All God's Creatures
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About this ebook
Often compared to the novels of James Herriot, ALL GOD'S CREATURES follows the life of a woman veterinarian in modern Tennessee. From an unlikely start as a white-glove debutante in the 1960's to a sexism-defying launch in vet school to the adventures, sorrows, joys, and oddities of a long veterinary practice, our heroine spins tales of the animals and people who share her life. By veteran romance author and dedicated horsewoman Carolyn McSparren, who also writes the Merry Abbot Carriage Driving Mysteries.
Carolyn McSparren
Horses are important to the characters in most of Cariolyn McSparren's Harlequin romances.She rides a 17.2 hand half Clydesdale and drives a 16.2 hand half Shire mare to a carriage..Carolyn has won three Maggie Awards and was twice a finalist for the Rita Award.She has lived in Germany, France, Italy, and twoo many cikties in the U.S.A. to count. She holds a master's degree in English.She lives in an old house outside Memphis, Tenessee, with three cats,three horses and one husband,.
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Reviews for All God's Creatures
20 ratings21 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I can't say that I would compare this to a James Herriot book; while it's a good read and I enjoyed reading it, there's much more focus on the human element than I expected from the publisher's blurb. Definitely recommended for horse people, and very touching in parts -- but the retirement issue did drag a little I'm afraid, and I was a little surprised at the lack of focus on their own pets. Maybe that's just me. Worth reading.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5_Finally_ read this book. I started it right after I got it (from Early Readers), and stalled on the first chapter. I've started and stalled at the same place half a dozen times in the...several years since I got it. But this time I powered through, and got through the entire book. And it's good! I enjoyed reading it, and I may well reread. Pity it took me so long. The stories are good - events in a vet's life, which are always interesting and frequently amusing (I like Herriot too). The events in her personal life - from sexism in college (and later) to her marriage, children, and widowhood while working as an independent vet, to her waffling on whether to retire - are also interesting, though mostly much less amusing. I kept trying to decide if it was a memoir or fiction, and couldn't figure it out - there's an afterword, however, in which the author explains that while all the stories are true, the characters are all fictional. Very nicely done, since I couldn't determine whether it was true or not! As a vet, Maggie works with both small and large animals - dogs and cats, horses and cattle. And buffalo, and wolves, and monkeys...but not often. Miracle recoveries, accidental deaths and deaths due to incompetence, weird and wonderful problems mostly solved. Her personal life is less smooth, and less interesting to me. Not bad, but a lot of cases where two or more people act reasonably by their own lights and end up on a collision course. Not particularly enjoyable to read, though in several cases the collision powered the story down the line. Overall enjoyable, and probably worth a reread (to catch what I missed the first time through!).
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maggie was raised to be a Southern Belle, but she only wanted to be a veterinarian from the time she worked for a vet to pay off a bill for a half-drowned puppy. She struggled through the man's world of veterinary school in the 60's, and the book follows the story of her life, love, career and family. It is a good story but without that attention-grabbing quality of James Herriott (to whom all veterinary stories must be compared).
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I promised to review this when I got it and am sorry to say I have just now gotten around to reading it. It is a wonderful, warm book about female vets in the 1960's South. If you liked James Herriot's books you will enjoy this one. The people are as interesting as the animals in the story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoyed this book, following the life of Maggie McLain, a Southern Belle in the sixties who leaves that life to become a vet at a time when the South was not really ready for women vets, which only makes a hard job even harder.There is no real over-arching plot to this novel, rather it is a series of anecdotes spread across a lifetime, but it is brought together by the wonderful characters involved in them. The family, friends, colleagues, clients and Dr McLain herself are all well-drawn, bringing good humour and warmth to the stories of the various veterinary crises they encounter.The book's anecdotes are beautifully told, humorously portraying some of the odder clients and the sorts of situations that end up with vets on their backsides in mud, while sensitively and compassionately dealing with the times when sad things happen, such as the death of a child's beloved horse.Both moving and giggle-inducing, this was a lovely read.------Full disclosure for the FTC and anyone else who is bothered: I received a copy of 'All God's Creatures' for free as an ebook via the LibraryThing Early Reviewers system.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Carolyn McSparren has written a book, All God’s Creature, maybe not thinking to a large claims but the result is different: a readable book, well written, with passion and love for the animals, humankind is not aside and often animals teach some lectures to people. This is the story of a woman who becomes a veterinary for love of animals, carrying all her humanity; and, sometimes, becoming a new super-hero or, better, a Super-Vet (I remember, for instance the hunt of the escaped buffalo). Every chapters tells a new and different story, although there is a fil rouge: the life of this Vet from the first dog to the last horse.I recommend this book for all animal lover (but who doesn’t love animals?).‘I always devoured books and loved music and art, but culture never gave me the immediate thrill I got from saving an animals life’ p. 238
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not quite sure the intended audience; I'd assume Christians/Catholics - but you can never quite tell. Its a decently well-paced novel that starts quite a bit slow and then builds, kind of like a slow starting engine of a train or large truck. The characters are interesting, for the most part three dimensional and intelligence, but overall the novel feels lacking and to be honest (and I hate doing this as a reviewer) I can't just quite put my finger on that.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book would have been a much easier read had it not been an e-book. I stopped and started many times and had difficulty staying with it not because of the content, but because I would much rather sit curled up with a book than sit in an office chair staring at a computer screen. The characters in the story are well developed and the storyline flows in an easy manner through most of the book. The chapters are long and there are a lot of them making this a long book. More time could have been spent on animal stories and less on daily life. The connection between this book and James Herriot's books is not very evident throughout most of the book unless you consider only that they are both vet stories.