Stephen

How many horse metaphors can you fit in one book? How many times can you hear the phrase 'took my breath away' before you begin to wonder if you've been reading the same chapter over and over again?

For the answers to these and many other sleep inducing questions please see "Riding Lessons". What this book lacks in originality is makes up for in dressage jargon. Here's the plot: Girl loves horse. Horse dies. Girl lives angry, horseless life. Gets divorced. Comes home. Finds redemption in ... you guessed it ... a new horse. Oh, and she also finds a good, handsome vet the sleep with. Wow.

If all that were not enough, even the tangential characters are drawn from central casting. Take for instance the whining, demanding, Jewish/doctor woman with a New York accent ... this minor character is so formulaic that it almost smacks of anti-Semitism.

Finally, if you like horses don't read this book. They deserve better.