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Horse
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.
New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.
Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse--one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.
Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.
New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.
Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse--one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.
Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.
401 pages, Hardcover
First published June 14, 2022
About the author
Geraldine Brooks
40 books8,433 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Australian-born Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who grew up in the Western suburbs of Sydney, and attended Bethlehem College Ashfield and the University of Sydney. She worked as a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald for three years as a feature writer with a special interest in environmental issues.
In 1982 she won the Greg Shackleton Australian News Correspondents scholarship to the journalism master’s program at Columbia University in New York City. Later she worked for The Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans.
She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March. Her first novel, Year of Wonders, is an international bestseller, and People of the Book is a New York Times bestseller translated into 20 languages. She is also the author of the nonfiction works Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
Brooks married author Tony Horwitz in Tourette-sur-Loup, France, in 1984. They had two sons– Nathaniel and Bizuayehu–and two dogs. They used to divide their time between their homes in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and Sydney, Australia.
Australian-born Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who grew up in the Western suburbs of Sydney, and attended Bethlehem College Ashfield and the University of Sydney. She worked as a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald for three years as a feature writer with a special interest in environmental issues.
In 1982 she won the Greg Shackleton Australian News Correspondents scholarship to the journalism master’s program at Columbia University in New York City. Later she worked for The Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans.
She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March. Her first novel, Year of Wonders, is an international bestseller, and People of the Book is a New York Times bestseller translated into 20 languages. She is also the author of the nonfiction works Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
Brooks married author Tony Horwitz in Tourette-sur-Loup, France, in 1984. They had two sons– Nathaniel and Bizuayehu–and two dogs. They used to divide their time between their homes in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and Sydney, Australia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 12,661 reviews
May 20, 2023
With her meticulous research, Geraldine Brooks immerses the reader in the fascinating world of American Horseracing and race in the antebellum South from 1850 to 1861, where for wealthy white men, racehorse ownership is a matter of great prestige and profit. It highlights the often unaknowledged integral roles played by enslaved black groomsmen and trainers, such as Harry Lewis and his sensitive son, Jarret, who forms a soul level connection of affection and trust from birth to death with the greatest American horse, Lexington, known too for being the greatest stud sire in horseracing history. In the present, Nigerian-American art historian Theo Northam rescues a discarded painting of a horse that fires his interest in equine art. At the Smithsonian, the neglected skeleton of Lexington is found in an attic by Aussie osteologist, Jess, who articulates Lexington's skeleton.
In a narrative that goes back and forth in time, we are given the perspectives of numerous individuals, this includes Thomas Scott, a horse artist who paints Lexington several times through time, and Martha Jackson a New York gallery owner with a gift for recognising artistic talent, in the 1950s she swaps her convertible for 2 of Jackson Pollack's paintings and becomes drawn to a painting of a horse. We follow Jarret's life, having his dreams dashed when he and Lexington are sold to Richard Ten Broek, subject to his whims and desires, with Lexington not always the first priority, where making money and reputation take precedence. However, he is able to be with Lexington and see that he receives the best care as the horse demolishes the competition in races. Jarret's growing awareness of the horrors of the oppression experienced by slaves and his own sufferings contracts the world but expands and opens up his heart to let in others.
Jarret shows great courage when it comes his beloved horses and Thomas Scott amidst the carnage and terrors of the Civil War but will he ever be a free man? Brooks draws parallels between the two periods when it comes to race, positing that in many ways, racism remains a ubiquitous and pernicious feature of contemporary America. I had little knowledge of American horseracing history, equine art, Lexington, or the part played by enslaved black horsemen, so found this to be an informative, eye opening, heartbreaking and poignant read in which centre stage is the moving relationship between a man and a horse. A stellar novel that I recommend highly. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
In a narrative that goes back and forth in time, we are given the perspectives of numerous individuals, this includes Thomas Scott, a horse artist who paints Lexington several times through time, and Martha Jackson a New York gallery owner with a gift for recognising artistic talent, in the 1950s she swaps her convertible for 2 of Jackson Pollack's paintings and becomes drawn to a painting of a horse. We follow Jarret's life, having his dreams dashed when he and Lexington are sold to Richard Ten Broek, subject to his whims and desires, with Lexington not always the first priority, where making money and reputation take precedence. However, he is able to be with Lexington and see that he receives the best care as the horse demolishes the competition in races. Jarret's growing awareness of the horrors of the oppression experienced by slaves and his own sufferings contracts the world but expands and opens up his heart to let in others.
Jarret shows great courage when it comes his beloved horses and Thomas Scott amidst the carnage and terrors of the Civil War but will he ever be a free man? Brooks draws parallels between the two periods when it comes to race, positing that in many ways, racism remains a ubiquitous and pernicious feature of contemporary America. I had little knowledge of American horseracing history, equine art, Lexington, or the part played by enslaved black horsemen, so found this to be an informative, eye opening, heartbreaking and poignant read in which centre stage is the moving relationship between a man and a horse. A stellar novel that I recommend highly. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
June 13, 2022
I love a good horse story and it was such a joy to read about Lexington, his incomparable talent, and dedicated groom/trainer Jarret. If the book had just been about them and the paintings, I would have given it five stars. The storyline of Theo and Jess was disjointed and distressing. It is too bad as Jess's character was the connection to the Lexington skeleton. She just was not believable nor was her relationship with PHD student Theo. I do give Brooks points for managing COVID in the modern narrative. And Clancy the Kelpie was definitely a delightful piece of the narrative.
Thank you to Viking and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Viking and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
August 3, 2022
Imaginative, and impeccably researched historical fiction, wonderfully written as well as skillfully structured, with characters to connect to and a story that moved me. This is pretty much everything I could ask for in a novel. All of this in a story about a horse, yet it is about much more than story a magnificent racing horse. It is about the injustice of slavery, selling people, like they sold horses, families separated and the racism that continues years later with tragic consequences.
There are multiple time frames, multiple places from Lexington, KY to Washington DC to Long Island, NY, New Orleans connecting a cast of engaging characters, a painting of a horse, it’s preserved bones and the horse, a character in his own right . It was fascinating to learn about horses and horse racing, the history of it, the role of black men in grooming and training. It was equally as fascinating to learn about the workings at the Smithsonian, about the art world, the reverence for equestrian art. Brooks skillfully meshes science and art and life. It’s so stunning how she weaves all these threads together to create a story that is at the same time a compelling story and a wonderful rendering of the times, the places, and sadly the societal injustices. It’s an epic story reinforcing Brooks’ place as a literary treasure. My favorite of the year so far.
There are multiple time frames, multiple places from Lexington, KY to Washington DC to Long Island, NY, New Orleans connecting a cast of engaging characters, a painting of a horse, it’s preserved bones and the horse, a character in his own right . It was fascinating to learn about horses and horse racing, the history of it, the role of black men in grooming and training. It was equally as fascinating to learn about the workings at the Smithsonian, about the art world, the reverence for equestrian art. Brooks skillfully meshes science and art and life. It’s so stunning how she weaves all these threads together to create a story that is at the same time a compelling story and a wonderful rendering of the times, the places, and sadly the societal injustices. It’s an epic story reinforcing Brooks’ place as a literary treasure. My favorite of the year so far.
July 12, 2022
I try very hard not to be the kind of person who says that white people should not write from the POV of POC, but really, if this is the best you can do, white people should not write from the POV of POC.
"Horse" is a pretty mediocre novel that I would normally give three stars. There is nothing in this book that stands out as particularly excellent except maybe the research that went into it. Characters are bland, the plot is predictable, pacing is slow and dull. There is nothing particularly offensive about it, but there is nothing all that amazing about it either. This book is far more of a horse book than it is about race issues.
Then we get to the interactions between Jess and Theo and I wanted to drink myself into oblivion for how poorly they were written. The initial meeting between the two starts with a mix up because the two of them own the same bike. Jess overreacts, Theo handles himself like an adult and the two briefly go their separate ways. Then Jess spends literal chapters obsessing over how traumatized and embarassed she is by her own racism. Yes, because SHE is the person we should be focusing on in this incident. Afterwards she spends her time being hyper aware that Theo is a *gasp* Black man.
I feel like I could point to this book as a manual for all the things racist white liberals do that irritate me short of that white savior nonesense. Fortunately there were few white savior incidents to be found in this book.
In short this is a book about race written by a white woman for other white women. Take that as you will.
"Horse" is a pretty mediocre novel that I would normally give three stars. There is nothing in this book that stands out as particularly excellent except maybe the research that went into it. Characters are bland, the plot is predictable, pacing is slow and dull. There is nothing particularly offensive about it, but there is nothing all that amazing about it either. This book is far more of a horse book than it is about race issues.
Then we get to the interactions between Jess and Theo and I wanted to drink myself into oblivion for how poorly they were written. The initial meeting between the two starts with a mix up because the two of them own the same bike. Jess overreacts, Theo handles himself like an adult and the two briefly go their separate ways. Then Jess spends literal chapters obsessing over how traumatized and embarassed she is by her own racism. Yes, because SHE is the person we should be focusing on in this incident. Afterwards she spends her time being hyper aware that Theo is a *gasp* Black man.
I feel like I could point to this book as a manual for all the things racist white liberals do that irritate me short of that white savior nonesense. Fortunately there were few white savior incidents to be found in this book.
In short this is a book about race written by a white woman for other white women. Take that as you will.
June 20, 2022
I’ve never been a horse-or pony girl….but I’m at least a part-time Geraldine Brooks girl. “People of the Book”, was one of my favorites.
…and …
even though I’m concurrently reading three other books….I’ve had this advance copy for over a month.
I finally finished it.
It’s Terrific!!!! Totally engaging with gorgeous prose!
So….
….this non-horse-pony-girl had a fabulous gallop-of-a ride!
I LOVED it.
The beginning quote hooks us immediately with these words:
“The deceptively reductive forms of the artist’s work belie in the destiny of meaning forged by a bifurcated existence. These glyphs and ideograms signal to us from the crossroads: freedom and slavery, White and Black, real and urban”.
The story begins in Georgetown, Washington DC, 2019 with Theo Northam as the opening narrator (for just a few pages).
