Rating: 
Summary: A Book Befitting Its Subject
Review: Seabiscuit: An American Legend tells the story of a great horse that was also a cultural phenomenon of the late 30s, on scale that would be equaled in later decades only by superstars like Elvis and the Beatles. "In 1938," begins the Preface, "near the end of a decade of monumental turmoil, the year's number-one newsmaker was not Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hitler, or Mussolini.... The subject of the most newspaper column inches in 1938 wasn't even a person. It was an undersized, crooked-legged racehorse named Seabiscuit."A blocky-looking horse with an ungainly stride that made him appear to have a perpetual limp, Seabiscuit was descended from the mighty Man O' War through Hard Tack ("Seabiscuit out of Hard Tack" - get it?). After spending his first few years amassing a miserable record on the racing circuit, the colt found a new owner and his fortunes changed. The story of how that unpromising horse became one of the icons of racing, as well as an inspiration to millions of Americans reeling from years of Depression and a looming world war, could be told in a compelling manner by any competent writer. What makes Laura Hillenbrand's narrative so brilliant is her focus on the three men who together discovered and developed Seabiscuit's potential: Charles Howard, a genial auto magnate with an eye for talent and a flair for publicity; Tom Smith, a frontiersman with a genius for understanding and training horses; and Red Pollard, a journeyman jockey who could read "Biscuit" like no one else. The book is meticulously researched; Hillenbrand fills out her account with enough period detail and horseracing lore to make the reader feel as if he's living the story rather than simply reading it. All that detail makes the going a little heavy in the early chapters; but once all the major characters are assembled, Seabiscuit clips along at a gallop. Some of the most compelling material in the book relates to the everyday lore of horseracing. Chapter 5 for instance, "A Boot on One Foot, a Toe Tag on the Other," deals with the "appalling" life of jockeys in the prewar era. "The jockey lived hard and lean and tended to die young," writes Hillenbrand, "trampled under the hooves of horses or imploding from the pressures of his vocation." Young men who rode racehorses for a living had to maintain such low body weight that they would employ dangerous homemade laxatives and sweat off pounds of water in punishing workouts. Really desperate jockeys would grow tapeworms inside themselves in order to keep their weight down. Consequently, they would often ride in a weakened condition, sick and light-headed, making the acrobatic task of race riding that much more dangerous. And when the inevitable happened, and a jockey went down on the track, there was frequently no ambulance available to take him to the hospital. Other fascinating industry-related details concern the politics of race handicapping - Seabiscuit, despite his small size, was frequently burdened with 10-25 pounds more handicap weight than his opponents - as well as the peccadillos of certain individuals in the racing community. Hillenbrand is at her most spellbinding, though, when it comes to her descriptions of the races themselves. She puts you right in the saddle, drawing on first-person commentaries from the jockeys involved, painting detailed word-pictures of the crowds, the weather, the track conditions, everything. Like a radio announcer, she leads you through each turn of the course, narrating your moment-to-moment progress, leaving you in suspense as to the outcome until you flash under the wire. Even if you aren't generally a fan of sports books - and I'm not - I bet you'll enjoy Seabiscuit. I was initially persuaded to buy it when I began seeing exciting trailers from the Universal Studios film based on the book. Now I'm thinking that if the movie comes anywhere near to doing justice to its source material, it should be well worth the price of a ticket.
Rating:
Summary: Diamond In The Rough
Review: As a child I would sometime comment on someone who had a great heart and a wonderful presence but came from a humble background. My Mother would call these people "diamonds in the rough". They overcame all odds to become all they could be without the benefit of leading from the starting gate. Seabiscuit is a story lovingly told by someone who seems to understand that this is more than a story about a horse. It's a tale of heart overcoming the odds to be a winner. This is a wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: Seabiscuit
Review: This book gives everyone an inside view into the world of horse racing and how the people and horses live. It isn't a pretty life...not for the horses or for the the people that work with them. But what a wonderful book!!! If you love horses, racing or just exciting life, Seabiscuit is the book to read!!
