|
|
| |
Book ReviewsMy Friend Flicka |
|
|
Book: My Friend Flicka
Written by: Mary O'Hara C.E. Tunnicliffe |
Publisher: Isis Large Print Books
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5
|
|
No sugar coating
Rating:
5 / 5
I was surprised to see the treatment of Nell (the mom). As the book has a copyright of 1940 I didn't expect much at all, but her character had won a trophy for best all-around athlete at Bryn Mawr and she thinks of the difference of being a woman in the west on a ranch as opposed to in a big east coast city. So that was kind of a neat find. (I mean, she still cooks and cleans all day but we see her chafe a bit under these restraints, have fond memories of her active girlhood, and see her wonder at, and perhaps dislike, how she's required to be MORE feminine now that she represents the idea of WOMAN on the ranch).
Dang. I forget, sometimes, that it was once the norm to not "sugar coat" childrens' books. Life is rough and sometimes horrible things happen. We see Ken struggle with this. However, life is also sweet and precious. The blend in this book is perfect. Very real and wonderfully written.
Learning responsiblity in frontier Wyoming
Rating:
3 / 5
Rob McClaughlin runs his horse ranch with military precision, where he is respected by both the men and his horses. In the late 30's Ranching is difficult in the wilds near Laramie, due to the extreme unpredictability of nature--wild beasts as well as weather. But Rob just can't understand or appreciate his younger son, 11-year-old Ken, the family day- dreamer. Every time the boy turns around he costs his father money and horse ranching is not a lucrative business. Pressed by increasing debt, Rob loses patience with his younger son, but is reluctantly persuaded by his wife, Nell, to give the boy a colt, so he can start learning responsibility. Certainly Not as a reward for academic and ranching failures, but as incentive for the boy to adapt to a practical lifestyle.
Given his choice of any colt on the place, but repelled by the barbaric custom of gelding, Ken decides on a filly, and not just any filly either. He Would pick the offspring of Rocket, the loco mare--arousing his father's disgust and even anger. Finally realizing the futility of keeping any of the Albino's erratic offspring, Rob ships them all off the ranch, adamant to include Flicka (whose names means "Little Girl" in Swedish) in the equine purge. Tortured by fears that Flicka may prove loco like her dam--despite her coloring from her sire, Banner, Ken is eaten up with fear over her eventual loss, for people shoot loco horses. He quickly came to identify with the filly, to see himself,like her, as not quite fitting in on the ranch, which only makes him love her all her the more. Even Nell, the wise Missus of the ranch, realizes that Ken's psyche is somehow linked to that of the hotly debated little filly.
Although nominally a children's classic, this book devotes over 100 pages to setting up the exposition and exploring the father-son conflict before Boy finally meets Horse. Ken is aware of Flicka long before she comes to know him, but she has been a wild yearling under a wild mother for so long; perhaps she will ultimately prove loco like Rocket. The story is atypical--more like an adult novel with a child protagonist. Readers gain insight into both of Ken's parents, who are called by their first names; we learn their thoughts and dreams, as we inevitably sympathize with the boy who years to impress his father and to have a colt of his own. The drama of the final chapters is very intense, for Rob does not permit animals which have no future to suffer long. Can a boy's Love alone save the dying pony he adores? Can a spurned filly turn the tide in a boy's own protracted illness? Only wise Nell seems to understand how their lives are intertwined, that each can help save the other. But will this maternal insight come too late for Rob to countermand the order for Gus to shoot Flicka? An interesting and dramatic read for kids of all ages.
I Luv Horses!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
5 / 5
My friend Flicka was a wonderful,but sad book.Everyone will enjoy reading it.It's a "wonderful" book!!!!!!
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|