The Mare

De: Mary Gaitskill

Narrado por: Kyla Garcia, Christa Lewis, Sean Pratt, Nicol Zanzarella

From the author of Veronica, a finalist for the National Book Award for fiction, comes Mary Gaitskill's most poignant and powerful work yet: the story of a Dominican girl, the white woman who introduces her to riding, and the horse who changes everything for her.

Velveteen Vargas is an 11-year-old from Brooklyn who is granted a summer vacation in the country, courtesy of the nonprofit Fresh Air Fund. Her host family is a couple in upstate New York: Ginger, a failed artist on the fringe of Alcoholics Anonymous; and Paul, an academic who wonders what it will mean to "make a difference" in such a contrived situation. Here we see the couple's changing relationship with Velvet over the course of several years as well as Velvet's powerful encounter with the horses at the stable down the road, as Gaitskill weaves together Velvet's vital inner-city community and the privileged country world of Ginger and Paul.

The timeless story of a girl and a horse is joined with the story of people from different races and socioeconomic backgrounds trying to meet one another honestly. It is a novel that is raw, striking, and completely original.

©2015 Mary Gaitskill (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Four excellent narrators tell Velvet's story through various points of view in alternating chapters. Each narrator perfectly defines the complexities of the character being portrayed, while showing different sides of Velvet - often not flattering." (AudioFile)

Awesome

I love this book! The characters are so real that when the book ended I kept thinking about them and wondering what they were doing in their lives. I think that's the best compliment one can give an author when they create a world that so real we feel like we're missing out because we don't know what's happening in it.

Wonderful

This was a beautifully written book. Narration superb. I do not usually write reviews but this was worth letting others know

Let the Mare Teach You

I actually really liked this book, even though I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I think the ending was just right.

The premise is that there is a program where inner city children get to go for a summer vacation with families who sign up. Of course, the child has problems (life) and the families (both) have problems (life). But the summer family lives next to a stable, and there is a horse that the girl is attracted to, the horse has the most problems of all. The Mare becomes her own character, and at times symbolizes all of the women in the story.

How can this possibly end good for this child? Well, it is not a perfect world, and there are no perfect answers, but sometimes there are perfect moments, and sometimes we can learn quite a bit about our sanctimonious ways by reading a novel. Well done.

Not thrilled

This book was so-so, with a very unsatisfactory ending. The voice of ginger was so vapid and syrupy I could barely stand listening to it. And I like most things

Overall it was a good story.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Mare to be better than the print version?

I usually always enjoy the audio edition of a book more than the print version.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The author repeated herself way too often. Andn I found it made the character of Velvet unbelievable after a while -- she repeated her same thoughts over and over and she also changed her mind too many times, she and Ginger both. It became tiresome and predictable. In the end I was waiting for some action while they were forever going over and over what they should do.