Review: The God of Animals
By Kristen on Jul 6, 2008 in Reviews, The Sunday Salon
The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle 
Release date: 2007 / 305 pages
First line: “Six months before Polly Cain drowned in the canal, my sister, Nona, ran off and married a cowboy.”
Synopsis (from book jacket): When her older sister runs away to marry a rodeo cowboy, Alice Winston is left to bear the brunt of her family’s troubles — a depressed, bedridden mother; a reticent, overworked father; and a run-down horse ranch. As the hottest summer in fifteen years unfolds and bills pile up, Alice is torn between dreams of escaping the loneliness of her duty-filled life and a longing to help her father mend their family and the ranch.
Review: I found this novel showcased at the Tattered Covers in Denver when we visited this past spring. I was hooked by the cover and the promise of horses, and I was not disappointed — although horses are not the focus of this well-written character-driven novel.
The narrator of this story is Alice, a twelve year old trying to get by the best she can in a difficult situation. Alice is very likeable and sympathetic, and I loved how Kyle walked the line, throughout, between uncomfortable — even disturbing — situations, while never losing that sense of authenticity or sacrificing drama for melodrama.
Although the first line and synopsis both focus on the sister, Alice and her relationship with her father is truly the focus of this novel. Her father is struggling to keep his barn and family together, despite the weather and economic reality of the horse business.
He decides to take in boarders to help make ends meet, and I had to laugh at this section! The boarders are a group of wealthy, middle-aged women called “The Catfish” who spend their afternoons demanding high-maintenance treatment of their horses (bottled water, shavings instead of straw, no perfume in the barn) while drinking mimosas from paper cups. I think anyone who has experience with boarding barns will appreciate Kyle’s humor!
However, this novel really isn’t humorous overall. It is a realistic, thoughtful portrait of how money can buy security, but not happiness, and how family members can feel trapped and secure simultaneously, and how horses can warm your hearts, even when they break them. While the horse barn is the context of this story, Kyle portrays this context realistically — breeding, foaling, training — in its danger as well as its occasional glory.
Here’s an example of a rare glimpse of equine glory:
“But then I saw it — the point between her ears where the world was still in focus, the place where we were seeing the same thing. Everything else truned into pounding: hooves, heart, fear, speed. The dust rose from the gound beneath, and my leges fused to Darling’s sides. In that moment, we were a single body — destined to crash, detined for death. I felt the tuck in my own spine as she spun, the dig of the single point of her hoof as we lifted and rotated around it, the sky and earth and bleachers bleeding into smears around us…There was nothing left except the point between her ears, the core of her body clenched beneath mine. Through the blur of dust and heat, I saw the end of the fence approach before us and I thought we might crash straight through, might rise over the top and lift into air, into flight, into whatever came in the moments when life ended and the next thing began.”
Now, the narrator rarely rides Darling, so this passage is unusual in that it addresses the experience of riding, but if you are more interested in the experience of living within a difficult reality while not losing hope… then I recommend The God of Animals heartily!
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Sounds like it would be a good book for the girls in my 8th grade class.
C.B.JAmes | Jul 6, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the comment! I think the subject matter might be a little much for some 8th graders (I taught 7th grade my first year). the sister and her cowboy husband have an… active… intimate relationship! Nothing explicit, but the kiddos would know what was going on!
Kristen | Jul 6, 2008 | Reply