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)

 

Half Broke

Gaffney, Ginger. Half Broke. New York: Norton. 2020. Print

First Sentences:

At first it seemed like just another ranch asking me to help. Training horses and educating their owners has been my job for the last twenty years ...

This particular ranch is a prison. Most of the residents living here are multiple offenders, felons.

Description:

Sometimes you come across a book that is so honest and open in its writing style that the people and actions portrayed just seem more real and compelling than usual. Ginger Gafney is a writer with this kind of voice. She is a real-life horse trainer who shares her thoughts and fears with us in a simple, quiet voice. 

Her memoir, Half Broke, is a wonderfully full of raw, down-to-the-bone descriptions and observations of her voluteer work with prisoners serving time on a ranch-style facility in New Mexico. These felons are mostly drug abusers and dealers, men and women who have served countless years in correctional facilities, foster care, and abusive relationships. 

Gafney works with a small group of these damaged individuals to teach them how to train difficult horses to accept human contact and be gentled into ridability for their owners. The horses themselves have been donated or loaned to the ranch because the animals have also suffered some trauma in their lives and have become wildly afraid of or aggressive towards humans. Two of these horses ran free within the facility's walls because after being hastily dropped off, they never could be caught, much less harnessed. For two years they charged, bit, and kicked any prisoner who came near them, despite the painful and gaping wound one of them had received during the off-loading from their trailer. 

Gafney slowly introduces her group of prisoners to the necessity of understanding horses and their needs. She explains how the horses are ultra sensitive to presence and posture, so first teaches the men and women how to walk with non-threatening confidence, to quietly approach the animal when it allows them, and to touch and groom it gently. Eventually, the prison group softens themselves, become less aggressive, and stand straighter and more calmly when they deal with other prisoners on the ranch.

Gafney herself reveals her own troubled childhood. She refused to speak until she was six years old, preferring the quiet of hidden places where she could be alone in silence. A gift horse changed her life as she cared for it, learning how it was aware of her every action and word, and both girl and horse responded accordingly. Gafney learned everything she could about training horses and chose that for her profession.

It's not exactly a feel good story as there are plenty of setbacks with horses and people alike. But the overall picture shown by Gafney is an honest portrayal of her real-life situation full of damaged people and animals, as well as the triumphs each experiences. Her writing pulls you deeply into this environment as it teaches you about people and horses learning to exist among the challenges of their own trauma. As Gafney says about herself (and maybe speaks for others at the ranch):

I  know I belong. All our troubles, all our inadequacies, we wear them on the outside. There are no perfect, pretty people at the ranch. We are the ugly, the difficult, the invisible, the broken. Nothing is hidden. It is why horses have always been easy for me. They're honest. They show me exactly how they feel.

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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

 de Clermont-Tonnerre, Laura. The Mustang.   

Here's a first for me: recommending a movie rather than a book. The Mustang is a fictionalized portrayal of the real-life prison program where wild mustangs are rounded up to be tamed and trained by prisoners. Portrays a similar environment, people, and challenges presented in Half Broke.

Rough Magic

Prior-Palmer, Lara. Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race. New York: Catapult 2019. Print

First Sentences:

It was May 2013 when I wa cooped up in an attic in Austria, au pairing for a family with six Ferraris.

They lived in a converted hotel in the jaws of an Alpine valley 

Description:

Sometimes an absolutely fascinating plot and setting can make up for an average writing style. Such is the case for me with Lara Prior-Palmer's exotic tale of competing in the 1,000 kilometer Mongol Derby, Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race.

I had never heard of this fascinating race, much less that it was an ongoing 10-day race over uncharted barren lands. I also didn't know the Mongolian Derby re-enacted the pony express mail delivery system created by Genghis Khan in the thirteenth century. The speedy ponies of then and now allowed letters from Siberia to arrive in Poland within twelve days across a route flanked by the Gobi Desert, the Altai Mountains, and Siberia. 

With a last-minute decision to enter leaving author Prior-Palmer only one month to "prepare," she set about learning about the ride, seeking advice (not forthcoming) from previous riders and her Aunt Lucinda who was a famous distance rider (and who gave her a can of Anti Monkey Butt power for sore bottoms), and preparing her meager supplies. 

Why do human put so much thought into some decisions yet plunge into others like penguins into freezing ocean....Maybe I had a simpler desire to settle something unsaid, away from home. Or a longing to be wild and snort about like a horse 

Competitors would be allowed only a horse, five kilos of clothing and supplies, and a unreliable GPS. The entry form was ominous:

By taking part in this race you are greatly increasing your risk of severe physical injury or even death....If you are seriously injured you may be hundreds of miles away from the nearest hospital.

Thus begins this engrossing narrative of Prior-Palmer's ride of a lifetime. She was the youngest person to ride in the Mongolian Derby, and certainly the least prepared. When her first horse (provided by hundreds of Mongolian herders throughout the route) went lame and refused to run, she knew she was in for trouble. 

The race required she change mounts every four hours, provided at 25 relay stations where officials checked the horse's heartbeat to make sure he hadn't been overworked. A high heart rate meant the rider had to spend time in the station until medics deemed the horse fit, a loss sometime of hours.

Along the way, Prior-Palmer describes the vast, trackless plains she had to navigate; the herders she met; the hamsters and marmot holes that threatened to break a horse's leg or at least throw its rider; the 4,000 year old bronze carvings of animals in the middle of nowhere; and of course, her profound boredom. 

It's a fascinating read, a personal challenge to the author that she conveys to us lucky readers in clam, concise descriptions. Through hills and plains, as well as constant downpours, she perseveres towards the finish line and a very surprising ending.

On a related note, The New York Times had an article today about the latest running of Mongol Derby and its 70-year-old winner. Check it out at:     www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/sports/mongol-derby-winner.html 

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

____________________

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

Curtis, Wayne. The Last Great Walk.   

In 1909, walking was the most popular sport in many countries. Here is the true account of one of the greatest long distance walkers, Edward Weston, and his world-famous walk from New York City to San Francisco at age 70. (previously reviewed here)