Theo, is Black, a son of two diplomats. He’s an Art historian—
rescuing a painting of Lexington, an American thoroughbred, racehorse painting, from the trash. The man who painted Lexington, the artist, was named Thomas Scott.
Theo takes the painting to the Smithsonian where he meets Jess, (skeleton expert). Jess is White.
Theo eventually falls in love with her.
The next few pages, we hear from Jess (still 2019, only now we are at the Smithsonian museum, in Maryland). Jess is from Australia originally—an osteologist.
We learn a little background from her.
When Jess was just seven years of age, she dug up her dog, Milo, from her backyard, who had been dead for a year— because she loved him.
Jess loved the interior architecture of living things.
Overtime, her bedroom became a mini natural history Museum, filled with skeletons of lizards, mice, birds, displayed on plinth fashioned from salvaged wire spools or cotton reels.
After Jess graduated, the Smithsonian offered her a four month contract to go to French Guiana to collect rainforest specimens. Not many girls from Western Sydney did this.
The next dozen or so pages we are taken back to the year 1850 in Lexington, Kentucky. We meet Jarret Warfield. (ha, “half colt” himself). It was true Jarret had a feel for horses. He’d been slow to master human speech, but he could interpret the horses: their moods, they’re alliances, there’s simple wants, and there are many fears.
Jarret was the groomsmen and trainer for Lexington.
As a story continues we learn more about the famous horse—and also Black jockeys and trainers.
With all the history and research that Brooks brought to this book… I thought it was her most intimate of all the books she has written. It’s my new Brooks favorite.
We get background history, and a lot of joy from the personal relationships, brave characters, racism, slavery, and injustice…..
oh….but who knew there would be such an exquisite attaching love story within, too.
In the back of the book, Brooks lists the names of Lexington‘s historical connections.
She also quotes Mark Twain: “Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn’t”.
Brooks also says….
…..”This novel is a work of imagination, but most of the details regarding Lexington‘s brilliant racing career and years as a stud sire are true. He covered 960 mares, resulting in 575 foals, A remarkable percentage in itself. Many of the foals went on to be outstanding champions, four of them winning the Belmont Stakes and three winning the Preakness—Preakness himself was Lexington foal”.
I was also soooo sad to learn that this book started with the encouragement of Brooks husband, Tony Horowitz…..the true historian in the family. Tony died suddenly when Brooks was on book tour…her partner in life and in life every day.
EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK MOVED ME ….(to tears) a couple of times.
…and …
even though I’m concurrently reading three other books….I’ve had this advance copy for over a month.
I finally finished it.
It’s Terrific!!!! Totally engaging with gorgeous prose!
So….
….this non-horse-pony-girl had a fabulous gallop-of-a ride!
I LOVED it.
The beginning quote hooks us immediately with these words:
“The deceptively reductive forms of the artist’s work belie in the destiny of meaning forged by a bifurcated existence. These glyphs and ideograms signal to us from the crossroads: freedom and slavery, White and Black, real and urban”.
The story begins in Georgetown, Washington DC, 2019 with Theo Northam as the opening narrator (for just a few pages).
Theo, is Black, a son of two diplomats. He’s an Art historian—
rescuing a painting of Lexington, an American thoroughbred, racehorse painting, from the trash. The man who painted Lexington, the artist, was named Thomas Scott.
Theo takes the painting to the Smithsonian where he meets Jess, (skeleton expert). Jess is White.
Theo eventually falls in love with her.
The next few pages, we hear from Jess (still 2019, only now we are at the Smithsonian museum, in Maryland). Jess is from Australia originally—an osteologist.
We learn a little background from her.
When Jess was just seven years of age, she dug up her dog, Milo, from her backyard, who had been dead for a year— because she loved him.
Jess loved the interior architecture of living things.
Overtime, her bedroom became a mini natural history Museum, filled with skeletons of lizards, mice, birds, displayed on plinth fashioned from salvaged wire spools or cotton reels.
After Jess graduated, the Smithsonian offered her a four month contract to go to French Guiana to collect rainforest specimens. Not many girls from Western Sydney did this.
The next dozen or so pages we are taken back to the year 1850 in Lexington, Kentucky. We meet Jarret Warfield. (ha, “half colt” himself). It was true Jarret had a feel for horses. He’d been slow to master human speech, but he could interpret the horses: their moods, they’re alliances, there’s simple wants, and there are many fears.
Jarret was the groomsmen and trainer for Lexington.
As a story continues we learn more about the famous horse—and also Black jockeys and trainers.
With all the history and research that Brooks brought to this book… I thought it was her most intimate of all the books she has written. It’s my new Brooks favorite.
We get background history, and a lot of joy from the personal relationships, brave characters, racism, slavery, and injustice…..
oh….but who knew there would be such an exquisite attaching love story within, too.
In the back of the book, Brooks lists the names of Lexington‘s historical connections.
She also quotes Mark Twain: “Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn’t”.
Brooks also says….
…..”This novel is a work of imagination, but most of the details regarding Lexington‘s brilliant racing career and years as a stud sire are true. He covered 960 mares, resulting in 575 foals, A remarkable percentage in itself. Many of the foals went on to be outstanding champions, four of them winning the Belmont Stakes and three winning the Preakness—Preakness himself was Lexington foal”.
I was also soooo sad to learn that this book started with the encouragement of Brooks husband, Tony Horowitz…..the true historian in the family. Tony died suddenly when Brooks was on book tour…her partner in life and in life every day.
EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK MOVED ME ….(to tears) a couple of times.
June 28, 2022
I am definitely in the minority on this one! This has to be the best book that I've disliked so much!
It first follows the life of an actual race horse, Lexington, and then some paintings of that horse over the course of nearly 175 years, from 1850-2019. The tale is told through three strands, each covering a crucial time period. The three threads are further broken down into different voices, each narrating from their own perspective. With such a structure, there will inevitably by some stronger and weaker sections, and thus it is here. I could have done without the whole Jess/Theo part. Theo put my back up something fierce by coming across as an ill-mannered boor, for all the insistence on his "impeccable" manners. Fortunately, I in no way consider him representative of a contemporary man.
My favorite character in the 2019 sections is Catherine, the art expert from England. Since literally everything offends Theo, he resents her waxing enthusiastic about his impressive polo career at Oxford because it reminds him of some bullying he received.
During the oldest sections, dealing with the horse Lexington's birth through to his final days, my favorite character was Thomas Scott. He was the frontier artist who painted several images of Lexington at various stages of his life, sometimes including his most important humans, such as Jarrett the groom/trainer. Scott's letter, written to his dear friend from the field hospital of the battlefield, is pitch perfect in its poignant descriptions of war wounds, both visible and invisible. Those elements of the book were, by far, the best parts of the book and if it had just encompassed them, the overall rating would have been at least two stars higher. As it is, though, the rest of the book is dragged down by its polemic agenda.
While the "woke" nature of the piece is hard to take, the actual writing suffers in the modern section as well. In the build-up to the climactic scene in Rock Creek Park, the sense of foreboding is extremely heavy handed and obvious. There is no subtlety at all and therefore, very little suspense.
I found the mid-century narrative dealing with artists such as Jackson Pollock to be intriguing, but as out of place in this book as the formal painting of Lexington was to Martha's collection of "shock" art!
I am well aware that most readers will like this book and that's fine. We don't, and shouldn't, all like the same things.
It first follows the life of an actual race horse, Lexington, and then some paintings of that horse over the course of nearly 175 years, from 1850-2019. The tale is told through three strands, each covering a crucial time period. The three threads are further broken down into different voices, each narrating from their own perspective. With such a structure, there will inevitably by some stronger and weaker sections, and thus it is here. I could have done without the whole Jess/Theo part. Theo put my back up something fierce by coming across as an ill-mannered boor, for all the insistence on his "impeccable" manners. Fortunately, I in no way consider him representative of a contemporary man.
My favorite character in the 2019 sections is Catherine, the art expert from England. Since literally everything offends Theo, he resents her waxing enthusiastic about his impressive polo career at Oxford because it reminds him of some bullying he received.
During the oldest sections, dealing with the horse Lexington's birth through to his final days, my favorite character was Thomas Scott. He was the frontier artist who painted several images of Lexington at various stages of his life, sometimes including his most important humans, such as Jarrett the groom/trainer. Scott's letter, written to his dear friend from the field hospital of the battlefield, is pitch perfect in its poignant descriptions of war wounds, both visible and invisible. Those elements of the book were, by far, the best parts of the book and if it had just encompassed them, the overall rating would have been at least two stars higher. As it is, though, the rest of the book is dragged down by its polemic agenda.
While the "woke" nature of the piece is hard to take, the actual writing suffers in the modern section as well. In the build-up to the climactic scene in Rock Creek Park, the sense of foreboding is extremely heavy handed and obvious. There is no subtlety at all and therefore, very little suspense.
I found the mid-century narrative dealing with artists such as Jackson Pollock to be intriguing, but as out of place in this book as the formal painting of Lexington was to Martha's collection of "shock" art!
I am well aware that most readers will like this book and that's fine. We don't, and shouldn't, all like the same things.
November 3, 2023
Horses, A Civil War, and Modernity
Horse was my book club pick at the Troy Public Library, and the Barnes and Noble nearest my home went out of business, steeply discounting this book. Match made in heaven.
This book presents in shifting timelines and POV’s, primarily Kentucky in the Civil War era and modern-day DC.
I can see why my book club selected this book. It centers on race, and I think that it works well with the topic raised in Yellowface by RF Kuang ��� who gets to tell stories. In Horse, Geraldine Brooks hits on the topic of racism, but, based on her author photo, she is a white woman. Is she the right person to tell this story? Or are stories fair game for all?
There was a section in the book where an enslaved person buys his freedom, and he was working to purchase the freedom of some of his relatives. In the modern era, I couldn’t help but find the similarities to the student loan crisis. I was fortunate enough to pay off my student loans a few years ago, but I have a lot of sympathy to those still going through the process, understanding that many will never find a way out.
