(Reviewed by Don Jung)
Mark Saha writes about his characters in a snappy fast-paced style about life and their horses. This is a collection of seven short stories that indirectly talks about how man has replaced the companionship of a horse for that of the automobile and loses a part of his humanity along the way.
A young teenager finds love in an unexpected way as he joins a posse to find a killer in “The Getaway of Eddie Jessup”. A Cutting Association President who has to resolve a dispute and gets tossed into an unexpected corner is featured in “Why Men Cheat in August”. “Wide River” is about a young college student who volunteers for a job and finds the love of his life only to see it come crashing down over one mistake he made. These three are my favorites, but all are worth a read.
The stories are moving portrayals of lost people and you get mesmerized by their struggles. You want to see them succeed in a world that has changed and moved to a new order. Yet with the horse in the background, they long for the day on the range or a quiet ride in the forest.
The narratives are well-written and get you hooked into each main character very easily. It’s depressing on how the problems don’t get resolved as you would expect them to, but this is life. There are some memorable moments and you will not be disappointed in these tales. Horses, like most companion pets, give unconditional love to their owners and you wish that could happen to everyone. Splendid stories!
