Reviews with content warning for Racism - Horse

Historical fiction books with strong character development are EVERYTHING for me, and this book is no exception! Somehow this book slid under my radar for a really long time. Once I finally discovered it, I noticed so many people could not say enough good things about it.

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Jarrett and Lexington’s relationship is beautiful and heartwarming. The way that Geraldine Brooks writes Jarrett’s character development is topnotch—I loved him as a child, I loved the man he grows up to be, and I loved getting to see his entire story unfold across the pages.

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I was impressed by the huge amount of research that went into writing this book. Brooks modeled so many of the characters from real people, and I found that makes it even more special. I knew little about horse racing going in, but I really enjoyed learning about its interesting and complex history. Brooks also does a great job portraying black male leaders as poised and intelligent as they navigate tense and challenging situations.

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The parallels between Jarrett’s historical character and present-day Theo is a unique and impactful choice. These parallels make implicit connections/commentary about racism and just how far we’ve truly comes in terms of “freedom”.

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This is one of my favorite books I’ve read so far this year. If you have not yet read this one, I absolutely recommend adding it to your summer reading list!

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Content Warnings

ladyk8ie8's review against another edition

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emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

3.0

If this was just a book about Lexington, his history/the context in which we lived , the art, etc— would have loved! But while I enjoyed aspects of the modern storyline— it felt like a virtue signal and don’t think it fully connected both storylines together in the way the author thought it did

Content Warnings