Horse Heaven

Rating:
Summary: Heavenly
Review: As a rider and owner myself, I usually shy away from horse related novels because the inaccuracy annoys me. This book was extensively researched, and a pleasant relief for those who actually are familiar with how the horse industry operates. At the same time, I'm sure it can be understood and enjoyed by those with just a simple interest in horses, rather than a working knowledge. Understandably, the seemingly endless parade of characters can be a little confusing, but it serves a point. In the circle of the horse industry, there is rarely a simple tale to be told of a horse, rider or owner. The dysfunctionally enmeshed lifestyle in which we lead puts us in a clique where everyone does thread to everyone else somehow, even when they don't know it. This work is not a light read, but well worth it.

Rating:
Summary: READER'S HEAVEN
Review: Do you like horses? Do you like horse racing? My honest answers to these questions is a resounding NO. Did I LOVE this book? YES!

I selected it because I have liked Jane Smiley's previous work, but I didn't expect to be too enthusiastic about this project. How wrong I was. Jane Smiley wraps your mind around a story line that includes slight intrigue, mature romance, beautiful scenery. Readers of all ages will be caught up in the lives of Buddy, Audrey, Al & his wife, Elizabeth & Plato, and EVERYONE will love reading about JustaBob, Residual, Limitless, Mr. T.

How Jane Smiley learned to read the minds of horses will remain a mystery, but she learned the lesson extremely well.

If you want a good read with an engrossing story, fully developed characters & a happy ending read HORSE HEAVEN.

Rating:
Summary: A must for horse racing fans, but others beware
Review: Horse Heaven is interesting but it is not always easy reading. Jane Smiley has certainly done her homework (or perhaps she has always been a devoted fan) but there are a multitude of characters and a rather confusing story line. The novel tends to be more a series of sketches and events than anything else but in the end the problems of the characters do all reach some kind of fulfillment. The horses are treated as characters, which is as it should be, anyone who has worked with horses can tell you that they have very distinctive personalities.The characters both human and equine are well drawn we get to know and (mostly) like them but anyone not familiar or interesting in the horse racing scene may find some of the technical details daunting.

Smiley has a nice, gently satiric style, there are sentimental episodes inter spaced with amusing moments but the sentiment is never allowed to get mawkish and some of the humor is very funny indeed (however that joke about the horse trying mate with a zebra is as old as time!).

Apart from mysteries and juveniles there are very few novels written about the horse racing business so this book is welcome.

I gave it a four out of five.

Rating:
Summary: A rousing gallop through the horse world
Review: I blow hot and cold on Jane Smiley. "Liddy Newton" was okay, and (blasphemy!) I really didn't care for "A Thousand Acres."

But I loved "Moo," that astute and funny take on Midwestern ag academe.

So now there's "Horse Heaven," a book bound to boost race track attendance nationwide. Smiley takes two years in the lives of horses and horse people, and weaves a brisk and bright book about the racing world. The character list includes the gamut of racetrack regulars-the trainers, the hyper-rich owners, the gamblers, the jockeys, horse-crazy teenage girls-and best of all, the horses. Jane's a risky writer and takes a chance on working the horses' perspective into the narrative, which is a kick. The horses are wonderfully imagined, and it's great fun to find out just what they think about racing, and how well they might do betting on each other.

The narrative needed to be pulled in a little, however. Toward the end, the various stories are reeled out a little too far to be tied up in a manner clever enough to do justice to the rest of the book. Overflowing with imagination, "Horse Heaven" needed a bolder editor to bring it over the finish line a winner by more than a nose.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable read, almost great
Review: I will assume you have learned about the story from the other reviews and won't bother repeating it. Overall, Jane Smiley is one of the most gifted writers of our times and the story flows smoothly. With a strong sense of irony and humor, the book is a pleasure to read and impossible to put down. Its has two flaws that keep it one step short of perfection - the vast number of characters and the ending. There are simply too many characters and stories to keep them straight - especially if reading the book a chapter at a time over a few weeks. Some of these add to the background but would have been better off editing out entirely, leaving more space to focus on the primary characters and stories. The ending seems abrupt - we seem well seet up at the beginning to build up to Breeder's Cup or Triple Crown with a set of horses and their people in competition against each other. But that never happens and we get to the end of the third year and the book stops except for a few pages of epilogue. I assume that Smiley is doing this for a point, and that this is the fundamental point of the book - that most horses, even ones with great prospects and breeding never get to the great races for one reason or another. But the story would have had a more traditional build-up and satisfying ending if even two of them ended up competing against each other in a big race.

Rating:
Summary: Perfecta
Review: There are parts of this book that are just so well put together that I will return to it from time to time. Jane Smiley is a fine writer and she spins a horsey "tail" (sorry) that will involve you even if you never go to the track and think of a daily double as a happy hour special. Her cast is large, but every character is distinct and finely drawn. And the horses! They are the stars of this show. She brings them alive as individuals. I don't think I'll ever look at horses the same way again. The story is truly moving, but never pretentious, melodramatic or patronizing. The race sequences were breathtaking. She got her facts right too. The whole tempo of racing life. The circuits, the training, the track. I don't like animal stories as a rule, but this book is a rewarding exception. Smiley's style is so smart, and her intelligence so insightful that I did that thing that only books can let you do, I read my favorite passages over, and paged back from time to time to examine a point well made or to just enjoy the luxury of excellent writing. If you like horses, want to like horses or just enjoy first class writing, this book is a winner.

Rating:
Summary: I'm in "Horse Heaven"
Review: What a good book this is! I have never read Jane Smiley before and have nothing to compare this to, but I found the writing to be excellent, the characters to be extemely well-developed and accurate, and her grasp of horse-racing and the horse world in general to be masterful. The amount of research it must have taken for her to so correctly capture the little nuances of everyday life with horses is boggling, and perhaps that is why some -- people who are not "horse people", as we call them -- found the story and characters confusing and hard to follow. Ms. Smiley must have immersed herself in the racing scene to prepare for writing this book, and her readers do not have the same luxury. Those that already know what it's like (and that could mean from any "horsey" discipline, like the hunter/jumper world) have a head start and therefore a great advantage in reading this book. I found her characterizations of ALL creatures, be they human, equine, or canine, to be right on target. Wonderful reading for the equestrian-minded!