Book Review: Dinky, The Nurse Mare's Foal

Dinky: The Nurse Mare's Foal
Author: Marta Moran Bishop
Published:  Katmoran Publications (January 13, 2013)
Genre: Pets/Fantasay
Rating: 5/5

I happened across this short novel during one of my late night amazon.com horse-crazed, book searches for my kindle.  I had read about the plight of the nurse mares and foals in the breeding industry but wasn't aware the practice is still common today. Bishop's novel is not only well written but educational as it reveals the horrors of the breeding industry for race horses and show horses.

Dinky is born on a spring night. His mother tells him he will only be with her a short while and to try and remember everything she tells him. She will be forced to raise another mare's foal. When he is less than a week old Dinky is taken from his mother and forced to learn to take milk from a bucket. Then he is sent to auction where meat buyers purchase the "bi-products" of the nurse mare industry: the foals. Dinky is lucky. He is saved by a horse rescue and eventually adopted by Marta and her husband, Ken. However, Dinky's lack of social skills leads him into trouble with both his new owners and herd-mates. Dinky struggles to learn "his place" as he grows and begins to notice his humans are not always happy with him. Will he ever learn to please them?

Bishop's greatest writing talent is her ability to craft the believable first person narration in a horse's voice. Dinky's perception of humans and his surroundings is conveyed with the realistic authority needed to make this narration believable. This book will make horse owner's stop and wonder how their horse(s) are perceiving them. This novel should be read by horse lover's of any age not only for the story, but for the issue it presents. 

Should the practice of nurse mares be outlawed? By all means, this story shall convince its readers, yes. 

(Book #7 for 2013)

Book Review: The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones
Author: Alice Sebold
Published: 2002, Little Brown
Genre: Fantasy/Afterlife/Thriller
Rating; 5/5

Three years ago I asked one of my friends to go see the movie The Lovely Bones with me. At the time, I did not know the movie that left me with tears on my cheeks was based on a book. For some reason, I never did pick up that book even after I found out there was a novel. I did not expect to see this novel for sale in Japan. The rate at which I consumed this novel is something I had not experienced from any other novel I have read this year.

Susie Salmon is 14 the day her physical existence ends. In a hole in the earth she loses first her innocence and then her life. From heaven, which is a collection of the shards of her reality and earthly desires, Susie watches her family and friends. She also watches the man who killed her. Unable to communicate what has become of her, Susie sees her family as they splinter as they try to heal. Over the bittersweet years she sees how her death creates new connections between all those she loved and was loved by.

Sebold is writer who makes full use of the senses in her writing. Through Susie's observations and memories she stitches together a physical and emotional world where the reader cannot help but feel the hope, lost, pain and healing of the characters. I also applaud this writer for the subject matter she chose to write about and allowing herself to create this story. It is from stories like this one readers are reminded the wide spectrum of humanity between goodness and evil. I would encourage anyone to read this novel at some point in their lives.

(Book #6 for 2013)