The information that we have is that Brat is actually a horse trainer - the book refers to Brat breaking Smoky, his horse in the United States. Timber killed his owner by brushing him off, and then tried to unseat Brat when Brat rode him. One of the horse's habits was to brush off riders using tree limbs or other objects, like fences. I don't think that Brat wanted to either punish or be cruel to Timber. He needs to be sent to Robert Redford in the sequel! I hate the way horses were treated back then. How does that help him from not doing it again? It doesn't. It's like rubbing a puppys nose in his pee. And I did not like that Brat wanted to punish him and be cruel to him. But, I wonder more about Timber's background.

I most always lean to the side of human cruelty that causes an animal to do something like that. But, i've typed all of this now so there's that. I don't know why I bothered commenting on this one since I can't do it justice bc of not remembering all the details. I would have to re-read the book to really give a true opinion. remember how the horse supposedly caused the death of his previous owner. But, because I listened instead of actually reading it I think I am forgetting or didn't pay attention to well enough why the horse was considered so dangerous. (The conceit of the horse is what led him to wonder just what wa.' There is so much tension at the end that I need to reread the last couple of chapters because I was flying through the words to get to the resolution!Ĭarol ♔Type, Oh Queen!♕ wrote: 'Karlyne wrote: 'I think I remember Brat being surprised that the horse wasn't put down because the horse was, after all, a murderer. I would've preferred to have all of that strange attraction left out of the story altogether. And the attraction between them still feels really gross, honestly, as did his weird relationship with Bee, especially since I really liked both Eleanor and Bee. Even if Brat isn't actually her brother, he's still apparently her cousin. I could've done without the romantic subplot involving Eleanor, however. All of those little details: the little 'test' that Simon threw at Brat to show him that he doesn't really believe Brat is Patrick, sending Brat off on Timber with that offhand warning, sufficient to be a 'defense' if Brat had been killed/injured as he hoped, his simmering rage at his so-called love interest acquiring a better horse for the competition, Simon's drunken display of animosity. What a great read! I thought that the way that Tey slowly revealed Simon's essentially rotten character was just masterfully done - a true example of 'showing' not 'telling,' as the writer books are always banging on about.

Brat farrar josephine tey summary