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Becky #1
Winning!
Against All Odds, Becky’s Got To WinBecky’s trained a winner, but someone wants her to lose…Becky’s determined to be a top trainer after she leaves school. She knows the new chestnut steeplechaser has the makings of a champion and Red Rag’s racing career gets off to a flying start! Better still, in Becky’s view, hunky jockey Jamie Howland is riding him!But someone is pit to nobble Red Rag. Becky is smart; she’s worked out how, but dare she discover who and why?GINNY ELLIOT MBE is one of the most accomplished riders in the world today. She has been World Champion, three times European Champion and won four Olympic medals, as well as titles at Badminton and Burghley. In Winning! She puts her wealth of experience on the page to create a cracking thriller which will have all young horse lovers gripped from start to finish!
- GenresFictionYoung Adult
160 pages, Paperback
First published May 9, 1995
7 people want to read
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May 2, 2020
I think the best words for this book are straightforward and forgettable. I am reasonably sure I read it when it first came out, but re-reading it I did not remember anything.
The plot is largely predictable. Major developments are signaled heavily in advance and so do not come as a surprise. More frustrating than the predictability is the convenience and contrivance of it. Things happen remarkably conveniently and without effort for the central characters. For example, Becky needs a new outfit and lo and behold a parcel containing an outfit arrives, just by chance, from a hitherto unmentioned friend of her grandfathers, and said outfit fits her perfectly.
All the problems are external rather than inherent to the characters of situations. The difficulty is outsiders trying to nobble the horse, rather than challenges of training or bad luck. Similarly there are no barriers to the romantic relationship, either external or arising from the characters of those involved. As a result there is no character development. No-one is challenged or grows over the course of the story. Characters are either good or evil, and if fairy tale style the ugly are bad and the pretty are good. There are no shades of grey here.
Having said all of that, it is not a bad read, as long is one is looking for something undemanding and doesn't think about it too hard. The straightforwardness is also present in the prose, which is unobtrusive and keeps the story moving at a steady pace. Despite having been a horse-mad teenager, the character of Becky did not really resonate with me (too confident, too disinterested in anything non-sporty - her one interest outside horses if football, too unconcerned about school, too sexual and romantic in entirely normative ways), but I can see how it could with others.
The plot is largely predictable. Major developments are signaled heavily in advance and so do not come as a surprise. More frustrating than the predictability is the convenience and contrivance of it. Things happen remarkably conveniently and without effort for the central characters. For example, Becky needs a new outfit and lo and behold a parcel containing an outfit arrives, just by chance, from a hitherto unmentioned friend of her grandfathers, and said outfit fits her perfectly.
All the problems are external rather than inherent to the characters of situations. The difficulty is outsiders trying to nobble the horse, rather than challenges of training or bad luck. Similarly there are no barriers to the romantic relationship, either external or arising from the characters of those involved. As a result there is no character development. No-one is challenged or grows over the course of the story. Characters are either good or evil, and if fairy tale style the ugly are bad and the pretty are good. There are no shades of grey here.
Having said all of that, it is not a bad read, as long is one is looking for something undemanding and doesn't think about it too hard. The straightforwardness is also present in the prose, which is unobtrusive and keeps the story moving at a steady pace. Despite having been a horse-mad teenager, the character of Becky did not really resonate with me (too confident, too disinterested in anything non-sporty - her one interest outside horses if football, too unconcerned about school, too sexual and romantic in entirely normative ways), but I can see how it could with others.
Displaying 1 of 1 review