“He leaned into Darley’s flank and felt the horse respond with gentle acceptance. Only horses were honest, in the end.”

Geraldine Brooks, Horse

OVERVIEW:

Earlier this year I started an audiobook kick. I mostly listened to books nothing to do with horses. In fact, most horse books aren’t available through audiobooks at my library. I had listened to The Perfect Horse and it was good, but not my speed.

I was recommended Horse, by Geraldine Brooks. It was already getting a lot of attention and the author I learned, is a Pulitzer Prize winner. I’ll be honest I had no idea what the book was about. I placed a hold and after over 5 months (it had so much interest I was over 100 people behind in line) it was my turn to borrow it and listen.

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Horse is told from the perspective of multiple people…beginning with Theo a black man in Washington DC 2019…a PhD candidate and writer for a magazine. He had a particular interest in equestrian art.

We also met Jess. Jess is a white woman working for the Smithsonian. She works with articulating skeletons and Horse goes into the meeting of Jess and Theo.

“Hard to say the right thing, these days.”

Geraldine Brooks, Horse

Geraldine Brooks then transports us back in time to 1851 to meet Warfield’s Jarrett. Jarrett, born into slavery. He is sensitive and gifted with horses. We learn about the breeding of a violent stallion Boston to an anxious mare Alice Carneal.

The product of this breeding was where this story ultimately begins. From this pairing came a blood bay cold with 4 white feet. He was a horse named Darley…who we will learn eventually becomes Lexington.

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Throughout the book, we follow two storylines. This first is the story of Jarett and his beloved Lexington while the second brings us back into the modern day as we rediscover Lexington’s painting and skeleton.

It didn’t take me long before I realized this book is more than one about a beloved horse. Horse also begins a conversation comparing the progress (or lack thereof) of racism in the United States from the 1800s to today.

“Daniel straightened. “Girl, he should have sped up, kept on running right to a well-lit road, and called some White folk to help her. He just didn’t know how he needed to be if he was going to live in this country.”

Geraldine Brooks, Horse

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I really enjoyed the cadence that Geraldine Brooks had cycling between the perspectives of so many people over such a large time frame. I felt the shift in writing style and feel of the writing change.

I also found the details to be specific. This book is based on a real horse, a real painting, a real skeleton, and real people. The stories were fictionalized but it was difficult to know where her research on real events ended and the fiction began.

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If I had to choose something I DIDN’T like it would have to be the romanticizing of the story. I am pessimistic about looking back at American history. I look around and see bad horsemanship now, horrible practices at racetracks. I’m not against racing and I am well aware the vast majority of people love their racehorses and treat them well….but there are still many errors and a lot of misguided people in the sport. The book didn’t cover much about the ugliness of racing (but truthfully that’s not what the book is about).

I see also racism alive today. I have trouble believing the tales told in Horse from the 1800s. They seem too bright and cheerful. I wasn’t there, nor was Geraldine Brooks so I really don’t have a platform to stand on, but I have a deeply dark shade covering my view of slavery in the 1800s. It’s difficult for me to believe the slave owners would have given Jarett so much consideration throughout his life to work with Lexington so closely.

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Final Word:

I didn’t know what Horse was all about when I started it. The book was easy to follow and told a great tale. I am not typically interested in historical fiction but found it fascinating (It helps to have the topic be of thoroughbreds). It was also very poignant as racism is still disgustingly omnipresent to this day after hundreds of years.

After finishing the book I did do some internet searching and learned a bit more about the history of Lexington. It’s absolutely fascinating. In all this is a very good historical fiction book well worth the read!

Another interesting article to look at! The Lost Story of Lexington, the Record-Breaking Thoroughbred, Races Back to Life

“Not just Horse,” she said. “The horse. What you have here is the greatest racing stallion in American turf history.”

― Geraldine Brooks, Horse