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Colt Tailing
by Ute Carson
Buy it from Amazon. Also available from Publish America in hardcover, softcover, and ebook formats. Or contact Ute directly for a special reduced price!
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.
Praise for Colt Tailing
"Its greatest strength lies in the completeness of the heroine."
- The Spieler Agency, Manhattan
"I am stunned by the musical beauty of the prose."
- Faith Lagay, author of Lyrics from the Suburbs
"The novel is compelling... an account of a life that presents relationships, events, feelings..."
- Michael Kandel, The Modern Language Association
Awards
2003 Finalist for the prestigious Peter Taylor Book Award
Reviews
"Carson writes with verve and energy and with insights derived from her own interesting life. Her use of active voice verbs propels the action and provides pace and excitement to the narrative..."
Melvyn H. Schreiber
"By the Book" Galveston County Daily News October 3, 2004
Read the full review!
TallGrass Review
by Kathy McElIigott
Ute Carson crafts her story like a master weaver, gently interspersing the threads as they meander from a fragmented childhood in WWII Germany, to the ripeness of womanhood in sunny Texas. Woven into the cloth is the story of Clara; an angular adolescent, a young wife finding her voice in America, then a mature woman confronting the inevitable process of aging, in this tapestry rich with language and sensual images.
Clara recalls her mother's struggle to maintain Christmas traditions in the family's castle while her husband is away fighting for the homeland. The sacred Christmas tree looms above little Clara, laden with glowing candles. She receives a handmade rabbit on Christmas morning, a rabbit that will later be used to hide valuables when Clara, her mother and her beloved grandmother Omi Maria are forced to flee the Russians.
The theme of colt tailing, where an inexperienced colt follows behind a mature animal, permeates the story, as Clara learns from those who went before; the father she never knew, the mistakes of her mother, and the strength of her Omi Maria.
Colt Tailing, a satisfying, thoughtful read, will find fans with those who have found their own way in the world, and those who are still searching.
Publish America Reviews
Colt Tailing ***** (out of 5)
JoJo
Austin, Texas (4/18/2005)
"Colt Tailing" is an engaging and intricate novel, beautifully written. The author's compelling attention to details is extraordinary. The book should not be skimmed.
Colt Tailing ***** (out of 5)
Rena
California (9/18/2004)
WOWIE --- what a writer you are! Just finished C.T. Enjoyed it very much even the ahem naughty --:) parts. Love, Rena
Colt Tailing ***** (out of 5)
Melvyn
Texas (8/20/2004)
Here is her description of the birth of a foal:"... a gush of fluid burst the amniotic sac, the newborn's nose and front legs forging the way. The foal sucked in gasps of air with great slurping sounds. Within minutes, it struggled to stand. Its legs were tangled in the tough remains of the collapsed sac. Pedro gently pulled the rubbery scraps from around the legs and on the next try it was up, wobbly but on all fours. All the while Pegasus licked its damp coat. The foal's mane was matted like feathers glued together. The sun blinked through the cracks of the stall and as the light struck the mane, the strands sparkled like black gold." The writing is frankly sensuous, sometimes steamy, and always compelling and provocative...
Colt Tailing ***** (out of 5)
Faith
Chicago (8/5/2004)
I am stunned by the musical beauty of the prose. I must say that first because I cannot think about anything else until I get that off my mind... As I flip through the manuscript one last time before packaging it for the post, I have to mention the beauty and power of the prose again. No matter what page I open to: "I took care of my mother from the start. I relieved the pressure from her full breasts, and when she turned away to cry, I cooed her back into my orbit." Every passage is that good.
Colt Tailing ***** (out of 5)
Michael
New York (8/5/2004)
Your novel is compelling--as a truth narrative: an account of a life that presents relationships, events, feelings not to put them into any plotted story but to examine, value, and celebrate them because they are real. This is the poet's way: everything that is, is precious and can teach us (a not always verbalized) wisdom.
Colt Tailing ***** (out of 5)
Ada
New York (8/5/2004)
There are many things I like about the novel - but I think its greatest strength lies in the completeness of the heroine. Clara's memories reveal that she has always been both the skittish colt and the calm one. She is a complex woman who embraces both pain and ecstasy despite powerful fears. In a culture in which women are constantly being alienated from their own bodies, I'm convinced that many of them will take particular pleasure in reading a novel that confirms the essential importance of her own body to a woman's sense of self and positive, active experience of the world.
Other Online Reviews
"Although this book is described as a story about one woman's struggles with growing older and coming to terms with menopause, it's actually much, much more than that. This is a story about a woman trying to untangle the complicated threads that tie family and friends together in an effort to find her own place in life. The author seems effortless in putting to words the things that most of us acknowledge in our relationships, but never speak of. The book reads like a wonderful travelogue, jumping between past memories and present day. The protagonist, Clara, is not flawless by any means, but much loved and respected by this reader by the end. I wholeheartedly recommend this book."
- Angela, Highland, CA
Colt Tailing ***** (out of 5)
Cecile
Los Angeles, California, USA (8/5/2004)
Upon my first reading, I was swept along, smiling, crying, pondering and enjoying the flow of the book, the narrative of a horsewoman dealing with getting older. Then I read Colt Tailing again and soaked up the images laid out in a manner unique to the author whose first language of German influences her sense of what English prose can do, and whose breadth of knowledge from her worldly experiences of people and places comes through as an authoritative compassionate voice of a heroine. It is a book which frees the reader to sensitively consider the themes of womanhood such as motherhood and marriage, but also the realities of birth, visits to the gynecologist, menopause. This is true for a reader of any age; I am 27. Colt Tailing also considers unique relationships to outsiders, bonds with animals, and a foundation in memories to which everyone can relate. I want to read it yet again.
Buy it now!
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