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I was very happy to find out I won this Early Reviewers book. I had the ambition of becoming a vet in the past and allthough this story is fictional I really wanted to read it.The story 'flows'; it is fluid, comprehendable, a narrative that does not get boring at all. It is emotional to read at times and I really enjoyed that.I can't compare it to 'Black Beauty' by Anne Sewell for the obvious reasons but the feeling I got while reading it is quite comparable. Hard to lay down and once I did, the hunger for more of this!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a very good book. I loved reading about Maggie's adventures as a vet. The story reminded me a lot of James Herriot's "All Creatures" books. Plenty of laughter, tears and love in this book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All God's Creatures is a wonderful fictional account of a woman veterinarian who attends veterinary school in the era when women were expected to be housewives, not professionals. It is a fascinating look at the experiences of someone breaking into a male-dominated field and the obstacles faced by anyone who attempts to practice medicine on rather large animals such as horses and cows in their natural environment rather than within the confines of a veterinary clinic. The newly minted Dr. McLain faces her share of interesting cases and bonds with several wonderful people but this book also gives a glimpse of the toll that veterinary medicine takes upon the private life of the dedicated practitioner. A well-written and enjoyable tale.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not so bad, not so good: a so-so theme in a so-so story. Predictable, maybe outdated. I suppose that the editors' comment says it all: 'This warm-hearted novel about a woman veterinarian in Tennessee has been compared to the James Heriott books'.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As a convincing fictional memoir, this book succeeded (not that this was the intention of the author - but it was completely my experience). The stories of animal care were enjoyable, but even more so was the character development of Maggie and Eli, Morgan and all the other friends and family that populate this novel. Along the way Ms. McSparren explores the complicated relationships that mothers and daughters have. One of the most poignant parts of the novel for me was the conversation Maggie has with her son. She has a guilty feeling that she failed her family, even as she was succeeding as a well respected and accomplished veterinarian. Her son, Nathan, gives her a completely different view of their family life and his mother's role in their lives. It brought tears to my eyes to see the love and pride that Nathan had for his mother. A very enjoyable read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoyed the stories about Maggie McLain's life as a country vet. Besides treating dogs and cats, she often has to treat larger animals such as horses, pigs, and cows. Occasionally there are also the rarer animals such as monkeys and even a wolf.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Carolyn McSparren has written a fascinating book about a Southern woman coming of age in the sixties and pursuing her dream by becoming a veternarian after saving a puppy thrown away by the side of the road.At eighteen, Margaret Evans begins her independence by announcing her name is now Maggie. With the help of a vet she saves a puppy from drowning and thus begins a life dedicated to animals,large and small.This warm-hearted story tells how she opens a practice, marries,raises two children,then loses her husband.Though filled with humorous stories about her patients and their owners, Ms. McSparren also touches your heart with vignettes of family life.She has believable characters who love and struggle through life and are courageous through it all.Uplifting, with an affirmation of life, this novel is truly an enjoyable read for anyone interested in animals,friendships,family, and feminism. I, for one, will look for more by this author and if you need a book to say "it is all worthwhile", this book is for you.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Much like James Herriot we are introduced to the life of a country vet, this time though the country is in Tennessee and the vet is a woman. Whilst that's not unexpected these days when Maggie set out it wasn't the norm. Prejudice, bulls, horses and even a wolf get battled as she makes her way in the world. Touching and funny, it's worth a read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a great read! If you love humour and against-all-odds stories combined with animals and humans in all shapes and sizes, this is a story you will not be able to put down until the last page. A very pleasant surprise indeed!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow! It has been awhile since I have picked up a book that I could not stop reading. The story is simple about the life of a woman who finds her calling treating animals and the struggles she faces. There is no sex (human at least) violence and minimal swearing, yet the story is captivating, humerous, and at times sad. The author manages to bring you into the story through events that happen to this vet as she progresses through her life, starting at her discovery for her love of vet science, through her schooling, starting a new practice, and starting a family of her own. The tales of course revolve around life (birth) and death and the ties between people and their animals. I really thought I was reading a composite of tales of the author's life and her experiences as I did no research prior to reading. To my surprise at the end of the book I found the author had taken tales from people she knows and crafted them into a story. It seemed so realistic. I made the mistake of starting this book at work, and had a tough time putting down. I read it in 2 days start to finish, and likely would have been shorter if I hadn't had to get some work done in between turning the pages! I highly recommend this book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a great book. I started reading the book Friday evening and finished before going to sleep Saturday night. There were times that I was laughing hysterically and times that I was on the verge of tears. Although this book has been compared to the writing of James Herriot, I don't think that it's quite at his level of writing. Nonetheless, All God's Creatures was a fun, engaging read. If you like vet and animal stories, you'll most likely enjoy this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a win, win for me. I love stories about women in the south and animals. I got both in this book. I laughed and I cried. This is the first book that my book club read where we all agreed the book was a winner. Sequel please.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Carolyn McSparren’s novel All God’s Creatures is a superbly written and thoroughly entertaining narrative on the life of one Tennessee female veterinarian. Despite the relatively simple theme, country vet treats an array of animals; the book is surprisingly rich in emotion and slice-of-life drama. Each chapter most amusingly details the many adventures and misadventures our heroine encounters on a daily basis. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes these thoroughly ordinary people and events so wonderful to read about except perhaps Ms. McSparren’s expert skill at capturing the wonder of the human spirit. Every animal lover will love this novel, and those that don’t will perhaps gain a glimpse into the amazing capacity of the human heart to love “All God’s Creatures.”