The author clearly spent a lot of time researching this book. However, the author had a hard time letting go some of her research, and the pacing seemed off. The paragraphs were too long, impacting the storytelling, and I wanted to ask the author to read an Andy Weir novel to get a better feel for how to move the plot forward.
Personally, I enjoyed the portions from the Civil War era better than the more preachy modern-day sections. The modern-day sections might just be too recent. We all just lived through these events; they are fresh in our mind. Perhaps this book will age well.
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Horse was my book club pick at the Troy Public Library, and the Barnes and Noble nearest my home went out of business, steeply discounting this book. Match made in heaven.
This book presents in shifting timelines and POV’s, primarily Kentucky in the Civil War era and modern-day DC.
I can see why my book club selected this book. It centers on race, and I think that it works well with the topic raised in Yellowface by RF Kuang ��� who gets to tell stories. In Horse, Geraldine Brooks hits on the topic of racism, but, based on her author photo, she is a white woman. Is she the right person to tell this story? Or are stories fair game for all?
There was a section in the book where an enslaved person buys his freedom, and he was working to purchase the freedom of some of his relatives. In the modern era, I couldn’t help but find the similarities to the student loan crisis. I was fortunate enough to pay off my student loans a few years ago, but I have a lot of sympathy to those still going through the process, understanding that many will never find a way out.
The author clearly spent a lot of time researching this book. However, the author had a hard time letting go some of her research, and the pacing seemed off. The paragraphs were too long, impacting the storytelling, and I wanted to ask the author to read an Andy Weir novel to get a better feel for how to move the plot forward.
Personally, I enjoyed the portions from the Civil War era better than the more preachy modern-day sections. The modern-day sections might just be too recent. We all just lived through these events; they are fresh in our mind. Perhaps this book will age well.
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August 30, 2022
The Horse may say neigh but I say Yay! to this exquisite story.
It is set in parallel - the history of a horse and his slave groomer in the 1850’s and a painting that has survived the century to the present day & how the piece was discovered discarded.
The themes of slavery, discrimination, racism - then and now. The story is timeless. Anyone who has an affinity to animals will experience this connection as well as those who appreciate art in its many forms.
My first Brooks but I'm delighted to say it won't be my last.
5⭐️
It is set in parallel - the history of a horse and his slave groomer in the 1850’s and a painting that has survived the century to the present day & how the piece was discovered discarded.
The themes of slavery, discrimination, racism - then and now. The story is timeless. Anyone who has an affinity to animals will experience this connection as well as those who appreciate art in its many forms.
My first Brooks but I'm delighted to say it won't be my last.
5⭐️
July 10, 2022
There are so many reasons why I love Geraldine Brooks's work, and they are all exemplified by HORSE -- a brilliant novel by a brilliant novelist. There is the sheer power of her storytelling, the way the narrative never flags; there is the profound depth of her characters -- in this case, even the horses and dogs have personalities that are vivid and moving; and there is the precision of her research. HORSE is about many things: the stain and legacy of slavery in the U.S., the love we have for the animals around us; and the sacrifices we will make (or fail to make) to make the lives of those around us better. And at the center of it all, in a novel that spans 170 years? A horse named Lexington. You will love him and you will love Jarrett, the slave who trains him and transforms the animal into a legend. I was weeping at the end -- in all the best ways.
July 26, 2022
Brooks is brilliant! Even when the synopsis of her book doesn't seem interesting, she proves the reader wrong, time and time again. Combining the story of a legendary race horse in the past with the racial injustice that was rampant then, with the racial injustice that is still present now, is masterful. At first I was much more invested in the past story but by books end I was thoroughly
invested in both. Heartbreakingly so!
An unforgettable story, and yes Lexington the horse was very real, much of this story is factual in one way or another. A stirring story about the ongoing struggle for racial equality and the tragedy of a hate that continues to this day. IMO, no one could have written it better.
invested in both. Heartbreakingly so!
An unforgettable story, and yes Lexington the horse was very real, much of this story is factual in one way or another. A stirring story about the ongoing struggle for racial equality and the tragedy of a hate that continues to this day. IMO, no one could have written it better.
April 1, 2023
Geraldine Brooks' book, Horse, is a rich tapestry that combines horse racing, race relations, art, love, greed, ego, slavery, betrayal, and ambition into a memorable story.
The book spans many generations, from the 1800's to current day, where interconnectedness seems serendipitous. As a reader, I rooted for those who had high ethics, integrity and work ethic...yet their efforts were often thwarted by those with different values.
Some of my favorite passages from Horse include:
* Horses lived with a world of fear
* A new horse is all promise
* It was what you couldn't see that rubbed your soul raw
* Horses win races with their heads
I love the use of words and language. I looked up 66 new words while reading Horse. Some of those words included: semaphores, deshabillement, ziggurat, macerating, plinths, zygomatic, pannier, ferruled, addlepated, turves, obduracy, riven, rowel, doggerel, jussive, subfusc, and many others.
Fantastic book!
The book spans many generations, from the 1800's to current day, where interconnectedness seems serendipitous. As a reader, I rooted for those who had high ethics, integrity and work ethic...yet their efforts were often thwarted by those with different values.
Some of my favorite passages from Horse include:
* Horses lived with a world of fear
* A new horse is all promise
* It was what you couldn't see that rubbed your soul raw
* Horses win races with their heads
I love the use of words and language. I looked up 66 new words while reading Horse. Some of those words included: semaphores, deshabillement, ziggurat, macerating, plinths, zygomatic, pannier, ferruled, addlepated, turves, obduracy, riven, rowel, doggerel, jussive, subfusc, and many others.
Fantastic book!
September 5, 2023
Author Geraldine Brooks’ recent novel, “Horse” illuminates the extensive history of racism in horse racing. Brooks uses her two main characters to demonstrate the lack of progress in racial equality; there is Jarret, an enslaved black groom and trainer working in the civil war era, and Theo, a graduate of Yale and Oxford, the son of foreign diplomats and a graduate student living in Washington DC with a Lord Fauntleroy accent. Despite those privileges, Theo walks a minefield in racist America because of his skin color.
Brooks structures her story in two timeframes using multiple POVs. She begins the novel in 2019 with Theo, an art-history graduate, finding a painting of a horse in his racist neighbor’s discard pile. He’s a 26-year-old Black Londoner and former polo player. Because of the racist way he was treated at Yale, he lost his interest in polo but not horses He decided to study stereotypes of Africans in British paintings in the antebellum South. He knows a great horse when he sees one and realizes that the painting he found in the garbage could be notable.
The other timeframe is pre-civil war, 1850 where the reader is introduced to Jarret, “Warfield’s Jarret” as he is enslaved by horse breeder Dr. Elisha Warfield. It’s Jarret’s father’s idea to breed two horses which resulted in the thoroughbred known in history as Lexington (although Jarret named him Darley). Lexington was the greatest thoroughbred stud sire in racing history. “For sixteen years, his foals, when they came to race, won more prize money than any other horses that raced during those years….Even today, people pay thousands of dollars for horses in Lexington’s bloodline.” Brooks used her imagination to create Jarret and used historical facts of Lexington and the civil war as an outline of the story. In her research, she found an early portrait of Lexington in an 1870’s issue of “Harper’s” magazine. The description is Lexington being led by “black Jarret, his groom.” No further references were found regarding Jarret. In an interview she stated, “it became clear to me that this novel could not merely be about a racehorse; it would need to be about race.” It is noted that Brooks and her husband adopted a son, Bizu, from Ethiopia. She thanked him for his insight into the modern black experience.
Jarret’s chapters vividly show the world of horse racing in the South. Brooks showcases her equine knowledge, and her love of horses shines through. I categorize her equine knowledge with author Jane Smiley. Smiley’s 2000 novel, “Horse Heaven” created a new world for me. While I learned to be intrigued with horse racing from “Horse Heaven”, I am now appalled at the industry after reading Brooks’ story. Brooks shows the ugly underbelly of equine abuse in the industry. After the 2023 horse racing year, and all the dead horses from the Triple Crown events, I see her point.
I found the melding of horse racing and the civil war very intriguing. I never contemplated thoroughbred horse racing and slavery. Other POV’s are added which enriched the story, although Jarret and Theo drive the plot.
I know very little about horse racing, so I found the story illuminating. The breeding and siring are fascinating. I enjoy Brooks’ prose, but I find her to use too much serendipity, some contrived situations, to advance her plot. Thus, I take away a star for plot issues.
Brooks structures her story in two timeframes using multiple POVs. She begins the novel in 2019 with Theo, an art-history graduate, finding a painting of a horse in his racist neighbor’s discard pile. He’s a 26-year-old Black Londoner and former polo player. Because of the racist way he was treated at Yale, he lost his interest in polo but not horses He decided to study stereotypes of Africans in British paintings in the antebellum South. He knows a great horse when he sees one and realizes that the painting he found in the garbage could be notable.
The other timeframe is pre-civil war, 1850 where the reader is introduced to Jarret, “Warfield’s Jarret” as he is enslaved by horse breeder Dr. Elisha Warfield. It’s Jarret’s father’s idea to breed two horses which resulted in the thoroughbred known in history as Lexington (although Jarret named him Darley). Lexington was the greatest thoroughbred stud sire in racing history. “For sixteen years, his foals, when they came to race, won more prize money than any other horses that raced during those years….Even today, people pay thousands of dollars for horses in Lexington’s bloodline.” Brooks used her imagination to create Jarret and used historical facts of Lexington and the civil war as an outline of the story. In her research, she found an early portrait of Lexington in an 1870’s issue of “Harper’s” magazine. The description is Lexington being led by “black Jarret, his groom.” No further references were found regarding Jarret. In an interview she stated, “it became clear to me that this novel could not merely be about a racehorse; it would need to be about race.” It is noted that Brooks and her husband adopted a son, Bizu, from Ethiopia. She thanked him for his insight into the modern black experience.
Jarret’s chapters vividly show the world of horse racing in the South. Brooks showcases her equine knowledge, and her love of horses shines through. I categorize her equine knowledge with author Jane Smiley. Smiley’s 2000 novel, “Horse Heaven” created a new world for me. While I learned to be intrigued with horse racing from “Horse Heaven”, I am now appalled at the industry after reading Brooks’ story. Brooks shows the ugly underbelly of equine abuse in the industry. After the 2023 horse racing year, and all the dead horses from the Triple Crown events, I see her point.
