Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2009
368 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
When his son Rowan was diagnosed with autism, Rupert Isaacson was devastated, afraid he might never be able to communicate with his child. But when Isaacson, a lifelong horseman, rode their neighbor's horse with Rowan, Rowan improved immeasurably. He was struck with a crazy idea: why not take Rowan to Mongolia, the one place in the world where horses and shamanic healing intersected?
The Horse Boy is the dramatic and heartwarming story of that impossible adventure. In Mongolia, the family found undreamed of landscapes and people, unbearable setbacks, and advances beyond their wildest dreams. This is a deeply moving, truly one-of-a-kind story - of a family willing to go to the ends of the earth to help their son, and of a boy learning to connect with the world for the first time.
"[An] intense, polished account" - Publishers Weekly.
"Breathtaking atmosphere, solid prose and stunning cultural observations can't obscure troubling parental desperation and skewed priorities." - Kirkus Reviews.
"A colorful real-life adventure with inspiring results." - Good Housekeeping.
"Rupert Isaacson has conjured a nonfiction journey that reads like an epic novel. It is a book of endless amazements. The world of Mongolian shamans, the details of adventuresome travel, the mysterious world of autism-all are amazing. Soon you realize that the world of horses is mysterious, too-and, yes, amazing. By the time you are in the grip of this book, you'll see love, marriage, and parenthood as realms of magic, profound power, and further amazements. The Horse Boy can change the way you see your life, and it's a terrifically good read at the same time. It feels like a classic." - Luis Alberto Urrea.
This information about The Horse Boy was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Rupert Isaacson was born in London to a South African mother and a Zimbabwean father. Isaacson's first book, The Healing Land , was a 2004 New York Times Notable Book. He has traveled extensively in Africa, Asia, and North America for the British press and now lives in Texas, with his wife, Kristin, and their son, Rowan.
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