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    Riding Lessons: A Novel
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    Riding Lessons: A Novel
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    Riding Lessons: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Riding Lessons: A Novel

    Written by Sara Gruen

    Narrated by Maggi-Meg Reed

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    As a world-class equestrian and Olympic contender, Annemarie Zimmer lived for the thrill of flight atop a strong, graceful animal. Then, at eighteen, a tragic accident destroyed her riding career and Harry, the beautiful horse she cherished.

    Now, twenty years later, Annemarie is coming home to her dying father's New Hampshire horse farm. Jobless and abandoned, she is bringing her troubled teenage daughter to this place of pain and memory, where ghosts of an unresolved youth still haunt the fields and stables—and where hope lives in the eyes of the handsome, gentle veterinarian Annemarie loved as a girl . . . and in the seductive allure of a trainer with a magic touch.

    But everything will change yet again with one glimpse of a white striped gelding startlingly similar to the one Annemarie lost in another lifetime. And an obsession is born that could shatter her fragile world.

    Editor's Note

    Touching and tragic...

    New York Times bestselling author Sara Gruen, of “Water for Elephants” reknown, writes about a former champion equestrian who comes face to face with her tragic past as she cares for her dying father at his New Hampshire horse farm. A touching read during Kentucky Derby season.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighBridge Audio
    Release dateMay 6, 2008
    ISBN9781598876499
    Unavailable
    Riding Lessons: A Novel
    Author

    Sara Gruen

    Sara Gruen is the author of the New York Times bestseller Water for Elephants and Riding Lessons. She lives with her husband and three children in a conservation community outside Chicago.

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    Reviews for Riding Lessons

    3/5

    31 ratings26 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Annemarie has a Country & Western song life: she has been laid off her job, her husband announced that he was leaving her for a woman slightly older than her troubled adolescent daughter, and her father has a life threatening disorder. She and daughter have decided to return home to family's horse farm to see about her parents, assist in the farm's operations. and to plan her next steps. While there she becomes reacquainted with an old boyfriend and confronts old memories when she was training to be an Olympian equestrian before an horse show accident left her paralyzed for some time. A book discussion group challenge to read a novel featuring a horse spurred me to read this novel (pun intended). Additionally, this was the debut novel by the Water for Elephants author. Although enjoyable at times, it was more poorly written in my humble opinion compared to her later novel.
    • 2/5
      Not sure I wish to see a second book
    • 4/5
      Interesting story, pretty well written, but it seemed like it was a bit scatter-brained.... seemed like it was kind of hard to tie up all the loose ends. Fun read, though.
    • 3/5
      Rather disappointingly, I didn't enjoy Riding Lessons nearly as much as the first book I read by Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants. Riding Lessons is about a woman who suffered a terrible riding accident in her late teens, cutting off her Olympic ambitions. 20 years later, jobless, getting divorced, and with a difficult teenage daughter, she returns to the family home (where her father is dying) to figure out her life. The book was a quick read and relatively engaging, but I never felt really drawn into the plot the way I did with Water for Elephants. I actually found the main character quite tiresome. She repeatedly does incredibly stupid and irrational things and I felt like shaking some sense into her. The story is told in the first person from her perspective and I didn't feel like the author did it convincingly enough to make me understand why she was acting the way she did.

