The Mount

You have to read this book. Although Emshwiller is really just a poor writer (at age 64, I've read an average of 80 books per year, and at last, with cancer in my bones, I feel I'm qualified to judge), the idea behind this book is more than enough to overcome her lack of ability. All I want as an old SF reader is a new idea ... for once, here's one ... though, as I said, poorly written. Despite comments from other readers, the close reader will find that the Hoots are merely human and indistinguishable from ourselves. The ideas in this book, really, truly, are a metaphor for the last 40 years I spent working in public accounting. Tragic, I know ... but a good book makes you think ... and yes, at my age, I understand that a good book can still be poorly written. Please read it ... George Orwell was, in all actuality, a VERY boring writer (go read Burmese Days if you don't believe me), but had an impact on all the world. This book may do the same. Am I damning with faint praise? I hope not ... this book should be required reading.

I picked this book up only after finding nothing else that interested me. My first impression was that the plot line was corny and just plain weird, but in the first chapter my feelings towards The Mount completely changed. The story is about growing up, learning what life is all about, love, freedom, family... just about everything that can make a book good. The writing style is amazing! I ate up every page. Everything has alternative meanings and everything in the story (the landscapes, wildlife, plantlife) emphasizes the changes in the characters. I reccomend this book to anyone and everyone! It's impossible not to enjoy this book!

What is slavery? Is it always whips and chains and torture? No. There are many ways a person can be enslaved, and The Mount teaches us this. The Mount is one of those books that would make a great companion to The Giver or 1984. Earth was taken over long ago by creatures the humans called Hoots for their long "hooting" noise. Years later, Charley is a boy who is given the chance of freedom from his life as a human horse and, more importantly, the chance to change his world. But Charley has never known freedom and is so steeped in his culture that he doesn't even know he's a prisoner. He doesn't understand that he's being treated like an animal, like an unthinking creature that only acts on instinct. In fact, the Hoots have him so thoroughly convinced that he's an animal that he stoops to the level of acting like one. This is what Charley has been raised to and, therefore, he doesn't know any better until the day he is rescued by other humans ("Wilds") and is faced with the question: "What does it mean to be human?" Join Charley on his psychological spiral as he learns the difference between false freedom and true freedom.

This is a science fiction/young adult novel told from the point of view of 11 year old Charlie.The story is set in a society where Earth has been colonized by Hoots, who breed, ride and race tame humans. Charlie, a well-conformed Seattle, the strongest and best looking of the human breeds, is chosen as the mount for Little Master, The-Future-Ruler-Of-Us-All.The story -- a good coming-of-age story on its own fictional merits -- also explores the nature of slavery without pomposity, without simplistic proclamation as Charlie sheds slavery as he also sheds childhood -- both with some regret. The coming-of-age elements (coming to terms with his father, searching for a missing mother, finding a young-adolescent place for himself in terms of family and in terms of a role in society) are beautifully plotted. The fantasy element is imaginative.A recommendation. Especially if you have a smart 12 year old to read it with.

Rather than write another synopsis of the novel, I would instead comment on the number of different themes which present themselves in this incredibly imaginative tale. I see themes of Whites and Black slavery, the relationships between parents and children, the universal process of coming to adulthood, the idea of dominance and submission in relationships, and our treatment of the other creatures on this earth which we call "animals." If we were not the "dominant" species on this planet, would we be treated like the mounts in this story? I believe that we would. And I wonder about something else: If horses could speak, what would they tell us? This is a disturbing story which does what all great literature does. It changes us forever.