Mary Gaitskill named her novel “The Mare,” with “mare” in the singular. In truth, however, this is about at least three and possibly four females including the equine. The main arc of the story has Velveteen Vargas, a Dominican from Brooklyn, establishing a relationship with Ginger, a failed artist and recovering alcoholic, and her husband Paul, a college professor, in their upstate New York home. While there on frequent visits of varying length Velvet also builds a relationship with a neglected and angry mare at a boarding and lesson stable near Ginger and Paul’s home.

There’s plenty of room for sentimentality here, but Gaitskill studiously avoids it. Her novel is multifaceted: a horse story, yes, but also a coming-of-age story, a feminist study, a consideration of the effects of family dynamics, and a close look at how economic class influences behavior and expectations.

Spoiler alert: the horse doesn’t die.

“Extraordinary. . . . [A] magnificently hopeful novel.” —The New York Times Book Review


“Captivating. . . . A fascinating exploration of urban despair, female depression and sexual awakening.” —The Washington Post

“Brave and bold. . . . The range of Gaitskill’s humanity is astonishing.” —Los Angeles Times

“Gaitskill is such a preternaturally gifted writer that nearly every page of The Mare shimmers with exacting and sometimes hallucinatory observation.” —The New York Times

To fully appreciate what Gaitskill’s up to in this book, it’s worth getting acquainted with the original Velvet. One way is to check out Wikipedia’s summary of the 1944 Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney film version of  National Velvet. It includes notes about how the film differs from the book by Enid Bagnold.

Or you can have a look a this nice little 4-minute version of the movie I found on YouTube:

Not enough footage for you?  You can find the whole film on Amazon—rent for $2.99 or buy for $9.99.

The story of a person being able to forge a unique bond with an animal is quite familiar in literature but may seem improbable as a real-life occurrence. Though it’s rather long, you might be interested in this The New Yorker profile of Olympic dressage freestyle gold-medalist Charlotte Dujardin, who actually lived the story. You can read it here.

As I mentioned in our discussion, Mary Gaitskill participated as a host for The Fresh Air Fund program that Velvet was enrolled in fictionally.  The New York Times published this story about one of the youngsters who benefitted as a real-life participant in the program.