      Since this was Gruen's first novel, that is a good sign that she actually improved as a writer. I will certainly read her fourth novel, Ape House, in the hopes that it is more like Water for Elephants, but I don't know if I will read the sequel to this one, Flying Changes.
    • 4/5
      I loved Gruen’s book Water for Elephants so when I saw this book, which was her first, on sale at my favourite book store I snapped it up. The fact that it took me 8 years to get around to reading it just indicates how large my TBR pile is and how easily distracted I am from reading books in hand by new books. It does not mean that I was reluctant to read it and when I did I enjoyed it.Annemarie Aldrich was living a perfect life in Minneapolis (or at least she thought she was) with a patent lawyer husband, a fifteen year old daughter and a demanding job as a software editor. Then, in a few short days her life imploded; she was fired from her job, her husband told her he was leaving her for a woman 15 years her junior and she learned her father had ALS. When her daughter got expelled from school she took her back to her parents’ horse farm in New Hampshire. Her plan was to manage the horse training stable while her mother devoted her days to looking after her father. Managing a farm was not rocket science she told her mother. It did, however, turn out to be much more difficult than she expected. Then her past was resurrected in the form of a horse that brought back all her emotions from 20 years before when she was an Olympic class horse jumper. Her horse, Harry, broke a leg coming down from a jump and Annemarie was badly injured and Harry had to be shot. She never rode again to her parents’ disappointment. Now a horse that looks almost exactly like Harry was rescued from certain death by the local vet (and Annemarie’s one-time boyfriend), Dan Garibaldi. When you throw in the trials of dealing with a headstrong teenage girl and the anguish of seeing a parent diminish almost daily from disease, Annemarie has a tough time dealing with everything.I didn’t exactly like Annemarie; she was too wrapped up in herself to see the problems others around her were dealing with. She resented her parents for driving her to excel but she also obviously loved the competition. Even with her father dying she didn’t try to reconcile with him and she was often angry with her mother. Her daughter was certainly a handful but that is almost a requisite for teenagers; Annemarie kept her on a very tight leash and then was surprised when she disobeyed. Annemarie never seemed to think that her daughter was having a hard time dealing with the divorce and the separation from her father. However, by the end of the book she does seem to have learned some important life lessons and we can only hope that they will hold.
    • 5/5
      Riding Lessons by Sara Gruen is an emotional story that takes you down several different paths. It takes you down the what might have been and the what could be path with Annemarie Zimmer. Once a promising eventer on the way to the fast track to the Olympics, that all came to an end in a horrific accident. Annemarie almost lost the ability to walk, move and most of all she lost the horse love of her life Harry. Twenty years later her world starts to fall a part at the seams again with the loss of her job and the end of her marriage and it sends her home. Memories of her beloved horse fill her and consume her when another rare brindle patterned horse comes into her life.

      As someone who has been a rider since I can remember I connected with this story on so many levels. I could understand her deep love of Harry. I can understand the basic feelings she had when she walked into a barn, her love of the smell of hay, manure and horse. When Annemarie went up to a horse and pushed her nose to its neck I smiled because I have done that exact same thing many times. Annemarie seems to have her life closing in on her, she has to deal with her past while being hit with a lot of new things that are part of life and difficult. Having to handle a teenage Daughter and the upcoming death of her Father.

