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"The God of Animals" by Aryn Kyle (Scribner, ISBN 9781416533245, $25.00)

It's kind of sad when it takes me three starts to finally arrive at a finish.
But what's even sadder is thinking about what a great story I would have missed
had I not made that last, reckless attempt to finish "The God of Animals" by
Aryn Kyle. This book threw me twice, but I kept climbing back into the saddle.

Set on a horse farm in the Colorado desert, this book is the coming-of-age story
of Alice Winston. Her family, or what's left of it, trains show horses. I say
"what's left of it" because Alice's 36-year-old mother, Marian, remains in her
room, severely depressed; Alice's sister, Nona, ran off at age 17 to marry a
rodeo cowboy; and Alice's father, Joe, is physically present, but he doesn't
offer much parental support.

The story opens when the body of one of Alice's sixth-grade classmates, Polly
Cain, is pulled from the canal. Alice didn't really know Polly that well, but
she begins to believe that they were best friends. Alice even tells this to Mr.
Delmar, the seventh-grade English teacher, who she starts calling on the phone
every evening. (Umm, inappropriate?) Alice carries this false delusion of
friendship in her mind all through the summer and into her seventh-grade year.

Life on the horse farm is difficult, and money has been tight since the
departure of star rider Nona. The Winstons have one riding student, Sheila
Altman, but the blue ribbons don't come in fast enough, so they begin to take in
borders. With these new horses, each day brings a steady parade of owners to the barn. Dubbed "The Catfish" by Alice and Sheila, these rich women sit around all day, drink from paper cups, eat frozen grapes, and watch Joe Winston.

Even with a tight (read: non-existent) budget, Joe Winston buys an unbroken
horse, Darling, which he tries to break through long stretches of being tied up
in the hot desert sun. When that doesn't work, he puts her in a pen with
broodmares just separated from their colts, who spend day after day kicking and
biting her. Joe spends too much money on a beautiful dream that only one man can ride--until, that is, he asks Alice to ride her during the reining class at a
horse show.

He asks Alice, who we've not seen ride during this entire story; Alice, who does
not ride in horse shows because she will never measure up to Nona's abilities;
Alice, who describes the first moment in the arena after the gate closes behind
her:

"As soon as the open space of the arena stretched before us, I could feel the mare's body tighten beneath me. And then I knew it: the broodmares, the kicks and bites and days of beatings--none of it had worked. She was not smaller, not meeker. She had endured them, just as she had endured the days she spent tied up in the sun. She was nobody's pet. There would be no trotting. Her mother was a racehorse and she was going to run. Everything came back to bloodlines."

...Alice, who is resigned to die during this event, but instead brings home a blue
ribbon.

This scene occurs two-thirds of the way into the book. So much happens both
before and after this victory, and on so many levels, I'm at a loss to describe
it all. This book is rich, well-written, and worth every minute (and every false
start) you spend on it.

Review by Beth Golay, April 5, 2007

 

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