has got a prosthesis. Annie, Grace’s mother, quits her job to take care of Grace. Grace isn’t nice at all to Annie. Annie doesn’t want to put Pilgrim down. Because she thinks that a something would die in the inside of Grace.

Annie goes out searching for someone who can help Pilgrim. One day she reads about horse whisperers. Horse whisperers are people who can make a horse better by talking to it. She finds out that in Montana a good horse whisperer lives, called Tom Booker. He went to look at the horse and in what shape he is in and how he’s been treated. He get very angry and leaves. Annie thinks he really can help Pilgrim. So Annie, Grace and Pilgrim travel to the ranch of Tom in Montana.

Tom Booker decided to help them. But he can’t guarantee anything, because Pilgrim is in a bad shape. Pilgrim is scared of everything. And because Pilgrim needs to be rode they go to a cottage on Tom’s property. Something is going on between Tom and Annie and Diana, Tom’s sister in law, noticed that. For the first time after the accident Grace get’s back on a horse of Tom again. And things between Grace and Annie are better. Robert, Grace’s father, is coming over for the weekend.

When Robert is at the ranch Tom and Annie are trying to act normal, because they really like each other. But Roberts feels something is different, but doesn’t relate it to Tom and Annie. Grace tries to get back on Pilgrim, only Tom could ride it. But something happens, she falls of Pilgrim and breaks her prosthesis. Robert and Grace go to New York for a new leg. And Tom had to see another horse. So Annie was all alone. But Tom comes back, because he only thinks of her. They have an affair. When Grace and Robert come back. Annie and Tom threw a party. Grace founds out what is happening between Tom and Annie. She is very angry and she took Pilgrim out for a ride. Annie founds out that Grace and Pilgrim are gone. Tom and Frank are going to find them. And they find them surrounded by a group wild horses. Tom walks to the leader of the group and Grace and Pilgrim can go away. But Tom doesn’t leaves and moves closer to the horse. The horse staggered but Tom doesn’t move. The hooves hit Tom on the head and Tom dies. Grace can’t understand why Tom didn’t stepped away.

Annie, Robert and Grace move to Chatham. Annie got another baby, he looks a little like Tom.