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Summary: You Gotta Have Heart!
Review: This book is an outstanding work. I picked up the book after a friend recommended it, and relished every page. Laura Hillenbrand captures the emotion of horse racing better than I ever thought possible. More than an account of a great horse and his caretakers, Seabiscuit is a story about heart. The author does a great job of capturing the intensity of the race; but more importantly she captures the heart that characterizes Seabiscuit the horse. Seabiscuit answered "the question" when it was asked of him. This book does the same. We should all have such heart.
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Summary: fast and fun for all types
Review: The gals in my book club were none too thrilled when I picked Seabiscuit for this past month's selection, but everyone loved it, carrying the book around with them wherever they went because they could not put it down!
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Summary: Great book about horses!
Review: When I was a kid, we used to live in a house. My mom worked and I used to watch TV a lot. We had cable, but no movie channels. I had needs, as you can imagine, so Friday nights, I would watch the movie channels--scrambled, of course. If you pay close attention, you can make out the contours of the female body, and I would just go to town with that. One night, after going to town a few times, I looked in the TV guide and it turns out the scrambled movie I was watching was about Seabiscuit, and I was going to town watching Seabiscuit's behind (scrambled, of course). Now that is a good looking horse.
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Summary: I'd have never guessed...
Review: ...that I could love a book about horse racing, but I do! Never before have I shouted, cried, and cheered out loud while reading a book. Buy it for the thrill of the read, but read it for the amazing history that comes through in the story.
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Summary: Move Over, Lassie!
Review: Whatta horse! Horse enthusiasts will certainly like this story, but it's a book for anyone. It's a glimpse inside the racing world, it's a biography about some of the famous jockeys from that era, and it's a wonderful story about Seabiscuit, who seemed to be "a big dog with hooves." The descriptions of his races kept me on the edge of my seat. The movie is coming out soon. I recommend you read the book first because you never know what the screenwriters will do to the original story. This book is entertaining throughout, and, like all good animal stories, it will break your heart a little...
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Summary: Exciting nonfiction....how rare
Review: Rarely do you find a nonfiction book that is so exciting, inspiring, heartbreaking, wonderful, heartwarming, and tragic. Seabiscuit, a mud-colored, knobby-kneed, odd-walking Thoroughbred goes from the lowest ranks of racing to thousands of victories. One day he is in the match race of the century--he is racing against War Admiral--a tall, sleek, muscled black beauty who also awes the racing crowd.
Then there is the thrilling, sometimes heartbreaking story of Red Pollard--becoming a jockey in small races and living of of scant money to finally mount Seabiscuit. But one day he falls off and is crushed by the horse he is excercising. Finally he recovers, and excercises a young, skittish colt. Suddenly the colt shies, and bolts away, slamming Pollard into a barn wall and nearly severing his legs. "People everywhere heard the screams" Hillenbrand wrote.
And then there was the rich, ambitious Charles Howard, Seabiscuit's owner.
There was also an old, old man named Tom Smith, the Biscuit's trainer, who knew and understood the colt, turning him from a lazy oaf to a fierce competitor.
I highly reccomend this book for anyone over 13...(i'm really 14, but I can't use the adult form)
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Summary: Diamond In The Rough
Review: A diamond in the rough to my Mother was someone who rose to the top despite handicaps. She thought these people were the true heros among us. These people inspire all of us to be all we can be. If they can do it, we can do it.Seabiscuit is a wonderfully told story of a horse, a trainer, a rider and an owner, diamonds in the rough all, who prove again that heart can overcome anything and make you a winner.
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Summary: Lose your preconceived notions...
Review: ...this book is not about what you think. It's not just a story about a racehorse. It's a story about serendipity. Picture a gregarious California businessman with more money than sense. Add a taciturn trainer who's a refugee from the old west, and a quirky racehorse built like a cinderblock. Throw in a couple of insignificant jockeys - one of which is partially blind, the other a diabetic. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, huh? Nope! That's the setting for one of sports most endearing stories. You know who'd enjoy reading this book? Anyone who's a square peg in a round hole, who marches to their own drummer, who society looks at and says, "You'll never measure up." Even if you're not a big horseracing fan, trust me, you will enjoy this book.
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Summary: I'd like to give this book a thousand stars, not just five
Review: Best book I ever read. Because of it, a grassroots movement, completely independent of the book, has begun all across the country to get Seabiscuit put on a U.S. postage stamp. The horse meets every qualification. The Seabiscuit-on-a-stamp movement needs every vote, since we are just ordinary people and have no lobbyist in Washington. If you loved Laura Hillenbrand's book (and the latest edition has a lot more photographs!), please write. We, the people, are the ones who choose who goes on a stamp.
America is running out of heroes, and needs Seabiscuit as much today as in the days of the Great Depression. Send your request to
Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, Stamp Development, U.S.Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza Drive, Room 5670, Washington DC
20260-2437 Thanks to all who have already written, and who are yet to write in their request. Every vote counts.
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Summary: Humans and Horses
Review: My parents first recommended Seabiscuit to me right after it was first published, and I'm ashamed to say that I never read it. I only became interested when I heard that the movie was coming out in theaters. I've never liked horses, never understood why some people seemed to worship them, and was very reluctant to begin reading. When, on a long flight, I finally began I was hooked within the first ten pages. Hillenbrand manages to make not only all the humans three dimensional, but gives Seabiscuit a personality that is just as vivid, if not more so, than the humans around him. From four extremely different storylines, she manages to weave one novel without losing focus or dropping any of the threads. She stays true to each character, true to their interactions and relationships with eachother and shapes a novel that entertains and informs, that will carry you along with Seabiscuit and allow you to experience his highs and lows, and share laughter and tears with the people who invested their entire life into this awkward horse.
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