I found the melding of horse racing and the civil war very intriguing. I never contemplated thoroughbred horse racing and slavery. Other POV’s are added which enriched the story, although Jarret and Theo drive the plot.
I know very little about horse racing, so I found the story illuminating. The breeding and siring are fascinating. I enjoy Brooks’ prose, but I find her to use too much serendipity, some contrived situations, to advance her plot. Thus, I take away a star for plot issues.
August 31, 2022
***unpopular opinion review- DNF***
Who knew (I didn’t and I grew up in Kentucky) of the Thoroughbred stallion called Lexington who raced in the 1850’s prior to the Civil War? He was named for the city of his birth - Lexington, KY - which is known as the horse capital of the world, a title that is credited to this remarkable thoroughbred. Today, you can see a blue likeness of Lexington in signage all around the city. He’s become the symbol of the city. Lexington was the fastest horse of his era winning 6 of 7 races before going blind. He then became the greatest sire because of the number of winning champions he produced. A most remarkable horse to read about indeed.
So why DNF a novel that is currently being raved about by so many? Well, I will keep it short and sweet with some positives and negatives. I made it nearly halfway and loved reading the sections about Jarrett, the young black groom for Lexington. Had the book focused on just his story and the paintings that were done and found later, I would have enjoyed it more. I was so moved with the bond that these two shared and the research that Brooks accomplished in order to write this was impeccable. But for the negative, multiple time lines work for me only some of the time. This time it did not. I really did not gel well with the modern day characters. Some of the situations were so very contrived and I have to be honest, written with a political point in mind that diverted the narrative away from the historical narrative about Lexington. The jumping back and forth in time was distracting for me and felt disjointed. And for a Pulitzer winning writer, I was underwhelmed with the writing. I felt as thought Ms. Brooks was trying to include way too much when the focal point of the horse would have made for a fantastic read.
I’ve read March and Caleb's Crossing and they were ok. So maybe, after this third novel, I have determined that Brooks is just not the author for me. I can appreciate her topics as they are ones that are so very interesting and really up my alley as far as what I like to read, but sometimes there are some you just don’t jibe with. I have sat on this for several days thinking I’d start reading again, but no, I’ve read enough to see where this is going, and I’m just not interested. There are too many other books waiting to be read and so little time. I’m sad to say that this one was a disappointment. On to the next one!
Who knew (I didn’t and I grew up in Kentucky) of the Thoroughbred stallion called Lexington who raced in the 1850’s prior to the Civil War? He was named for the city of his birth - Lexington, KY - which is known as the horse capital of the world, a title that is credited to this remarkable thoroughbred. Today, you can see a blue likeness of Lexington in signage all around the city. He’s become the symbol of the city. Lexington was the fastest horse of his era winning 6 of 7 races before going blind. He then became the greatest sire because of the number of winning champions he produced. A most remarkable horse to read about indeed.
So why DNF a novel that is currently being raved about by so many? Well, I will keep it short and sweet with some positives and negatives. I made it nearly halfway and loved reading the sections about Jarrett, the young black groom for Lexington. Had the book focused on just his story and the paintings that were done and found later, I would have enjoyed it more. I was so moved with the bond that these two shared and the research that Brooks accomplished in order to write this was impeccable. But for the negative, multiple time lines work for me only some of the time. This time it did not. I really did not gel well with the modern day characters. Some of the situations were so very contrived and I have to be honest, written with a political point in mind that diverted the narrative away from the historical narrative about Lexington. The jumping back and forth in time was distracting for me and felt disjointed. And for a Pulitzer winning writer, I was underwhelmed with the writing. I felt as thought Ms. Brooks was trying to include way too much when the focal point of the horse would have made for a fantastic read.
I’ve read March and Caleb's Crossing and they were ok. So maybe, after this third novel, I have determined that Brooks is just not the author for me. I can appreciate her topics as they are ones that are so very interesting and really up my alley as far as what I like to read, but sometimes there are some you just don’t jibe with. I have sat on this for several days thinking I’d start reading again, but no, I’ve read enough to see where this is going, and I’m just not interested. There are too many other books waiting to be read and so little time. I’m sad to say that this one was a disappointment. On to the next one!
October 29, 2022
I loved this novel until I didn't, but let's start with the good — the excellent, really. Horse is a passionately conceived and beautifully written novel and as historical fiction, masterful. The novel revolves around three central storylines, one set in the years prior to the Civil War and follows the fortunes of a preternaturally gifted racehorse, Lexington, and his enslaved groom, Jarrett. The second moves us into New York City, the art world of the late 1950s and real-life art dealer Martha Jackson. The contemporary storyline takes place in Washington DC in 2019 and features Jess, an Australian woman who runs the Smithsonian Institution's Osteology Prep Lab and Theo, a Nigerian American PhD student working on a dissertation about American equestrian art (what?). They are all linked by the portrait of a horse and his groom that Theo discovers in his neighbor's trash. The horse, of course, is Lexington, the Black groom is Jarrett, and the book weaves past and present together in a fascinating and emotional story.
I've adored Geraldine Brooks's work for years. She is one of the most gifted storytellers in contemporary letters and she shines, as she does here, when bringing the past to life. Returning to her familiar and beloved 19th century America, Brooks paints a richly-detailed portrait of an enslaved young man in 1850s Kentucky, the obsession for horse racing and all things equestrian during this era, and of the near rumblings of civil war. The love between man and horse is visceral; the many times Jarrett and Lexington are forced apart was agony for this reader. I, not at all a fan of horse racing, found myself cheering this extraordinary beast on. She reveals the history of antebellum horseracing, yet another world where White men were enriched by the labors of enslaved Blacks. I'm proud of Brooks's determination and success in writing Black characters and Black stories in these times of charged politics.
Which brings me to where this novel falters. The contemporary storyline of Jess and Theo is also excellent. The mystery of the painting and of the horse skeleton Jess rescues from a Smithsonian warehouse, and the details of her job as an animal paleontologist are intriguing; Jess and Theo are great characters. But Brooks throws them together in an utterly-devoid-of-chemistry romance that is meant to demonstrate the complexities of race in America. Instead, it becomes an eye-rolling exercise in hand-wringing woke politics. The plot twist in this narrative thread is heavy-handed and emotionally manipulative — a tremendous disappointment in an otherwise outstanding novel. The 1950s storyline veers off into an interesting but unnecessary subplot about Jackson Pollock. I found these choices perplexing from such a mature and confident writer. Yet the good outweighs the bad: this is still a captivating, illuminating read. Highly recommended.
I've adored Geraldine Brooks's work for years. She is one of the most gifted storytellers in contemporary letters and she shines, as she does here, when bringing the past to life. Returning to her familiar and beloved 19th century America, Brooks paints a richly-detailed portrait of an enslaved young man in 1850s Kentucky, the obsession for horse racing and all things equestrian during this era, and of the near rumblings of civil war. The love between man and horse is visceral; the many times Jarrett and Lexington are forced apart was agony for this reader. I, not at all a fan of horse racing, found myself cheering this extraordinary beast on. She reveals the history of antebellum horseracing, yet another world where White men were enriched by the labors of enslaved Blacks. I'm proud of Brooks's determination and success in writing Black characters and Black stories in these times of charged politics.
Which brings me to where this novel falters. The contemporary storyline of Jess and Theo is also excellent. The mystery of the painting and of the horse skeleton Jess rescues from a Smithsonian warehouse, and the details of her job as an animal paleontologist are intriguing; Jess and Theo are great characters. But Brooks throws them together in an utterly-devoid-of-chemistry romance that is meant to demonstrate the complexities of race in America. Instead, it becomes an eye-rolling exercise in hand-wringing woke politics. The plot twist in this narrative thread is heavy-handed and emotionally manipulative — a tremendous disappointment in an otherwise outstanding novel. The 1950s storyline veers off into an interesting but unnecessary subplot about Jackson Pollock. I found these choices perplexing from such a mature and confident writer. Yet the good outweighs the bad: this is still a captivating, illuminating read. Highly recommended.
July 18, 2022
It’s gratifying to break my hiatus with such a well-written book. These are some passages and my thoughts.
“As he walked back out into the street, the air felt layered: the stored heat from the pavement rising up to meet the cooling evening. He found a bench on the Mall and began to scribble notes. He wanted to get down his reactions to that painting, exactly what he’d noticed and his response to it. You never get a second chance to have a first impression.”
I like the word layered in this descriptive sentence. Theo is exploring “depictions of enslaved people in the equestrian art of the antebellum South. He’s been looking at paintings of horses along with their Black jockeys, groomsmen, and trainers. There are a lot of layers of paint in these pictures as well as worlds of social commentary.
Writing down his reactions. I’ve been thinking about this a bit. It’s been helpful to take a break from reading. I feel I’m coming back to it refreshed and more focused, more ready to be in charge of the direction my reading takes. This book is hitting all the notes of my present interests, visual & writing. Isn’t writing a sense? Like touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell? It envelops all of those senses and creates an entire world. “You never get a second chance to have a first impression.” Why does that feel so profound? Because I’ve had so many passionate first impressions and recorded so few of them? They’ve passed away, sometimes quickly, sometimes lingering…but always passing into the mists of time, going cold, making me doubt my passions, my impressions.
“Even as his world contracted and pressed in upon him, in equal measure his heart expanded. One day, bending to the picking, he saw a snakeskin, dry and twisted, blown against the stem of the cotton plant. He wondered if the snake had to struggle to shed that constricting encasement and if it suffered before it could break free.
The translucent skin rattled softly in the hot wind. Maybe this season was his shedding. He closed his sore hand around another bole and stuffed it in his sack. He resolved that he would make it so. He would leave the boy behind, discarded in the dust of this damnable field. He didn’t know how, but he had to find a way.
He would go on in the world as a man.”
