'Ape House' is an ambitious novel in several ways, for which it is to be admired, and it is certainly an easy read, but because Gruen is not quite prepared for the philosophical implications of her subject, it is not as deeply involving emotionally or as interesting thematically as it could be.

But what truly horsey girls discover in the end is that boyfriends, husbands, children, and careers are the substitute-for horses

If there's anything Trollope novels always take seriously, it is money - how it flows from one character to another, how it is managed, who has it, who deserves it, and what it means to a character, male or female.

Ignorance and bloodlust have a long tradition in the United States, especially in the red states.

Progressivism is usually seen as a stepping back from individualism into a progressive community...

If novels and stories are bulletins from the progressive states of ignorance a writer passes through over the years, observations and opinions about horses are all the more so, since horses are more mysterious than life and harder to understand.

Love is a general emotion. Marriage is exactingly specific.