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prairiedog's review against another edition
4.0
Quiet, beautiful book that reminded me of John Banville's The Sea in the way the aging narrator looks back upon a crucial, traumatic event in his distant past and reflects upon how it has shaped his life. Loved it.
juliarziegler's review against another edition
5.0
top three books of all time. wonderfully mundane at points and absolutely depressing at others. serious literary experience if you take the time to notice the patterns woven into the storyline.
clairephillips's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, and Death
Moderate: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death of parent, Vomit, and War
wholemilk's review against another edition
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
smusie's review against another edition
4.0
I never thought I would enjoy a book so much in which the main character is wood.
meggytron13's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
tosta's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
chrissypink80's review against another edition
2.0
Not a page turner. Interesting enough, I guess. The end of the book was......lacking. The whole book went back and forth from past to present. Would never read it twice.
book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
Book on CD performed by Richard Poe
3.5***
From the book jacket:
Out Stealing Horses tells the story of Trond Sander, a sixty-seven-year-old man who has moved from the city to a remote, riverside cabin, only to have all the turbulence, grief, and overwhelming beauty of his youth come back to him one night while he’s out on a walk. From the moment Trond sees a strange figure coming out of the dark behind his home, the reader is immersed in a decades-deep story of searching and loss.
My reactions:
I remember when this book was launched and all the buzz around it. It’s been on my tbr ever since but somehow, I never got around to reading it … until now.
Petterson has crafted an atmospheric, character-driven story of one man’s looking back on his coming-of-age summer when he was almost 15 and living with his father in a remote cabin on a river in eastern Norway, just on the border with Sweden. The story moves back and forth between the present day, when Trond is a retiree, alone, and facing the last leg of his journey of life, and the summer of 1948 when he was a young man who idolized his father and relished in the joys of nature, exploring with his friend Jon. But as the novel goes back in time to Trond’s youth, it becomes clear that he is facing the truth of those events – events that he was not fully aware of or prepared to deal with as a fifteen year old.
I loved the many literary references, because Trond is quite the reader, and the young Trond is particularly fond of American Westerns. The title refers to the escapades of the horse rustlers of many a Western-genre novel. And both Trond and Jon are eager to give in to their vivid imaginations. But as Trond grows he comes to realize that adventure isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, and there can be a very real human toll to giving in to desire and youthful exuberance.
A movie was made, though I’ve never seen it. I imagine it was cinematically beautiful, but this is such a contemplative book I can’t imagine it would translate well to film.
Richard Poe does a fantastic job of narrating the audiobook. The shifts in time are not easy to handle, but Poe manages to give the young Trond and the mature Trond different voices, which helped this reader make the transitions.
3.5***
From the book jacket:
Out Stealing Horses tells the story of Trond Sander, a sixty-seven-year-old man who has moved from the city to a remote, riverside cabin, only to have all the turbulence, grief, and overwhelming beauty of his youth come back to him one night while he’s out on a walk. From the moment Trond sees a strange figure coming out of the dark behind his home, the reader is immersed in a decades-deep story of searching and loss.
My reactions:
I remember when this book was launched and all the buzz around it. It’s been on my tbr ever since but somehow, I never got around to reading it … until now.
Petterson has crafted an atmospheric, character-driven story of one man’s looking back on his coming-of-age summer when he was almost 15 and living with his father in a remote cabin on a river in eastern Norway, just on the border with Sweden. The story moves back and forth between the present day, when Trond is a retiree, alone, and facing the last leg of his journey of life, and the summer of 1948 when he was a young man who idolized his father and relished in the joys of nature, exploring with his friend Jon. But as the novel goes back in time to Trond’s youth, it becomes clear that he is facing the truth of those events – events that he was not fully aware of or prepared to deal with as a fifteen year old.
I loved the many literary references, because Trond is quite the reader, and the young Trond is particularly fond of American Westerns. The title refers to the escapades of the horse rustlers of many a Western-genre novel. And both Trond and Jon are eager to give in to their vivid imaginations. But as Trond grows he comes to realize that adventure isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, and there can be a very real human toll to giving in to desire and youthful exuberance.
A movie was made, though I’ve never seen it. I imagine it was cinematically beautiful, but this is such a contemplative book I can’t imagine it would translate well to film.
Richard Poe does a fantastic job of narrating the audiobook. The shifts in time are not easy to handle, but Poe manages to give the young Trond and the mature Trond different voices, which helped this reader make the transitions.