Jarret resolves to face the world as a man. The paragraphs before this passage describe the hardships that have tumbled him from the world of a boy. Jarret had not known that the life he lived at the Meadows had been a protected one, but now he knows. He understands and appreciates for the first time his own Father, understands that the dignity of his Father’s position as the Warrick’s horse trainer had been a cocoon from the evils that so many slaves face. For the first time, he is face to face with those evils, and for the first time, he has no protection, no protector. It’s a coming of age saga that speaks to the dissolution of innocence, the moment a youngster has to pick up the burden of adulthood, all while staring injustice, indignity, and abuse in its cock-eyed face.
I enjoyed learning about thoroughbred horseracing and the significant role that African Americans played in this sport. Using three different timelines, 1850s, 1950s, and 2019, the author explores the sport through characters that are written with depth and humanity. There is a lot of sadness in these pages, but Lexington (the horse) brings another dimension. Hope, always…hope.
“As he walked back out into the street, the air felt layered: the stored heat from the pavement rising up to meet the cooling evening. He found a bench on the Mall and began to scribble notes. He wanted to get down his reactions to that painting, exactly what he’d noticed and his response to it. You never get a second chance to have a first impression.”
I like the word layered in this descriptive sentence. Theo is exploring “depictions of enslaved people in the equestrian art of the antebellum South. He’s been looking at paintings of horses along with their Black jockeys, groomsmen, and trainers. There are a lot of layers of paint in these pictures as well as worlds of social commentary.
Writing down his reactions. I’ve been thinking about this a bit. It’s been helpful to take a break from reading. I feel I’m coming back to it refreshed and more focused, more ready to be in charge of the direction my reading takes. This book is hitting all the notes of my present interests, visual & writing. Isn’t writing a sense? Like touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell? It envelops all of those senses and creates an entire world. “You never get a second chance to have a first impression.” Why does that feel so profound? Because I’ve had so many passionate first impressions and recorded so few of them? They’ve passed away, sometimes quickly, sometimes lingering…but always passing into the mists of time, going cold, making me doubt my passions, my impressions.
“Even as his world contracted and pressed in upon him, in equal measure his heart expanded. One day, bending to the picking, he saw a snakeskin, dry and twisted, blown against the stem of the cotton plant. He wondered if the snake had to struggle to shed that constricting encasement and if it suffered before it could break free.
The translucent skin rattled softly in the hot wind. Maybe this season was his shedding. He closed his sore hand around another bole and stuffed it in his sack. He resolved that he would make it so. He would leave the boy behind, discarded in the dust of this damnable field. He didn’t know how, but he had to find a way.
He would go on in the world as a man.”
Jarret resolves to face the world as a man. The paragraphs before this passage describe the hardships that have tumbled him from the world of a boy. Jarret had not known that the life he lived at the Meadows had been a protected one, but now he knows. He understands and appreciates for the first time his own Father, understands that the dignity of his Father’s position as the Warrick’s horse trainer had been a cocoon from the evils that so many slaves face. For the first time, he is face to face with those evils, and for the first time, he has no protection, no protector. It’s a coming of age saga that speaks to the dissolution of innocence, the moment a youngster has to pick up the burden of adulthood, all while staring injustice, indignity, and abuse in its cock-eyed face.
I enjoyed learning about thoroughbred horseracing and the significant role that African Americans played in this sport. Using three different timelines, 1850s, 1950s, and 2019, the author explores the sport through characters that are written with depth and humanity. There is a lot of sadness in these pages, but Lexington (the horse) brings another dimension. Hope, always…hope.
September 12, 2022
Was a good story throughout mostly but then the author had to get preachy. I can only take so much beating over the head, before I lose interest.
Too bad, it had a lot of interesting ideas and I love horses.
Too bad, it had a lot of interesting ideas and I love horses.
July 22, 2022
I'm not a particular fan of horses, although I think they are beautiful and admire their intelligence. I know nothing about horse racing, except I read Seabiscuit many years ago, and watch a few minutes of the Kentucky Derby every once in a while. But I am a huge fan of Geraldine Brooks, and that was enough to send me to the library when this came out.
I got a lot more than I bargained for. Art, art history, science, behind the scenes looks at the unknown rooms and work of the Smithsonian, some of the early movers and shakers in the southern horse racing world in the mid 1850's, and let's throw in some modern social commentary while we're about it.
Brooks gives us all this while telling us the story of the greatest race horse and stud in history, along with his handler Jarrett, an enslaved man who managed to be with Lexington from his birth til his death. Lexington was a very real horse, Jarrett was a composite character because so little is known about the very talented and capable black men who contributed so much toward increasing their owner's wealth, motivated by nothing more than their love of the horses.
There are three different time periods and 5 different viewpoints through which this tale is told, and Brooks jumps so seamlessly between them you never notice. Her research was impeccable. I can't believe how much I learned, not the least of which is how inter-connected everything and everybody in the world is. Brooks is a master novelist and I believe this is her best yet. I could go on, but there is way too much to say in a brief review. Just read the book, you'll see.
I got a lot more than I bargained for. Art, art history, science, behind the scenes looks at the unknown rooms and work of the Smithsonian, some of the early movers and shakers in the southern horse racing world in the mid 1850's, and let's throw in some modern social commentary while we're about it.
Brooks gives us all this while telling us the story of the greatest race horse and stud in history, along with his handler Jarrett, an enslaved man who managed to be with Lexington from his birth til his death. Lexington was a very real horse, Jarrett was a composite character because so little is known about the very talented and capable black men who contributed so much toward increasing their owner's wealth, motivated by nothing more than their love of the horses.
There are three different time periods and 5 different viewpoints through which this tale is told, and Brooks jumps so seamlessly between them you never notice. Her research was impeccable. I can't believe how much I learned, not the least of which is how inter-connected everything and everybody in the world is. Brooks is a master novelist and I believe this is her best yet. I could go on, but there is way too much to say in a brief review. Just read the book, you'll see.
April 19, 2023
Brooks' writing is, as always, superb, and it is clear from the book's notes and acknowledgements that the story is a result of months and years of careful research. Unfortunately, Brooks also admits to having taken a great many creative liberties for the sake of her story, meaning we are left with a book that is at least as much fiction as fact. These liberties only became apparent to me when I read the notes that followed the novel's final page, and I admit to feeling a little aggrieved that many of the historical characters and events I took to have been real were, in fact, figments of the author's imagination.
December 1, 2022
After finishing this superb novel, I feel an emptiness, a deep craving for more. Horse has all the qualities of a great novel: fine writing, fully-developed characters (including Lexington the horse), a driving storyline and a fascinating trove of historical information that expanded my world.I miss it so much!
October 23, 2022
Outlier alert.
There's a lot to love in Geraldine Brooks' latest novel, Horse. Transported to 1850's Kentucky, I learn about 19th century horse racing and how integral Blacks, enslaved and free, are to the industry. I appreciate her attention to historical detail. And science geek that I am, I enjoy reading about horse anatomy, how they move, and the delicate work of articulating skeletons.One of the highlights for me, and the centerpiece of this novel, is the love story of a boy and "his" horse. If you have ever had a strong bond with an animal you will understand the tie between boy and horse. In places Brooks' storytelling and characterization are strong and I am completely immersed in the story.
And yet, there are places where she stumbles. The 2019 storyline doesn't always flow for me; I didn't feel the chemistry between Theo and Jess. Jarret and Theo are too perfect; they are handsome, intelligent, unswerving in their ability to swallow their anger (never rage), and unfailingly patient. In one section enslaved teen Jarret, who has been protected by his father and his ability with horses, is forced to work in the cotton fields for the first time in his life and endures the whip to keep him working. Months later when he leaves the plantation he reflects:
“he wasn’t sorry to have seen what he’d seen, and learn what he learned. Not just the book learning. He felt larger in spirit. There was a space in his soul for the suffering of people. He resolved to take account of their lives, the heavy burdens they carried.”
This passage is too much for me to swallow.
While I appreciate Brooks' intent with the different points of view and the varying timelines to show the connection between slavery and current day racism, I am frequently aware that I am reading a book with this framework rather than being carried seamlessly from section to section and being propelled forward by the narrative.
Despite its flaws, Horse is a quick read and I am able to enjoy enough of the book to keep me reading.
There's a lot to love in Geraldine Brooks' latest novel, Horse. Transported to 1850's Kentucky, I learn about 19th century horse racing and how integral Blacks, enslaved and free, are to the industry. I appreciate her attention to historical detail. And science geek that I am, I enjoy reading about horse anatomy, how they move, and the delicate work of articulating skeletons.One of the highlights for me, and the centerpiece of this novel, is the love story of a boy and "his" horse. If you have ever had a strong bond with an animal you will understand the tie between boy and horse. In places Brooks' storytelling and characterization are strong and I am completely immersed in the story.
And yet, there are places where she stumbles. The 2019 storyline doesn't always flow for me; I didn't feel the chemistry between Theo and Jess. Jarret and Theo are too perfect; they are handsome, intelligent, unswerving in their ability to swallow their anger (never rage), and unfailingly patient. In one section enslaved teen Jarret, who has been protected by his father and his ability with horses, is forced to work in the cotton fields for the first time in his life and endures the whip to keep him working. Months later when he leaves the plantation he reflects:
“he wasn’t sorry to have seen what he’d seen, and learn what he learned. Not just the book learning. He felt larger in spirit. There was a space in his soul for the suffering of people. He resolved to take account of their lives, the heavy burdens they carried.”
This passage is too much for me to swallow.
While I appreciate Brooks' intent with the different points of view and the varying timelines to show the connection between slavery and current day racism, I am frequently aware that I am reading a book with this framework rather than being carried seamlessly from section to section and being propelled forward by the narrative.
Despite its flaws, Horse is a quick read and I am able to enjoy enough of the book to keep me reading.
August 5, 2023
Audie Award nominee 2023
Literary Indie book award 2023
HORSE is a beautifully written book based on the true story of American racehorse legend, Lexington. It is about the bond between this horse and his enslaved groom, Jarret. A bond of trust and love between animal and human.
Brooks links together three timelines - the past and present. Pre-Civil War with black horsemen cultivating racehorse winners, the artist who painted Lexington, and the discovery of these old paintings, and most remarkably the bones of Lexington.
