Double standards

by Patsey Gray

If honesty is supposed to be the best policy, why are people so deceitful?

Back
Everyone seems to "stretch the truth" when it suits their purpose. But when Sis found out that her dad was involved in real estate frauds she was devastated and decided to spend the summer working on her uncle's ranch where she would have time to think.

But the Tanbark Ranch wasn't a haven of tranquility. One of ranch hands was involved in a treacherous scheme that could destroy the ranch and the horse Sis had come to love.

How could she let her uncle know that someone he trusted was deceiving him?

Double Standards

Genres: Animals

150 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hesitate to call this a coming of age story because Sis is pretty much the same person from beginning to end. It's more of a Life Adventure story, in the way that life is made up of events great and small, they're all important in some way, and you have to face them all. She adjusts to life at the ranch, she learns how to interact with her taciturn uncle, and she makes friends. Already a seasoned horsewoman, she teaches riding classes, and takes on the training and rehabilitation of Gull. She competes in a major horse show, and chaperones a Grandma Day trail ride. The "treacherous scheme" mentioned in the synopsis isn't nearly the overall plot, just another event, a piece of the whole. Likewise, the issue she has with her father is another piece; in fact, he never appears on the page. If anything, the overall plot is her relationship with Gull. A girl and her horse.

When I was reading this at age 10 I thought 15-year-old Sis was such a mature grown up! I wanted to be her. Reading this now Sis seems too young to have so many adult responsibilities, not to mention be living on her own for a summer. But she handles it all with cheerfulness, bravery, and a strong work ethic - something any 10-year-old can look up to, and something I wish I had been at 15!

The book shows its age when Sis mentions trying to call her sisters but "the phone booths are always full", and when she writes letters to them about events that will "be over when you read this." Otherwise, ranch life and show life ring true!

[Stephanie A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read from this author. Not one I'd go out of my way to own, but 3.5 rounded up because it's a good solid girl + special horse story, although when I was sold the premise of a girl working on her uncle's California ranch, where most people ride Western, I did not expect this to turn into a showjumping story! Still, Gull's a great horse, and both her uncle and select ranch hands Laurie & Manuel are fine additions to the cast (Jeff, the quasi-date, feels a bit unnecessary). Plus the idea of getting to stay all by yourself in a little "one room cabin atop a high rise" is so romantic, especially for young readers, and the natural setting is beautifully described.

Oddly paced near the end, though -- the expected climax of on-the-lam Bud trying one last shot to sabotage he & Gull's chances never comes, resulting in unrelenting tension that sort of fizzles out when it becomes apparent that the high point is meant to be her overcoming her own nerves and riding to a thrilling win, as she finds out afterwards that Bud has already been found and is in custody. But the show is supposed to run for the whole weekend, and this was only their first class?? And then the book ends so abruptly that I thought maybe the OpenLibrary copy had had some pages torn out, but no, I guess 150 pages of mass market paperback is all there are.

P.S. I also really could have lived without the violent scene of stray/wild dogs cornering a Shetland pony and badly wounding him. He lives, barely, after Uncle Lee comes with a gun and shoots one of the dogs, but there HAD to be a better way to introduce the minor subplot of Lee then falling for the lady vet who overcomes his inherent sexism with her skill.

[Allison Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated and maybe hokey to most- but I still enjoy it.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

a quick read