After reading some of the 'favorite book' lists here at Amazon, I decided to check this book out. Once you get past the first third of the book, it just gets more and more depressing - and then at the end, all hope and joy is totally dissipated.I was hoping for an uplifting story involving horses, instead (as has been stated by other reviewers here) everyone dies or is in comas, there is no light anywhere here.Thankfully, I checked the book out from the library, so all I lost was the time I spent slogging through this book.