Has failure ever dawned upon you in the most terrible of ways? In the 240 page fictional book “The George’s and the Jewels” by Jane Smiley failure is around Abby’s every turn. All her life her dad has been buying wild horses. Abby trains them and her family re-sells them. Abby is very good with horses. She can deal with just about any kind of buck a horse may throw at her. However it seems Abby’s dad has finally bought a horse that’s impossible to work with. No matter how hard she tries, Orenary George is convinced to do whatever he feels, and Abby might just let him. But not all hope is lost. One day an unusual stranger named Jem Jarrow stops by to look at Ornery George, and suddenly it seems as if anything is possible.
On my scale this book gets 10 out of 10! Jane Smiley has done it again with another amazing book. She has written lots of books, but this time this book is aimed towards a young adult audience. I can say that she did an amazing job pulling me into this book. Throughout the story I became a fan of Abby’s. I wanted her to succeed. It almost seemed like I was in the book with her through all of her struggles. Here’s a quote from the book in which I really wanted Abby to suceed with Ornery George. I slapped his sides with my legs, and there he was, kicking out. He kicked out so high that he nearly tossed me over the fron. As it was, I got the saddle horn in my stomach. He stopped, I kicked him on, he kicked up again. I pulled him up. Daddy looked at me. “By golly, I’d say he’s got your number, and he’s dialing it.” Another thing Smiley does a good job of is describing the world in which Abby lives in. The horses are described in such a way that I can see them in my mind. They each have a different personality and a unique look. I got a really good image of how stubborn Orenary George is as well. The theme of determination is revealed through this novel by how constantly Abby struggles with Orenary George. I found this book very different then other horse books as well. It shows you how delicate the relationship between a struggling horse and rider is, which most teenage horse books don’t do well.
All in all I really enjoyed this book because I found it really easy to relate to. I’m a big horse lover, and my horse and I have had quite a number of problems as well. This book is perfect for teenage horse lovers of any kind, so if that’s you I strongly recommend reading this book!