The Horse Whisperer, by Nicholas Evans

 

Characters
New York	Choteau
Grace Maclean Robert – father, lawyer Annie Graves – mother, magazine editor-in-chief Elsa – Jamaican nanny Pilgrim – horse   Judith – riding friend Gulliver – horse   Wayne P. Tanner – truck driver   Liz Hammond – Pilgrim’s usual vet Harry Logan – vet at scene of accident, continued to work with Pilgrim Dorothy Chen – Cornell University, worked with Pilgrim   Magazine: Crawford Gates – company president Don Farlow – lawyer Anthony – Annie’s assistant Lucy Friedman – style expert Fenimore Fiske – movie critic, let go	Tom Booker Rachel Feinerman – Tom’s wife, separated Hal – son Rimrock - horse   Frank – Tom’s twin, shared ranch, Double Divide Diane – wife Sons – Joe, Scott and Craig   Ellen – Tom and Frank’s mother Rosie – sister   Terri Carlson – physical therapist   Smokey “Smoke” – helped Tom with chores

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       Annie and Robert had completely different reactions to Grace’s accident and injuries.  Robert could not stop crying, but Annie did not cry at all.  She told him, “You’ve got to stop feeling sorry for her.  Pity won’t help her at all” (page 78).  Do you think a little pity would have hurt?

2.       Discuss the family dynamics in the Maclean family.   The author wrote, “Grace loved and resented her mother in almost equal measure and often for the same thing.  For her certainty, for example, and for the way she was always so damn right” (page 152). 

3.       On the other hand, Annie reflected that to her, “Action had become a substitute for feeling.  Or at least for the expression of it” (page 158).  Can you understand her point of view?

4.       Why do you think Annie was so determined to save Pilgrim?

5.       Another major influence on Annie and Robert’s relationship was their inability to have a second child.  Robert felt that when Annie accepted the editorship of the magazine, he thought that “she’d taken it either to distract or, again, to punish herself.  Perhaps both” (page 50).

6.       The book was published in 1995.  At one point Annie felt that Diane disapproved of how much she worked and seemed to think “that Annie was much too busy to bother herself with being a mother” (page 208).   Do you think this would be addressed the same now?

7.       What was it about Tom that Grace was willing to tell him about the accident when she would not talk about it with anyone else?

8.       How well did the author help you understand a subject that you might not be familiar with, such as amputation and the feelings of someone who has lost a body part or horse training and healing?

9.       Toward the end when Tom made Pilgrim lie down, he said to Annie, “Sometimes what seems like surrender isn’t surrender at all.  It’s about…seeing clearly the way life is and accepting it and being true to it, whatever the pain, because the pain of not being true to it is far, far greater” (page 373).  He was talking about their relationship.  Was this good advice or should they have denied their feelings?

10.   When Grace found out about Tom and Annie, she felt betrayed.   Did you understand her feelings?

11.   Did Tom deliberately let the wild stallion kill him?  Why?

12.   Did you like the ending, chapter 26?  What do you think happened between Annie and Robert? 

13.   Discuss your reading experience.  Did any parts of the book make you feel uncomfortable?  Did you gain any new insights or knowledge?

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