Reviews with content warning for Murder - Horse

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

20 reviews

menglert's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I usually love this kind of historical fiction/timeline switching/multiple POV parallelism, but this one didn't totally click for me. Some of the POV choices were a bit confusing, with some characters only having only one or two chapters.

I think the core of this book was quite effective at examining themes of racism in America's past and present, so it could be worth the read for that.

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melissabristol's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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

4.75

The only thing I thought was less than ideal was the ending. Sending Jess back to Australia felt like a bit of a way to avoid harder questions about where her relationship with Theo was going and the interracial dating issues that would have been raised there. I don't deny that, sadly, Theo getting shot was a realistic outcome (see, e.g., Ahmed Aubrey, RIP), but I felt that it was in some ways throwing a HUGE issue in without really having time to discuss it. It could have been a book of its own.

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creativerunnings'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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fifteenthjessica's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

Horse weaves together two and a half story lines together across three different centuries, using the famous nineteenth century stallion Lexington as inspiration. The first (and my favorite) follows the life of the horse Lexington, primarily through the eyes of artist/Civil War soldier Thomas J. Scott who produced the most famous painting of Lexington, and Jarret, a fictional character based on an enslaved groom in one of those paintings. The second follows two modern young adults, Theo and Jess, as their work as an art historian and scientist at the Smithsonian brings them together into a project and a budding relationship. The last one is a handful of chapters that tries to answer the question as to why mid-20th century art gallery owner Martha Jackson had one of Scott's oil paintings of Lexington in her collection, which focused primarily on abstract art by her contemporaries. Throughout the story, there is also an exploration of the way people mistreat other humans and horses. I don't think these storylines are of equal quality. Jarret's life story was far more compelling and poignant than Theo and Jess's, especially when their plotline shifts from their research projects to their beginning relationship. Martha was interesting, but she could have ended up on the cutting room floor without much lost to the overarching plot and themes.

Geraldine Brooks definitely did her research while working on this and can create interesting characters as well as poignant imagery. Characters are complex and not necessarily likable. Jarret is my favorite of the PoV characters, and I enjoy his arc from acceptance of his fate to a determination to make his best life, as well as his attempts to show kindness when he can. A lot of historical fiction that comment on modern day issues tend to focus on more rebellious protagonists, and I like that Brooks made a compelling character within the reality that many people, unfortunately, can be accepting of unfair systems, even if they are the ones who are crushed by it. Another strength of Jarret's plotline is that all of the major white characters, including Scott, both oppose and are complicit with different aspects of life in the antebellum South. The modern cast features many dorks that are enjoyable because of their passions.

The book is not perfect. It talks a lot about racism in multiple points of American history, but African American women are almost exclusively relegated to bit roles as love interests. I'm not sure how to fix this (maybe tell Martha's story through the eyes of Annie, the maid whose family had inherited the painting?). Theo's justified resentment of racism paired with his utter lack of self awareness about how his parents' wealth sheltered him from some of the worst parts can be grating, and attempts to address this flaw fell flat for me.

His death in the third act also feels like it's more about shocking than a satisfying conclusion for his and Jess's arcs, but it is a good illustration of how far society has to go that the modern characters' arc has a more depressing end than the arc that heavily features slavery.

It is also has a rough first chapter that is a case study on why relatability in characters is not as important as resonance.

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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

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chgray's review against another edition

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dark informative sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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lowwi_owo's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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rachelwastaken's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book is about so much more than a racehorse - it's also about race.

Horse is written from several points of view and I'm not sure this story would have been as relatable without the competing timelines. Meticulously researched and based heavily on the lives of real people - Horse is a novel that is going to stay with me for a long time.

I loved reading about Lexington and his groom, Jarret. The connection the two shared brought back many memories of my childhood, also spend in the company of horses.
The way Brooks weaved these timelines together was masterful and left me wanting more. It's almost unbelievable that one of America's greatest racehorses was simply forgotten and left to gather dust in the attic of the Smithsonian, and I am delighted to think that this book will inspire a resurgence of love for this amazing animal. It's difficult not to question how this story would have been written had it not been for the civil war and it saddened me to be confronted with the realities of our current outlook on race over a century later.

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tayce's review against another edition

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reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.0

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nora_knight's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This was a really interesting book. It told the story of horse racing in America and one particular horse in a very moving and interesting way, utilizing characters spanning 200 years. However, it also told a darker story of blackness in America and how rooted horse racing is in slavery. It was a moving, powerful book but the paragraphs and chapters were a bit long for my taste. Additionally, the story was told through many POVs but it would occasionally include other characters' thoughts and feelings during chapters which I found confusing and mostly unnecessary. This is a book that my mother and grandmother read and enjoyed, and it was lovely to discover the same story as two generations of women before me. Beautiful and important.

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