Horse

Brooks, Geraldine. Horse. New York: Viking 2022. Print.

First Sentences:

"The deceptively reductive forms of the artist's work belie the density of meaning forged by a bifurcated existence. These glyphs and ideograms signal to us from the crossroads: freedom and slavery. White and Black, rural and Urban."

No. Nup. That wouldn't do. It reeked of PhD. This was meant to be read by normal people. Theo pressed the delete key and watched the letters march backward to oblivion.


Description:

I love books that have multiple plot lines, diverse characters, and seemingly unrelated actions that somehow get linked together at some point. Geraldine Brook's Horse, is a compelling example of this technique. I was fully engrossed in each separate story and loved when they finally somehow meshed.

Based on historic facts, Horse focuses on the stories of four people: Jarret, an enslaved boy in the Civil War era and his young horse foal; Theo, an art historian who finds a painting of a racehorse in the trash which he thinks was created by a famous artist; Marsha, an art gallery owner who becomes interested in the authenticity of this painting; and Jess, an Australian scientist working in the Smithsonian who uncovers a long-forgotten skeleton of a horse in the museum's attic.

You might already have guessed how these stories will tie together, but that is not really a big mystery. It's how these divergent lives and events provide captivating histories which lead to a final convergence that makes Horse such an outstanding read.

Readers become familiar with the young slave, Jarret, and his father, Harry, training racehorses for a wealthy plantation owner in the 1850s. One colt, Lexington, while under their care begins winning local races until nefarious dealings take the horse out of Jarret's control. We follow his races, travel, and even an actual incident from the Civil War through the eyes of Jarret as he cares for the horse.

We also learn about the real life Thomas Scott, a struggling artist who makes several paintings of Lexington with Jarret standing beside the horse. It is this painting that Theo years later discovers in a pile of rubbish that starts his interest in both the artist and the horse.

Theo's investigation leads him to Jess in the Smithsonian, an expert in reassembling and then studying bones from the museum's collection. Of course, they find the skeleton of Lexington in the museum's attic and begin to piece together the story of this famous animal.

Each history is slowly, engagingly unfolded for us by author Brooks. Her technique of each chapter bouncing to a different era and its characters pulls readers into the separate worlds of people connected by one horse. This style also leaves us drooling over what might happen next to each person as the following chapter skips away to a different era and its history. 

Details like Jarret's innovative training methods for his colt, Jess' observation of the unique bone structure of the skeleton, the popular world of race horse painting, Theo's dogged pursuit for information about an artist he admires .. all provide a rich texture and compelling action to keep us reading page after page, totally immersed with each person and the experiences they encounter, all with the commonality of a brilliant horse. 

An Afterword by the author details her research into the primary source publications and pictures about Lexington and "Jarret," referenced in the Scott painting (which actually was found in the trash), but contained no background she could find on the groom. Other characters depicted in this novel are real, with Brooks' Afterword describing each major player and what she learned about them to weave this novel.

As you can tell, I loved the story, characters, and writing style immensely. I was fascinated that the events depicted are based on the real life of an astonishing horse, a real painting found in the trash, and many other details, with a backstory now imaginatively fleshed out by Brooks. Read it and enjoy. It is highly recommended.

 

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

     More Book Recommendations 

          (and an Intro to The First Sentence Reader) 

________________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Gaffney, Ginger. Half Broke.   

A true memoir of a the author who works in a prison program that teacher felons how to train and ride difficult horses. Tremendous, personal, emotional account beautifully written. (previously reviewed here)