Review: Puts me in the mood for some sun and relaxation!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 31, 2014
Ok, spring is in the air, but nonetheless the image that A Horse Named Joe evokes is delicious and makes you long for summer – warm beaches, turquoise seas and relaxation with your friends.Roni Dugan has left New York and is on her way to the Bahamas – Green Turtle Cay – for a break. After losing her extremely well paid job on Wall Street at the time of the crash she’s been unsure what she wants from life and her family and marriage are feeling the strain. Her husband has encouraged her to take this break and get herself together and work out the way forward.  She turns up on the island, still the New Yorker, with her smart clothes and designer accessories, but quickly drops this in favor of a more relaxed style that fits in with the island and its people. As she arrives at the house she’s staying in, she has her first encounter with Joe, the horse of the title. He wanders around the island free to come and go as he wishes, minding his own business, nibbling plants and grass and occasionally misbehaving with tourists. For Roni he comes to represent everything that she’s forgotten to value and the joy of the simple life, and he reappears regularly throughout the story. Roni quickly settles in, making friends with the Bahamian men and women she meets – Randall the dive master, Lashanda the bartender, and Devin the Bahamian Rock Star and many more. The people are not wealthy, but seem to Roni to find contentment in their work, friends, familes. The characters all have their charms and make their contribution to helping Roni get herself together and work out the beginnings of a new direction for herself. Once her 3 girlfriends arrive, the fun really starts and their exploits and adventures are entertaining and realistically written – these aren’t young women , but they’re young at heart and know how to have a good time but  still be themselves.  I really enjoyed this book and felt the delight Roni feels in the island and her new friends as well as her New York girls. It leaves you with a smile on your face and a belief that Roni is finally on the right path to a simpler but happier life.We’re not all going to get to the Bahamas this summer, so why not read this book instead and get the flavor which it offers so beautifully.