Who doesn’t love a grumpy old man sticking his nose in other folks’ business? In this case it’s a grumpy old pony sticking his snout in his other people’s business. Like Marcellus the octopus in Remarkably Bright Creatures, we have an animal intervening in human affairs and ultimately, saving the day.
Pony after being sold by the family of his girl, Penny, 25 years ago has been passed around from owner to owner. He feels unloved, unwanted and blames his woes on his Penny. Pony determines he must break out of captivity to find Penny and exact revenge on her. Pony’s cross-country odyssey puts him in contact with a menagerie of animal characters from Circe, the goat, Caya, the hound dog and Dr. Rat (his psychotherapist).
After a therapy session with Dr. Rat, Pony learns that in fact Penny did not abandon him it was the other way around. Penny now stands accused of a long-ago murder. Pony realizes that to make amends to Penny he must clear her name. So, starts more cross-country travel, sleuthing and snarky Pony comments. We wander with Pony as he joins the circus, lives with an eccentric widow and survives a hurricane while living on a wild horse island sanctuary.
While Pony is out traversing the country, Penny works to convince her rookie public defender that she did not murder someone 25 years ago. She revives what she thought was her long-dead marriage. Mix into the situation the concern that while trying to help her daughter manage her mental health issues Penny might have only made a bad situation worse.
Chapters alternate between Pony’s and Penny’s viewpoints. We experience Penny losing humanity while in prison and Pony gaining “humanity” through his adventures. Lynch draws remarkable parallels between the captivity of animals in zoos and the incarceration of people in prisons.
Readers of Life of Pi by Yann Martel or Starter Villain by John Scalzi will enjoy this funny, cozy and surprisingly meaty book about people, animals and captivity.
Categories: Books and More
Tags: Books and More
