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| Out Stealing Horses: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Per Petterson
Creator: Anne Born
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $7.97
You Save: $6.03 (43%)
New (47) Used (17) from $7.71
Avg. Customer Rating:  101 reviews
Sales Rank: 248
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0312427085
Dewey Decimal Number: 839.82374
EAN: 9780312427085
ASIN: 0312427085
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 100% Brand New! - Ships Today! Identical to Amazon's book in every way. Flawless! Not a cheap Remainder or Book Club Copy! *We recommend Expedited Shipping option for much faster mail delivery
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great Writng, Great Novel July 11, 2007
23 out of 31 found this review helpful
A novel with no confusions about what it is. No self-conscious irony,
no talk of the media; it is true and sincere to the reality of human life.
This is a great one, the best recent novel I've read since McCarthy's The
Road.
I can say with great pleasure that there is no product I can think of that I could link to it.
Butif you love a good novel, tis is one to read.
A Deep and Moving Story June 23, 2007
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
I have not read much Scandinavian fiction, but this excellent novel will send me straight to the shelves to find Petterson's other books. I expected this to be a good novel because it's from Graywolf, and a friend who read it first gave it a rave review. Still, I was bowled over. This is a lean and taut narrative, which is much enriched by Trond's sad and careful memories of his parents and his lost friend, Jon. I felt myself falling into Trond's diminished life, its physical beauties, its losses. The translation is exquisite. It's great to know a "smaller" book like this one can win a big international prize. Congratulations to the author.
Unique and Haunting September 18, 2007
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
How many times have you encountered those two words in book reviews? How often have you found them to be appropriate? Almost never, in my experience, but Out Stealing Horses earns both of them.
The reviews I read put me off--it didn't seem the book offered much plot. An old man telling a coming of age story? Low on my list of things to read. Unpronounceable Nordic names? Not really a plus either.
But fortunately a friend insisted I give it a try, adding "Its very short." I took the line of least resistance, read a chapter, and in those few pages I was completely engaged. Stealing Horses turns out to have a lot more plot than one expects and a lot more mystery as well, some of which you have to resolve on your own. The style is spare, but never sterile, and the interplay between the natural world and the boy's emotional evolution was extremely moving in a way I find impossible to articulate.
There doesn't seem to be much of a marketing push behind this book, which is a shame, as it is so clearly a 10 Best candidate.
 Great Reader Reviews but... December 7, 2007
21 out of 26 found this review helpful
"Out Stealing Horses" is a beautiful book. I loved the reader reviews but I have a few lingering and annoying questions. I read this, as I do most books, in one day. Because I was sick, it was excellent company. Slow going at first but with an assured hand, from the outset.
Okay, during Part II I was underlining like crazy because in this section both the language and the bare bones of the plot as well as the landscape (a central character) were just gorgeously written. I couldn't wait to come here, read others and give this book a 5 star review.
And then came Part III which flew by too fast and for me, who am a good reader, left out what subjects even those who don't care about plot might well miss. Or, I did miss: 1) That Lars never confides what happened to the narrator's dad nor to his mom, Lars' mom. Nor about Jon. We never learn why the father, so lovingly described, leaves. We never learn much of what we were (weren't we?) set up to believe would slowly unfold.Why else have the gift of Lars next door, alone with the narrator. Neither did we find out anything about the death of his second wife, nada. Then the daughter's short visit: what was the point of that? The endless decription of the forest and the lake, not nearly as good as the psychic moments when the narrator knows or sees something at whatever age. ( I especially liked how he good enter Odd just before he's shot)
Last and least: I had to laugh at him being called elderly. Well, I'm only 64 but 67 does not appear elderly to me. But that is minor. It's the lapses in the plot that bother me even though I know this author writes gorgeous prose. Not enough for me. I am one who needs, however elliptical and slow-going SOME RESOLUTION to long ago memories, ESPECIALLY when the man who can supply them is right next door. And folks: What about Ellen visiting? Why was that important? So, I end with more questions than answers and in a book this good that is a sad feeling. Was the author being self-indulgent in refusing to plot these answers? Can anyone answer any of my queries? I said I'm a good reader and always have been but as in arty films or foreign films, which are what I watch, more than less, I need, and is this my problem or no?, some answers to plot queries that run deep in the text and what this author made implicit promises to give us something before ending. Surely, one expected, this one: that we would, slowly--ever so slowly, get them.
Anyone else had this experience? If not, could you clue me in on why so very much was left unsaid, unanswered, and unwritten. Much appreciated.
One of the best. June 16, 2007
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
I must admit that I'm slightly biased, as I love almost everything Graywolf Press publishes, but even among such wonderful company, Petterson's book is one of the best in my personal collection (and believe me, it's an enormous collection). There are few adjectives I could use that have not already been used, but Petterson's prose is somehow lush and yet gloriously sparse, straightforward and complex. Out Stealing Horses is one of the most moving stories I have read, told more through suggestion than through direct information. If you want a linear plot, don't pick this book up. But if you want a story that will move you, absorb you, and carry you breathlessly through to its end.
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