      This is really a great book that is both emotional and inspirational. There was not any character that I did not like. I could in some way relate to most of them. I would recommend this one to any reader.
    • 1/5
      I cannot believe that this book was written by the same author of Water for Elephants, a book I thoroughly enjoyed. Despite the strength of Riding Lessons being the author's love for and knowledge of horses, I was disappointed in the story otherwise. The biggest factor was that I intensely disliked AnneMarie, the narrator. I got hooked into reading this book by the strong opening pages in which AnneMarie is at one with her horse Harry, both going for a big win in a horse event which included jumping. That was the highlight of the book for me, and it went downhill from there.Soon-to-be-divorced AnneMarie returns to New Hampshire where her parents own a home, a stable for school and boarding horses,and have a business of riding lessons. Along with AnneMarie comes Eva, her 15-year-old rebellious daughter. AnneMarie takes over the family business as her dad becomes increasingly incapacitated due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a degenerative muscle disease). While living with her parents, AnneMarie discovers that Dan, a vet who does horse rescue, has obtained a rare brindled (striped) horse that was about to be killed. She wants that horse for herself because it because it reminds her of Harry, her horse from her previous, glorious riding days. AnneMarie seems to botch up everything with which she meddles. While that is excusable, I could not understand nor stomach her complete disregard for the important people in her life, including her parents, her daughter, and two men who could have been better companions for her at a difficult time in her life. I grew to dislike her so intensely that I wanted this story to be over just to give relief to those whom she abused in that personal sense.In all fairness, there was one incident which I did enjoy reading. It was the description of how AnneMarie (once again) made a mess of something. In this case, she intended to prepare an elegant dinner for Dan. Her plans went completely awry, but this situation did have me laughing out loud. I desperrately needed comic relief at that point in the book!I'd suggest that this book be skipped entirely, but I would like to point you instead toward Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants. This author can (and does) do better.
    • 1/5
      This book was a big disappointment. Weak characters, predictable plot.
    • 5/5
      This book is amazing. I love horses and this story made me want to read the second one. I felt bad for Annemarie because after she lost her beloved horse she also lost her husband and her daughter is not helping anything. This is one of my favorite books.
    • 5/5
      As soon as I was finished reading this book, I decidedly appointed it my favorite book of all time.Sara has an amazing writing voice, and the book was an absolute page turner. I had the worst time putting it down. I'm a huge advocate of Ms. Gruen's books and I highly recommend this one, Water for Elephants and Flying Changes.I have not yet read Ape House, but it is on my "to read" list.
    • 3/5
      I bought this book after reading Water for elephants and loving it. This book was more of a beach read which is fine. It was pretty perdictable and will leave you on a happy note as most beach reads do. I'm on a big horse person, but it kept my intrest and was a pretty stress free read. It's nice to see Ms. Gruen able to write a wide variety of stories and I look forward to reading Ape house.
    • 5/5
      Just finished...At first I thought it was going to be kind of a teenagers book. Nothing wrong with that, but not meaty enough for me...It was not bad at all. I actually wanted to know and thought I did know the end. It turned out as I had thought, and I was happy. Good read. Ape House is still my favorite. Can not wait for her to write another book.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of Annemarie Zimmer. At 18 years of age, she was a world class rider, who suffered a very serious fall from her much loved horse, Harry. This was no ordinary horse. It was a rare white striped gelding. Unfortunately, as a result of this tragic accident, Harry must be destroyed and Annemarie refuses to return to riding. The novel begins twenty years after this incident. She has returned to her childhood home, a horse farm which is on the brink of bankruptcy. She has lost her job, her father is gravely ill, and her daughter is going through teenage growing pains. Sara Gruen is a masterful writer. She takes what could on the surface appear to be soap-operatic and weaves a realistic and touching story. She seems to have a natural ability to create images which are tightly tied to character."The scene is pure bucolic perfection: the horses, fat and dappled, grazing in an expanse of pasture against a backdrop of indigo sky. A breeze rustles lightly through the surrounding maples, their leaves parted occasionally by the darting streak of birds. The sky, bright and blue and full of the noise of cicadas, crickets, sparrows, finches, and a single Carolina chickadee. I can relate to that chickadee. I, too, should have taken a left turn at Albuquerque.It may look perfect, but I know the truth. Just beneath the surface, as tangible as the wood under my arms, is a pain as relentless as a toothache." p. 293Although it has been over thirty years that I have crawled onto a horse's back, and although I have never lived on a farm, I loved this novel and look forward to reading Flying Changes which continues Annemarie Zimmer's story.
    • 2/5
      I never read anything by Sara Gruen. I don't even know what Water for Elephants is about. However I was looking for a certain book on Half.com one day, and impulsively bought a number of other books from the same seller (you save on shipping, how can you help it?). This was one of those books. There was a horse on the cover and the reviewers on Amazon gave it a fighting chance. So I bought it. I've never read a beach-tote-bag-romance before. I'm simply not a fan of trash. A romance surrounding horses however would probably keep me reading after the first chapter.This book is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. It is PURE TRASH from page 1 to page 387. Our "hero," Annemarie Zimmer, is the most pathetic character I have ever come across. A 40 year old with less maturity than her troublesome 15 year old daughter. No wonder her husband left her. I applaud anyone for having the patience of even being in the same room as her. And again, the plot..one ridiculous turn after another. The very worst made-for-TV-drama has more credibility than this garbage.BUT Sara Gruen is SO GOOD at what I call "horse porn". This woman knows her horses. Her descriptions of encountering horses in the dead of night left me begging for more. Her words had me feeling their every curve, smelling their wonderful smell. And for that reason alone, I will absolutely go out and buy the sequel.
    • 1/5
      This book was a big disappointment after Water For Elephants. The main character was a total basket case - whiny, obnoxious, self-absorbed and just plain annoying. I did not feel much sympathy for her. The "love interests" in the story felt forced, as though the author was writing to fulfill the review on the back. The author tries to bring in several hot-button type issues, but never really develops them (assisted suicide, concealing stolen goods, divorce) which made the book feel incomplete.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this book by Sara Gruen, in fact I read most of it in an afternoon. It just absorbed my attention. The descriptions of the horses, the scenery and the action totally captured my imagination. I was there. the main character was self-absorbed and managed to make a mess of practically everything she tried to take over, her marraige, her teenager, her family horse stable, but she was believeable. Much better than reading about the beautiful, sexy, or unbelievably rich characters in so many novels. I think I'll have to read the sequel, Flying Changes, even though I often am disappointed in them
    • 4/5
      I got this book because I absolutely adored Water for Elephants. It's not that I was disappointed with this book because I wasn't but I didn't find that it had the same pizazz as Gruen's bestseller. I never grew up around horses but I had a friend in high school who had a horse at a barn and went with her a few times to watch her ride. I myself have never rode a horse but when I watch people it looks exhilarating. I found myself really involved in this book and wanting the characters to get along. I have to say I found the main character to be frustrating. I could just see her making all kinds of mistakes with her daughter (I myself am 27 with no children so what do I know) and with her parents and I just wanted to shake her sometimes. I almost felt like while I could sympathize with the main character's sadness for not being as close with her daughter and parents, I could sympathize more with her daughter and mother. I would not know how to communicate with a woman like that. In the end I really wanted to know what else was going to happen. So... to feed my book addiction I went out and bought the next book in the series. Stay tuned for that review. I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
    • 2/5
      I started this book in an audio version. I am usually much more tolerant of the audio books I read but I finally gave up on "Riding Lessons" because I simply could not stand the main character any longer. I found the mother whining, selfish, spoiled, and really irritatingly stupid. I decided I had better books to spend my life in than this one.
    • 3/5
      As marriage, job and family fall apart, Annemarie Zimmer returns home to her New Hampshire horse farm. There she must confront the riding accident that nearly caused her death and the memories of her parents' ambitions for her. Her discovery of an familiar horse forces her problems to the forefront.Not as powerful as Water For Elephants, but a light and predictable read for horse lovers.
    • 2/5
      I bought this book because I loved Water for Elephants, but I think my expectations were too high.I was horse-obsessed as a kid. This is a book about a woman who loves horses, and who lost her beloved horse in a tragic accident 20 years before and is still living with the consequences. It sounds like a good match. However, the heroine, Annemarie, is completely unlikeable. She's mean, petty and selfish, and drags everyone down with her. Her husband leaves her for another woman, she is fired, and she returns to her parents' riding school to find her father is suffering from ALS. Oh, and her teenage daughter is an absolute witch. I kept reading with the hope that Annemarie would mature as a character and she did - at the very end. By then I was skimming through the book trying to make it end as fast as possible.The writing is good, and Gruen again excels at writing about abused animals and the recovery they can make with love and patience. I understood that Gruen was trying to make Annemarie completely human and flawed. She did a very good job of that. The problem was that Annemarie didn't really have any redeeming qualities, and I knew if I met her in person she would be just as cold and condescending towards me.I will not be buying the sequel.
    • 3/5
      I really wanted to like this book because I loved Water for Elephants. Sara Gruen must really know horses or she does excellent research because all of the horse parts of the book rang really true. However, the main character was irresponsible, immature, and highly unlikeable. I have the sequel in my TBR pile but am not all that sure that I want to read anything more about this character.
    • 4/5
      It is no wonder the main character Annmaries husband left her, her daughter hates her, she is partially estranged from her parents, has no friends to speak of, and gets fired from her job. She is a real bitch. However, despite Annmaries obnoxiousness, immaturity and whiny selfishness, I enjoyed this book - especially the end where she comes through with some self realization and personal growth. I would not want her as my friend though, too self centered.
    • 3/5
      Very reminiscent of Nicholas Evans' The Horse Whisperer, however the lead character, Annemarie, is unpleasant, self-centered and downright whiny. The horse scenes are enjoyable, however and I would recommend this to a true horse lover.
    • 2/5
      Ms. Gruen writes well and I enjoyed and finished the book, even though the heroine was a whiny 38 year old who acted 15. Of course this the point of the book, but she was still unpleasant and frustrating. I enjoyed the setting of horses and stable, I was able to recognize some of it from being around my daughter who rides.
    • 4/5
      Twenty years ago, Annemarie lost her beloved brindled chestnut Hanoverian, Highland Harry, in a horrible jumping accident that also left her temporarily paralyzed. She turned away from horses and her parents to marry and start a new life. Now that life is falling apart. She loses her job and husband in the same day and also learns that her father is dying of ALS. With her rebellious teenage daughter in tow, Annemarie returns to her parents' farm where she must confront her past -- and meets a rescued horse who looks an awful lot like her lost Harry.I enjoyed this book, although the writing was uneven, with the author switching from present to past tense without warning. The story was good, though, and Annemarie is a convincing character who goes through a lot (and puts her family and friends through at lot in turn). The horse details are accurate, which helps make up for the uneven writing.
    • 2/5
      This book is more an example of good writing gone wrong than an actual story. While Gruen exhibits some talent, it's restricted entirely to her style, because the plot leaves something to be desired. The main character, Annemarie Zimmer, is impossible to like, let alone relate to. Her behavior is so incomprehensibly childish, it's difficult to believe an adult of her age and background could display such immaturity. Her incessant whining makes the novel into little more than a thorough exploration of the depths of her arrogant self-pity.