A very informative book about race and slavery. The description of the relationship of horse and groom bringing about such success is outstanding. Also, the cost to buying freedom and the struggles to get there.
5 out of 5 stars
Literary Indie book award 2023
HORSE is a beautifully written book based on the true story of American racehorse legend, Lexington. It is about the bond between this horse and his enslaved groom, Jarret. A bond of trust and love between animal and human.
Brooks links together three timelines - the past and present. Pre-Civil War with black horsemen cultivating racehorse winners, the artist who painted Lexington, and the discovery of these old paintings, and most remarkably the bones of Lexington.
A very informative book about race and slavery. The description of the relationship of horse and groom bringing about such success is outstanding. Also, the cost to buying freedom and the struggles to get there.
5 out of 5 stars
July 6, 2022
1.5 stars.
Shoulda just kept this story about the horse.
Shoulda just kept this story about the horse.
June 27, 2022
Jarret, a young enslaved groom, whose father was Harry Lewis who'd bought his own freedom, was destined to great things. When a bay foal was born in 1850 Kentucky, with Jarret beside the mare for the birth, he named the foal Darley. Darley and Jarret were closely bonded from the start, with Jarret working with him and beside him in the Warfield barn and when he reached the right age, his race wins were immediate. Richard Ten Broeck bought both Darley and Jarret, renaming the horse Lexington and the greatest horse in America's history was ready.
The artist, Thomas Scott, made his name by painting Lexington, first as a young foal, then as he matured into his racing beauty. When the Civil War began and Scott enlisted, his reconnection with Jarret and Lexington was unexpected and dangerous.
Washington DC in 2019 saw Jess, an Australian scientist working on the bones of a horse - Lexington - studying history, while a young Nigerian-American art historian, Theo, picked up a tattered painting from a pile of junk at a kerb-side, and once it was cleaned up, discovered a valuable work of Lexington, done by Thomas Scott in the 1850s.
The lives of Jarret and those who surrounded him collided with the lives of Jess and Theo from one century to another. The story of how it all happened was deeply researched by Aussie author Geraldine Brooks and resulted in the book, Horse, a magnificent tale based on the true story of a record breaking thoroughbred, Lexington, who went on to become America's greatest stud sire. The racism, slavery, emancipation, and rivalry flowed through this remarkable book, which I recommend highly.
With thanks to Hachette AU for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
The artist, Thomas Scott, made his name by painting Lexington, first as a young foal, then as he matured into his racing beauty. When the Civil War began and Scott enlisted, his reconnection with Jarret and Lexington was unexpected and dangerous.
Washington DC in 2019 saw Jess, an Australian scientist working on the bones of a horse - Lexington - studying history, while a young Nigerian-American art historian, Theo, picked up a tattered painting from a pile of junk at a kerb-side, and once it was cleaned up, discovered a valuable work of Lexington, done by Thomas Scott in the 1850s.
The lives of Jarret and those who surrounded him collided with the lives of Jess and Theo from one century to another. The story of how it all happened was deeply researched by Aussie author Geraldine Brooks and resulted in the book, Horse, a magnificent tale based on the true story of a record breaking thoroughbred, Lexington, who went on to become America's greatest stud sire. The racism, slavery, emancipation, and rivalry flowed through this remarkable book, which I recommend highly.
With thanks to Hachette AU for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
September 26, 2022
Horse by Geraldine Brooks was a well written novel that spanned three different time lines. Geraldine Brooks masterfully wove together the distinct characters in each time period to tell the story of one of America’s most notorious thoroughbred racing horse, Lexington. She combined real characters with imagined ones in a way that absolutely worked. Horse was based on Lexington’s true story. His life spanned from 1850 to 1875 but his legacy continued to be celebrated even after he departed this world through the foals he sired. Lexington became known for his agility, speed, stamina and faithfulness. I listened to the audiobook of Horse that was read by multiple narrators. The multiple narrators allowed each character to be distinguished easily and made the audiobook enjoyable to listen to.
There is an old saying, “One man’s trash is another’s treasure”. In 2019, in Washington, D.C., a young black Nigerian-American male graduate student, Theo, witnessed his neighbor getting rid of some of her recently dead husband’s possessions at the curb. Theo saw an oil painting of horse that intrigued him very much. After all, Theo was an art historian so his curiosity was piqued immediately. He asked if he could have it and when his neighbor gave him her consent he brought it into his apartment. Also residing in Washington, D.C. during this time was a young woman named Jess who had come from Australia to work at The Smithsonian as a zoologist. Jess specialized in bones. She had been asked to help search for a skeleton of a certain horse for a visiting scientist. Theo and Jess met accidentally and not under the most ideal circumstances but together they would become bound by their quest to learn about a particular horse and it’s story. An attraction to each other that was hard to ignore would also result.
On a farm in Lexington, Kentucky in 1850, an impressionable young black slave groom named Jarret witnessed the birth of a foal who would later become known as Lexington. A very special bond formed between Jarret and the foal. Jarret’s owner, Dr. Elisha Warfield, recognized this bond and the trust Lexington and Jarret forged. As the foal grew and become a horse, it became apparent that Jared possessed a six sense and complete understanding of this horse. Only Jarret would be able to bring Lexington to the extreme heights and accomplishments Lexington would go on to achieve in the racing world. When Lexington was purchased from Dr. Warfield by Richard Ten Broek, Jarret became part of the sale as well. With the onset of The Civil War, Jarret found himself sold a few more times. However, Jarret and Lexington were never separated. During Jarret’s time as Dr. Warfield’s groom slave, he made the acquaintance of a painter named Thomas J. Scott. Mr. Scott painted a picture of Lexington and gifted it to Jarret. Slaves could not own any processions so eventually the painting was taken away from Jarret. No one though could take away the beautiful relationship that blossomed and continued to grow between Jarret and Lexington.
The third time period that Geraldine Brooks explored was the 1950’s in New York City. Martha Jackson was an up and coming female gallery owner when she arrived in New York City. At that time, there were few if any female gallery owners so she helped to pave the way for other females in this profession. Martha was known for displaying paintings by perhaps more “edgy” contemporary painters in her gallery. One day the young woman who Martha employed to help clean her home told Martha about a painting of a horse her family had in their possession. It had been in the young woman’s family for generations. She asked Martha if she could look at it and tell her if it was worth anything at all. The young woman and her brother were quite poor so anything they could get for it would be helpful. When Martha finally saw the painting she recognized it immediately. Her own mother had been a skilled equestrian competitor and the horse she rode resembled the horse in the painting with such likeness. Martha had to discover the ties between the painting and the horse that her mother rode.
Horse by Geraldine Brooks depicted the life of Lexington, the brilliant and accomplished race horse, but so much more as well.Racism was depicted as a constant throughout the book. It was seen through the cruelty of slavery, of how slaves were regarded as nothing more than another’s property and the inhuman ways they were treated. Racism was seen in present day in stereotyping young black males. Jarret and Theo were both targets of racism but in completely different times and circumstances. Racial targeting by police officers was depicted very realistically in the present day time line of the book. Police officers too quickly assumed before questioning or seeking the truth. Our country witnessed several acts of police violence in recent years. It is so sad to realize that racism and prejudice still exist and continue to be hurtful no matter how far we have advanced since the years of slavery and the Civil War.
I also learned a lot about the history of horse racing. It seemed unfair and discriminating that Jarret could not be Lexington’s jockey in the races he ran but black slaves were not allowed to be jockeys. They could be grooms though and Jarret put his whole heart into taking care of Lexington. Geraldine Brooks also portrayed a realistic view of the atmosphere and struggles of the country during the years leading up to and during the Civil War. Each home, county and family struggled with their loyalties and beliefs. Within states and counties there was dissenting views about slavery. Sometimes families were divided about their beliefs. It was a sad time in the history of our country.
I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Horse by Geraldine Brooks. She is a masterful storyteller. I recommend this book highly.
There is an old saying, “One man’s trash is another’s treasure”. In 2019, in Washington, D.C., a young black Nigerian-American male graduate student, Theo, witnessed his neighbor getting rid of some of her recently dead husband’s possessions at the curb. Theo saw an oil painting of horse that intrigued him very much. After all, Theo was an art historian so his curiosity was piqued immediately. He asked if he could have it and when his neighbor gave him her consent he brought it into his apartment. Also residing in Washington, D.C. during this time was a young woman named Jess who had come from Australia to work at The Smithsonian as a zoologist. Jess specialized in bones. She had been asked to help search for a skeleton of a certain horse for a visiting scientist. Theo and Jess met accidentally and not under the most ideal circumstances but together they would become bound by their quest to learn about a particular horse and it’s story. An attraction to each other that was hard to ignore would also result.
On a farm in Lexington, Kentucky in 1850, an impressionable young black slave groom named Jarret witnessed the birth of a foal who would later become known as Lexington. A very special bond formed between Jarret and the foal. Jarret’s owner, Dr. Elisha Warfield, recognized this bond and the trust Lexington and Jarret forged. As the foal grew and become a horse, it became apparent that Jared possessed a six sense and complete understanding of this horse. Only Jarret would be able to bring Lexington to the extreme heights and accomplishments Lexington would go on to achieve in the racing world. When Lexington was purchased from Dr. Warfield by Richard Ten Broek, Jarret became part of the sale as well. With the onset of The Civil War, Jarret found himself sold a few more times. However, Jarret and Lexington were never separated. During Jarret’s time as Dr. Warfield’s groom slave, he made the acquaintance of a painter named Thomas J. Scott. Mr. Scott painted a picture of Lexington and gifted it to Jarret. Slaves could not own any processions so eventually the painting was taken away from Jarret. No one though could take away the beautiful relationship that blossomed and continued to grow between Jarret and Lexington.
The third time period that Geraldine Brooks explored was the 1950’s in New York City. Martha Jackson was an up and coming female gallery owner when she arrived in New York City. At that time, there were few if any female gallery owners so she helped to pave the way for other females in this profession. Martha was known for displaying paintings by perhaps more “edgy” contemporary painters in her gallery. One day the young woman who Martha employed to help clean her home told Martha about a painting of a horse her family had in their possession. It had been in the young woman’s family for generations. She asked Martha if she could look at it and tell her if it was worth anything at all. The young woman and her brother were quite poor so anything they could get for it would be helpful. When Martha finally saw the painting she recognized it immediately. Her own mother had been a skilled equestrian competitor and the horse she rode resembled the horse in the painting with such likeness. Martha had to discover the ties between the painting and the horse that her mother rode.
Horse by Geraldine Brooks depicted the life of Lexington, the brilliant and accomplished race horse, but so much more as well.Racism was depicted as a constant throughout the book. It was seen through the cruelty of slavery, of how slaves were regarded as nothing more than another’s property and the inhuman ways they were treated. Racism was seen in present day in stereotyping young black males. Jarret and Theo were both targets of racism but in completely different times and circumstances. Racial targeting by police officers was depicted very realistically in the present day time line of the book. Police officers too quickly assumed before questioning or seeking the truth. Our country witnessed several acts of police violence in recent years. It is so sad to realize that racism and prejudice still exist and continue to be hurtful no matter how far we have advanced since the years of slavery and the Civil War.
I also learned a lot about the history of horse racing. It seemed unfair and discriminating that Jarret could not be Lexington’s jockey in the races he ran but black slaves were not allowed to be jockeys. They could be grooms though and Jarret put his whole heart into taking care of Lexington. Geraldine Brooks also portrayed a realistic view of the atmosphere and struggles of the country during the years leading up to and during the Civil War. Each home, county and family struggled with their loyalties and beliefs. Within states and counties there was dissenting views about slavery. Sometimes families were divided about their beliefs. It was a sad time in the history of our country.
I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Horse by Geraldine Brooks. She is a masterful storyteller. I recommend this book highly.
August 15, 2022
What accolades can I possibly add to the wonderful and glowing reviews that have preceded mine? Geraldine Brooks is a fantastic writer. She informs you, tears out your heart, and gently repairs the damage in this compelling novel. I have long loved her writing and am so glad her grief has abated enough to enable her to produce the wonderful prose I have long admired. I am grateful her writing drought has ended.
July 9, 2022
This book is why I buy and read anything Geraldine Brooks writes: she can make a story about a racehorse not just a story about a racehorse. I don’t have great interest in the universe of horseracing and yet I couldn’t wait to get back to this book at the end of the day. That’s because of Ms Brooks’ mad and masterful skills as a storyteller. She continues to be one of my most favorite authors of all time…
March 25, 2023
So happy to see that this won the 2023 Literary Indie Book Award. Well deserved. :-)
Longlisted for the 2023 Indie Book Award.
Although this novel is entitled “Horse” and is ostensibly about a magnificent historical horse and the prestigious horse races of the antebellum South. It is also about “race” itself. “Race” when used to define us simply by the pigmentation of our skin can be such a horrible word.
There are three timelines all linked together by a painting of "Lexington", the famous horse who the story revolves around.
Most of the book takes part in the 1850’s when the painting is painted. Also, most of the book takes place in the world of Horse Racing. Lexington is the equine equivalent of a rock star. He has the looks, the famous bloodline, but more importantly he has the speed and endurance to outpace any other horse he comes up against. The racing of these prestigious horses in this era was enormously popular, drawing crowds of unheralded numbers from every walk of life. Everybody had their favourites and grudge matches were common.
A second timeline takes place in the 1950’s with the painting falling into the hands of Martha Jackson, a gallery owner.
The third timeline is the present. Theo is a student working on his PhD. He finds the painting amongst the belongings of his neighbour’s dead husband. Belongings that his neighbour is leaving on the sidewalk. Theo meets Jess at the Washington Natural History Museum. Jess is working on articulating the skeleton of Lexington and is more than surprised to find out that Lexington is also the horse in the painting.
Although Martha and Jess are important characters, Jarret and Theo are the two that drive the story. Two Black men living in the past and present. The men could not be more different. Jarret lives in the 1850’s Kentucky. An uneducated slave who is a horse groom, developing an almost mystical bond with Lexington. While Theo, living in the present, went to boarding school and was the captain of the polo team.
Slavery is long gone, abolished, and yet over a century later the oppression is still there, more veiled, but still there lurking in the shadows. When Theo goes for a jog, he must remember to not wear certain clothes. A simple dark hoodie, worn by a white man remains a “simple dark hoodie”. Worn by a Black man it turns into, especially in the eyes of an American police officer, something sinister.
As much as I love horses, they are my favourite animal, for me this novel is about change, or lack thereof. How much change has really taken place in the time between the lives of the two men? Slavery has been abolished, but how important is the change of a law, if there is no change to an attitude? Can anything change without a change of thought? At times it feels as if the fear of a slave uprising from the past still clouds the minds of the present. I can only comment from incidents and shootings, that I, like millions from around the world, have read about, or watched on the seemingly never-ending streams. As a witness watching from a world away, it feels as if true change has not taken place. It feels as is one cultural group is still being oppressed, only not as openly. To me, racism is abhorrent, but I was brought up in a different world. How do you change an entire culture’s attitude?
There are many historical characters in this novel, but it is the characters brought to life by Brooks who drive the narrative and vie for your love and empathy. Characters who, although living in different centuries are bound together by the painting.
This novel is also about the relationship between Jarret and Lexington. Jarret’s love for this amazing animal. A love that is obviously reciprocated. It is about Jarret trying to buy his freedom, and escape from a world of slavery and oppression. It is about a country on the cusp of change.
Everything changes, nothing changes.
I will be reading more of Brook’s work.
Longlisted for the 2023 Indie Book Award.
Although this novel is entitled “Horse” and is ostensibly about a magnificent historical horse and the prestigious horse races of the antebellum South. It is also about “race” itself. “Race” when used to define us simply by the pigmentation of our skin can be such a horrible word.
There are three timelines all linked together by a painting of "Lexington", the famous horse who the story revolves around.
Most of the book takes part in the 1850’s when the painting is painted. Also, most of the book takes place in the world of Horse Racing. Lexington is the equine equivalent of a rock star. He has the looks, the famous bloodline, but more importantly he has the speed and endurance to outpace any other horse he comes up against. The racing of these prestigious horses in this era was enormously popular, drawing crowds of unheralded numbers from every walk of life. Everybody had their favourites and grudge matches were common.
A second timeline takes place in the 1950’s with the painting falling into the hands of Martha Jackson, a gallery owner.
The third timeline is the present. Theo is a student working on his PhD. He finds the painting amongst the belongings of his neighbour’s dead husband. Belongings that his neighbour is leaving on the sidewalk. Theo meets Jess at the Washington Natural History Museum. Jess is working on articulating the skeleton of Lexington and is more than surprised to find out that Lexington is also the horse in the painting.
Although Martha and Jess are important characters, Jarret and Theo are the two that drive the story. Two Black men living in the past and present. The men could not be more different. Jarret lives in the 1850’s Kentucky. An uneducated slave who is a horse groom, developing an almost mystical bond with Lexington. While Theo, living in the present, went to boarding school and was the captain of the polo team.
Slavery is long gone, abolished, and yet over a century later the oppression is still there, more veiled, but still there lurking in the shadows. When Theo goes for a jog, he must remember to not wear certain clothes. A simple dark hoodie, worn by a white man remains a “simple dark hoodie”. Worn by a Black man it turns into, especially in the eyes of an American police officer, something sinister.
As much as I love horses, they are my favourite animal, for me this novel is about change, or lack thereof. How much change has really taken place in the time between the lives of the two men? Slavery has been abolished, but how important is the change of a law, if there is no change to an attitude? Can anything change without a change of thought? At times it feels as if the fear of a slave uprising from the past still clouds the minds of the present. I can only comment from incidents and shootings, that I, like millions from around the world, have read about, or watched on the seemingly never-ending streams. As a witness watching from a world away, it feels as if true change has not taken place. It feels as is one cultural group is still being oppressed, only not as openly. To me, racism is abhorrent, but I was brought up in a different world. How do you change an entire culture’s attitude?
There are many historical characters in this novel, but it is the characters brought to life by Brooks who drive the narrative and vie for your love and empathy. Characters who, although living in different centuries are bound together by the painting.
This novel is also about the relationship between Jarret and Lexington. Jarret’s love for this amazing animal. A love that is obviously reciprocated. It is about Jarret trying to buy his freedom, and escape from a world of slavery and oppression. It is about a country on the cusp of change.
Everything changes, nothing changes.
I will be reading more of Brook’s work.
October 10, 2022
My feelings about this novel are mixed. I'll start with the aspects that are easy to praise.
The incredible depth of research and the powerful writing, for instance. You can feel the stretch of the champion racehorse Lexington's muscles as he tears down the track, and his warm breath on the cheeks of his trainer, Jarret. Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, dug into topics ranging across 170 years, from equine anatomy, to the inner workings of the Smithsonian, to polo customs in elite British boarding schools, to the technique of artist Jackson Pollock.
As well, Brooks is a wizard at weaving complicated, multi-era historical plots. (Her novel "People of the Book" is one of my all-time favorites.) Here, she manages to juggle four major narrative strands, all connected in some way with Lexington, involving five key characters: Jarret, the enslaved young Black man who cares for the horse almost nonstop from the minute of his birth in 1850, through illness, sales (of both horse and man), and war; the white abolitionist-artist Thomas J. Scott, whose paintings of Lexington will become important clues for collectors and scientists decades later; Martha Jackson, a white midlevel heiress-turned-art dealer who briefly befriends Pollock and mysteriously acquires one of Scott's paintings; Theo Northam, a Black art history grad student at Georgetown University, raised mainly in England and Australia by diplomat parents; and his new love interest, Jess, a white Australian specialist in animal skeletons who runs a Smithsonian lab.
The main controversy over this novel -- which has also been highly praised -- involves the issue of a white author writing a novel whose two main characters are Black men.
