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Colt Tailing
You make a skittish colt follow, or tail, a calm one, to get him to cross a strange river. At 55, Clara, a horsewoman, wife and mother, is menopausal crossing from middle age into old age. She finds her body, her former trusted and reliable ally, failing her, suddenly and unpredictably. As the confidence and sense of self she had built up over many years are shaken, she is drawn back into the intense feelings of vulnerability first experienced during her fatherless youth in war-torn Germany. To make her crossing, she must tail her grandmother and others from her past in an attempt to disentangle herself from early hurtful connections that still complicate her life.
284 pages, Paperback
First published July 20, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 8, 2009
Colt Tailing by Ute Carson
Reviewed by Aryeh Baruch, writer for Literary Magic (www.LiteraryMagic.com)
This book takes powerful imagery to a new level.
Author Ute Carson a queen at making her characters come alive. Reading the book, I wholeheartedly felt like they did. Like they were going to escape from the very pages themselves and draw me in to the story. The imagery of Colt Tailing is powerful and sensual. You can touch things. Feel them. Ute Carson's words literally takes you to another world and conveys very realistic images into the reader's mind. She really makes you feel like, identify with and understand her characters.
Interestingly, the book is told from two point of views, that are told in alternating chapters and that parallell each other in both theme and structure. The first point of view is the main characters in modern times. This is contrasted with the perspective of her ancestors.
Back in the Victorian age, the protagonist's great great grandmother was a countess in Germany. But then came World War I and Germany was defeated. In order to escape the punishment that was befalling the rest of Germany, the protagonist's ancestors chose to flee. They went to Africa and eventually ended up in America.
Meanwhile, back in modern times the protagonist is a woman who seems out of control. She has lots of emotions. She describes a city with "lungs" that breathe deeply at one point in the book. And on another page, she shows her life out of control by saying "I became a horse on a merry-go-round, impulsively turning and turning, back to the same words, trying to reach him." Throughout the entire book this character is emotional, going through her mistakes. Whirling and bumping into all the people in her life.
Colt Tail is also a piece of literature, with many themes throughout the book. The most powerful theme though is the parallels and comparison between the two points of view, the protagonist and her ancestor. Her ancestor, a former countess, is a very restrained and proper individual. Whereas the main character in modern times is just the opposite: a woman who ends up doing all these emotional things and comes to reveal a whole supernova underneath. Ute Carson has succeeded in showing us not only that these two storylines are parallel to each other, but that both the protagonist and her ancestor affect and either complement or contrast each other. In the end, this book's sensual imagery and parallel storylines serve as a realistic, absorbing adventure for readers.
Reviewed by Aryeh Baruch, writer for Literary Magic (www.LiteraryMagic.com)
This book takes powerful imagery to a new level.
Author Ute Carson a queen at making her characters come alive. Reading the book, I wholeheartedly felt like they did. Like they were going to escape from the very pages themselves and draw me in to the story. The imagery of Colt Tailing is powerful and sensual. You can touch things. Feel them. Ute Carson's words literally takes you to another world and conveys very realistic images into the reader's mind. She really makes you feel like, identify with and understand her characters.
Interestingly, the book is told from two point of views, that are told in alternating chapters and that parallell each other in both theme and structure. The first point of view is the main characters in modern times. This is contrasted with the perspective of her ancestors.
Back in the Victorian age, the protagonist's great great grandmother was a countess in Germany. But then came World War I and Germany was defeated. In order to escape the punishment that was befalling the rest of Germany, the protagonist's ancestors chose to flee. They went to Africa and eventually ended up in America.
Meanwhile, back in modern times the protagonist is a woman who seems out of control. She has lots of emotions. She describes a city with "lungs" that breathe deeply at one point in the book. And on another page, she shows her life out of control by saying "I became a horse on a merry-go-round, impulsively turning and turning, back to the same words, trying to reach him." Throughout the entire book this character is emotional, going through her mistakes. Whirling and bumping into all the people in her life.
Colt Tail is also a piece of literature, with many themes throughout the book. The most powerful theme though is the parallels and comparison between the two points of view, the protagonist and her ancestor. Her ancestor, a former countess, is a very restrained and proper individual. Whereas the main character in modern times is just the opposite: a woman who ends up doing all these emotional things and comes to reveal a whole supernova underneath. Ute Carson has succeeded in showing us not only that these two storylines are parallel to each other, but that both the protagonist and her ancestor affect and either complement or contrast each other. In the end, this book's sensual imagery and parallel storylines serve as a realistic, absorbing adventure for readers.
July 4, 2007
What can I say? I've read my mom's book three times and each time love it more.
May 3, 2009
I wrote it. See utecarson.com for more information. Comments and questions are always welcome. Enjoy!
May 5, 2009
Terrific read!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews