Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Horse

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

49 reviews

etheine's review against another edition

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adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Thought this won a Pulitzer, I didn’t love it. Maybe if I liked animals more, I might’ve loved it. Not sure. There were too many timelines and stories for me to track, and after all that saga, the way the story ended on the airplane sucked.

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bendercath's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book completely captivated me. So many passages just took my breath away. I don’t always love bouncing timelines but this one worked. However, the ending was

quite abrupt and shocking to me. I really hated that Theo was killed. What if the author had chosen a different ending … he could have been accused and maybe even beaten by an officer … but shot in cold blood while in a defenseless stance? I found Jess’ fascination with skeletons to be so symbolic … like she was literally learning about creatures from the inside out. What if that would have been a metaphor for her understanding of racism? Did the author intend to kill off any hope that Theo could contribute to Black scholarship? That part just did not compute. <\spoiler> reading about Jarrett … his intelligence, his love of horses, his expertise and insight into horses and humans … all of it was so beautiful. One cringey section was the romanticization of his time picking cotton in the fields. No way in hell should that have been portrayed so wistfully, as if he were somehow better after being subjected to such brutality.
I have read many articles and heard interviews about Geraldine Brooks being white and writing about Black characters and racism. I am sensitive to that and want to learn more about her perspective. This book definitely got me thinking a lot.

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avillard's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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chelsl's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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lisas_bookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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astoriareader's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

SYNOPSIS:

Lexington, a remarkable horse, is the thread binding all the characters and timelines together.
Jarrett, a talented groom/trainer that was enslaved, is in charge of Lexington’s care during the time before the Civil War & during it. With his story, there’s several others intertwined, such as an equestrian artist that paints Lexington on different occasions.
Martha Jackson is an art dealer in NYC in the 1950s.
In 2019, Jess, an Australian white woman who runs the Smithsonian Institution's Osteology Prep Lab, and Theo, a Black man getting his PhD from Georgetown & working on a thesis about the portrayal of Black folks in American equestrian art.
The stories are intertwined by Lexington, the equestrian paintings, and racism/the legacy of slavery.

MY THOUGHTS

I am going to preface my review by saying that I don’t like that a white author being the voice of an enslaved Black man & the voice of a Black man in contemporary society facing racial injustices. Since I’m also white, I am curious to get others takes on this point.
Despite my caveat above, decided to still round up to give 5 stars because the writing is top-notch.
Historical fiction / literary fiction
Generational saga
Multiple POVs + multiple timelines
Brooks meticulously researched the book, and she expertly plotted the novel to weave together a beautiful, emotional story.
My favorite sections were Jarrett’s story. The connection between Jarrett and Lexington is palpable and endearing. The bond between Jarrett & the horse is the cornerstone of the book. I found myself rooting for them, and I kept wanting to get through the book to find out their fates.
Since the book spans over many years, we also get to see Jarrett’s character development. Over time, Jarrett becomes more aware of the world around him, and he offers astute observations.
I also really enjoyed the incorporation of the horse’s preserved bones. I was fascinated to learn about scientific aspect & work done by the Smithsonian.
On paper, I should have hated this book. I have never been a fan of horse racing, and I don’t gravitate toward Civil Era stories. To my surprise, I loved it.
I wasn’t familiar with the world of antebellum racing. The story educated me on another way white folks made money off of Black folks’ unpaid (or underpaid) labor and skills.
I love learning new words, and I looked up so many words while reading this one.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Historical fiction + generational saga. Many stories intertwined by a common thread: Lexington, a remarkable horse.

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123aah456's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

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dogoodwithbooks's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

3.5/5 (rounded down to 3)

Horse has been a title I've been wanting to read for a while. Being a fan of generational sagas, such as Memphis, I thought this book would be interesting to read and would have enjoyed. However, I don't know if I'm in the demographics that Brooks writes towards.

Brooks does a thorough job with creating the intricacies necessary for telling the tale of Lexington and Jarret as well as its influences later on in society. Each section were particularly well-written and can be engaging for other readers, but there were a few critiques I have about the writing style and plot details.

One, while the book focuses on three different time periods, most of the book comprised of the parallels between Jarret's and Jess and Theo's perspective/timeline. The third one, art dealer Martha Jackson from the 1950s, had little to contribute to the whole of the plot. When I read the description, I thought that the three time periods were given equal pacing, but you don't even hear from Martha until almost halfway through the book. That being said, it made wondered if her chapters were really necessary and I wished Brooks spent more time with Martha.

Secondly, I thought that chapters focused on Jarret's life were very long. I don't know if I'm a big fan of Civil War-era historical fiction, but I had a hard time following along with the audiobook because of its length and having a hard time trying to understand what was going in each scene.

Nevertheless, there were parts that I liked from listening to Horse. This audiobook has a full cast reading for the various characters and each of the narrators bring their own distinct qualities and nuances when reading for the characters. I think that helped me with understanding the plot and following along. Additionally, I thought the Jess/Theo perspective was well-written and it was interesting to see them look back to see how Lexington's story has been remembered as well as long forgotten by the world. Furthermore, I liked how the plot played out near the end of the book and I thought Brooks' conclusion came full circle.

As a result, while I had mixed feelings towards Horse and I don't know if I would ever read it again, I think that if you like historical fiction set in the Civil War-era that has modern-day implications, I think you'll enjoy this book.

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flowerrunner's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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