I'll make myself a target right now by saying that, as a novelist and a voracious reader, I think that anyone should be free to write about people of any race, religion, gender identity, physical ability, ethnic background, or anything else. As human beings, we readers and writers alike need to be open to more viewpoints, not fewer. If an author's research is skimpy, characters are two-dimensional, plotting is ridiculous, or empathy is lacking, the book should be rightly panned; that's the risk the writer takes.
So, Brooks had every right to write this book (in my view). However, I think she stumbled in doing so.
In the chapters about Jarret, slavery is portrayed as astoundingly, unbelievably benign. Oh, I'm sure that a very few enslaved Black people, who had highly valued skills -- as Jarret did -- were treated with more a bit more respect than the other 99.9 percent. But that's almost the only lifestyle that's shown in this book, other than a very brief period when Jarret is forced to pick cotton while his "owner" is away. In fact, when he loses out on a chance for freedom, Jarret even seems relieved-- because it means he'll stay with Lexington.
Meanwhile, the modern-day chapters with Theo and Jess hint at several racial themes -- for instance, Theo's naivete as a Black man who wasn't raised in the U.S. and his mixed feelings about dating a white woman. But the book mainly glosses over those important issues.
Brooks also slips up on the ending, which is overly drawn-out and telegraphed from the start.
Perhaps this book is worth reading as another contribution to the debate over race and authorship.
The incredible depth of research and the powerful writing, for instance. You can feel the stretch of the champion racehorse Lexington's muscles as he tears down the track, and his warm breath on the cheeks of his trainer, Jarret. Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, dug into topics ranging across 170 years, from equine anatomy, to the inner workings of the Smithsonian, to polo customs in elite British boarding schools, to the technique of artist Jackson Pollock.
As well, Brooks is a wizard at weaving complicated, multi-era historical plots. (Her novel "People of the Book" is one of my all-time favorites.) Here, she manages to juggle four major narrative strands, all connected in some way with Lexington, involving five key characters: Jarret, the enslaved young Black man who cares for the horse almost nonstop from the minute of his birth in 1850, through illness, sales (of both horse and man), and war; the white abolitionist-artist Thomas J. Scott, whose paintings of Lexington will become important clues for collectors and scientists decades later; Martha Jackson, a white midlevel heiress-turned-art dealer who briefly befriends Pollock and mysteriously acquires one of Scott's paintings; Theo Northam, a Black art history grad student at Georgetown University, raised mainly in England and Australia by diplomat parents; and his new love interest, Jess, a white Australian specialist in animal skeletons who runs a Smithsonian lab.
The main controversy over this novel -- which has also been highly praised -- involves the issue of a white author writing a novel whose two main characters are Black men.
I'll make myself a target right now by saying that, as a novelist and a voracious reader, I think that anyone should be free to write about people of any race, religion, gender identity, physical ability, ethnic background, or anything else. As human beings, we readers and writers alike need to be open to more viewpoints, not fewer. If an author's research is skimpy, characters are two-dimensional, plotting is ridiculous, or empathy is lacking, the book should be rightly panned; that's the risk the writer takes.
So, Brooks had every right to write this book (in my view). However, I think she stumbled in doing so.
In the chapters about Jarret, slavery is portrayed as astoundingly, unbelievably benign. Oh, I'm sure that a very few enslaved Black people, who had highly valued skills -- as Jarret did -- were treated with more a bit more respect than the other 99.9 percent. But that's almost the only lifestyle that's shown in this book, other than a very brief period when Jarret is forced to pick cotton while his "owner" is away. In fact, when he loses out on a chance for freedom, Jarret even seems relieved-- because it means he'll stay with Lexington.
Meanwhile, the modern-day chapters with Theo and Jess hint at several racial themes -- for instance, Theo's naivete as a Black man who wasn't raised in the U.S. and his mixed feelings about dating a white woman. But the book mainly glosses over those important issues.
Brooks also slips up on the ending, which is overly drawn-out and telegraphed from the start.
Perhaps this book is worth reading as another contribution to the debate over race and authorship.
July 2, 2022
3.5 stars. I enjoy Brooks' writing and have read all of her novels. Really wanted this to be a 5 star winner for me, but it didn't quite get there. I was excited that she chose for her subject the racehorse Lexington, as I had some familiarity with Boston, having done research on him for a mini bio of him that I wrote for a library database in my home county in Virginia. And I'm a longtime fan of Sir Archie, the grandsire of Boston and who is considered the first and greatest American racehorse, as well as the ancestor of many of the greatest horses in American racehorse history.
I'm not generally a fan of multiple timeline stories, and I wasn't crazy about that here. I enjoyed the 19th century storyline about Darley/Lexington and Jarret by far the most. Brooks has done her research and it shines. I think the characters of Harry, Jarret, the artist Thomas J. Scott, the wealthy Richard Ten Broeck, Mary Barr Clay and her father Cassius, were most interesting to me. She wrote well in describing the excitement of the horse races and all the betting and deal making going on behind the scenes. Her period details added to the atmosphere. The more modern storylines, even though she interwove them very well, just weren't that appealing to me, nor were those characters. For my taste, she could have written the entire novel set in the 19th century and that would have been plenty enough story.
It bothered me that she capitalized black and white in referring to people, just seemed artificial, and all the verbiage about racism in all three storylines seemed almost like it had to be in there to satisfy some requirement due to today's political chaos over racism. It was overdone, unnecessary, and at times irritating. I didn't need to be beaten over the head with it in each storyline multiple times to get the idea.
That all being said, this is certainly worth the read, especially if you have any interest in American horseracing history.
I'm not generally a fan of multiple timeline stories, and I wasn't crazy about that here. I enjoyed the 19th century storyline about Darley/Lexington and Jarret by far the most. Brooks has done her research and it shines. I think the characters of Harry, Jarret, the artist Thomas J. Scott, the wealthy Richard Ten Broeck, Mary Barr Clay and her father Cassius, were most interesting to me. She wrote well in describing the excitement of the horse races and all the betting and deal making going on behind the scenes. Her period details added to the atmosphere. The more modern storylines, even though she interwove them very well, just weren't that appealing to me, nor were those characters. For my taste, she could have written the entire novel set in the 19th century and that would have been plenty enough story.
It bothered me that she capitalized black and white in referring to people, just seemed artificial, and all the verbiage about racism in all three storylines seemed almost like it had to be in there to satisfy some requirement due to today's political chaos over racism. It was overdone, unnecessary, and at times irritating. I didn't need to be beaten over the head with it in each storyline multiple times to get the idea.
That all being said, this is certainly worth the read, especially if you have any interest in American horseracing history.
September 2, 2022
Horse was the latest historical fiction novel by Geraldine Brooks with multiple timelines, all with the focus on the greatest racing stallion in American turf history. I loved everything about this book. On our many road trips across this nation, I loved the time that we spent in Kentucky with the pristine white fences and rolling green fields with all of the beautiful horses. And this is where we are first introduced in 1850 Kentucky to an enslaved groomsmen, Jarret, as he forges a fierce bond with a bay foal who became known as Lexington and will go on to set record times on the Southern Circuit. While it is Jarret and his relationship with Lexington over the years that is the heart of the book, there are many divergent timelines that add texture and heart to the narrative.
And one of my favorite threads was that of the equestrian artist, Thomas J. Scott. He befriended Jarret and was able to paint a few portraits of Lexington, and one of the most coveted portraits was that of Jarret as a young groomsmen with Lexington. There were other portraits of this beautiful horse that are housed in the Smithsonian Museum.
And a wonderful thread to add to the mystery was the introduction of Martha Jackson in New York City in the mid-1950s. She befriended the likes of Jackson Polluck and his wife, Lee Krasner. Jackson had quite a collection of modern impressionist paintings and then there was this painting of a beautiful horse that just didn't seem to be part of her acquisitions for her art gallery in New York. The provenance of this painting was quite perplexing.
And lastly, there was the contemporary thread in 2019 Washington, D.C. where a scientist from Australia and a Nigerian American art historian find themselves intensely interested in the horse and its history. It is the story of Theo and Jess and their interest in all of the background and history that they can uncover about Lexington, and Jarret, and Scott that brings this beautiful book to a startling conclusion. An amazing book, Ms. Brooks.
And one of my favorite threads was that of the equestrian artist, Thomas J. Scott. He befriended Jarret and was able to paint a few portraits of Lexington, and one of the most coveted portraits was that of Jarret as a young groomsmen with Lexington. There were other portraits of this beautiful horse that are housed in the Smithsonian Museum.
"Equestrian portrait art of that era was a highly specialized field and only flourished briefly--after the Civil War, photography quickly supplanted it. There were few painters of note. Troye, of course, was the master. According to the database, Scott was his student. It was a small world they moved in--wealthy turf enthusiasts, one recommending his painter to the other."
"Whenever Jarret recalled that first morning in New Orleans, it was the noise and the smell that came back to him most vividly. Through the thicket of ship masts, he glimpsed bright ensigns of every nation fluttering in the slight breeze. Sweating men stacked bales and crates on the crowded dockside.
Carefully, he led the horse down the gangway and into a wall of sound and scent--the medley of languages that, later he would be able to distinguish as French and Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, but that first morning blended into a musical blur. The smells were various, pungent: the tang of sassafras, the biscuit aroma of fat and flour roasting together into rich, dark roux, the intoxicating fragrance of jasmine, roses, magnolias and gardenias, and the intense perfumes of the women--old, young, their complexions every shade from linen through honey, pecan, ebony--in expensive fabric or simple calico, clothed and ornamented with more care and style than any women he had ever seen."
And a wonderful thread to add to the mystery was the introduction of Martha Jackson in New York City in the mid-1950s. She befriended the likes of Jackson Polluck and his wife, Lee Krasner. Jackson had quite a collection of modern impressionist paintings and then there was this painting of a beautiful horse that just didn't seem to be part of her acquisitions for her art gallery in New York. The provenance of this painting was quite perplexing.
And lastly, there was the contemporary thread in 2019 Washington, D.C. where a scientist from Australia and a Nigerian American art historian find themselves intensely interested in the horse and its history. It is the story of Theo and Jess and their interest in all of the background and history that they can uncover about Lexington, and Jarret, and Scott that brings this beautiful book to a startling conclusion. An amazing book, Ms. Brooks.
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