Thank you to Seabiscuit and Laura for being the champions you are!!! I look forward to more from Laura and regret that Seabiscuit will run no more!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, earlier book great, too
Review: There is little I can add to all the well-deserved praise for Laura Hillenbrand's book. Her writing is excellent, the story is incredible, and it is one of those books that you are sorry to see end. I was surprised to find that there was an earlier version of this story called, "Seabiscuit: The Saga of a Great Champion," by B. K. Beckwith. It is hard to find, but well worth it. It is much shorter than Hillenbrand's book, but it appears to have been an important source for her own bestseller, as the notes attest. Beckwith's book sticks just to the Seabiscuit story and has a lot of color from the era. (It was published in 1940 right after Seabiscuit's spectacular Santa Anita victory.) It provides the "proof" for Hillenbrand's book and is non-stop excitement.
Rating:
Summary: Running with your heart
Review: Seabiscuit's "gallop was so disorganized that he had a maddening tendency to whack himself in the front ankle with his own hind hoof." And so the spell-binding story about a horse that runs with a duck waddle, a jockey (Red Pollard) who is blind in one eye, a trainer (Tom Smith) who is practically mute, and an owner (Charles Howard) who brought cars to the West is born. This unlikely group of misfits joins together through chance -- and because all three men immediately see the untapped potential in a mistreated, high-spirited, and lazy horse named Seabiscuit. This trio devotes their love, skills, and energy into turning Seabiscuit into one of the most phenomenal horse racing legends. Tom Smith, perhaps the original "horsewhisperer", spends hours learning and understanding his horse. When Seabiscuit is first put into his care for training, the horse is nervous, paces incessantly, weighs too little, and suffers from a sore body. Tom spends time caring for Seabiscuit, showering him with affection and carrots, even sleeping in Seabiscuit's stall at night. A daily routine is introduced plus animal companionship. Before long, Seabiscuit has his own entourage: a cow pony named Pumpkin, the little stray dog Pocatell, and Jojo the spider monkey. Under Tom's care, the high-spirited Seabiscuit learns to trust, becomes calm, and, most importantly, starts winning horse races. The triumph of Seabiscuit is ultimately the story of what any person (or animal) may accomplish when their talents are recognized, supported, and expanded. Seabiscuit, given his inauspicious start in life, could just as easily have faded away into non-existence running third tier races. However, the love and care he receives from his owner, jockey, and trainer have you cheering until the end of the book for Seabiscuit to keep running (and winning) with his heart. Not only does Seabiscuit capture the hearts of the misfit trio, he will capture yours.
Rating:
Summary: A Celebration of an Epoch in American History! Wonderful!
Review: This fascinating work of non-fiction is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Unlike a lot of historical non-fiction, this intriguing story did not read like a textbook - it read like fiction and not once did I find myself skimming the details ... too interesting to skim through! When I first heard about this story, I wasn't sure about it - after all, I really know (or should I say "knew") very little about horse racing. Despite my misgivings, I soon realized that a major purpose of this book was not only to teach the reader about this sport via Seabiscuit's career but also to memorialize the amazing individuals (Charles Howard, Tom Smith, Red Pollard, George Woolf, etc.) who defied all odds to make such a successful racing career possible. I especially liked the chapters dealing with the difficulties of life as a jockey - the way the jockeys punished their bodies to the extreme for the honor of participating in a harrowingly dangerous sport was truly unbelievable...and I thought ballerinas were harsh on their bodies when it came to weight loss! Red was my favorite character and I can't help wondering if the author felt a particular kinship with the jockey as a result of her own struggles with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - after all, she did have to push her own body beyond her normal physical limits to complete her research and write this amazing book! Ms. Hillenbrand successfully incorporated the story of Seabiscuit's racing career into the historical context of the era. Seabiscuit was a much needed diversion for Americans who were suffering the depths of the Great Depression. ...And perhaps, through Laura Hillenbrand, Team Seabiscuit is still providing us all with an inspirational diversion from today's distressing headlines! Oh - and don't skip the interview with Laura Hillenbrand at the end of the book. It was very interesting to see how Ms. Hillenbrand's own background influenced her writing and how her research helped her to resurrect this intriguing epoch in American history. I'm excited about the movie although I hope Universal Studios does this wonderful literary work justice!
Rating:
Summary: An absolutely amazing book about an absolutely amazing horse
Review: Seabiscuit:An American Legend was an amazing book. It pulled me into the story and made me feel like I was there cheering when he crossed the finish line, crying with Marcela and Howared when he lost or got injured, and laughing with Tom Smith and Red Pollard at Seabiscuit's funny and unbelievable eccentricities. This was one of those life altering, completly profound books that you don't want to put down saying that you finished it.
I recommend it to everyone. Thank you Laura Hillenbrand, I really hope you continue writing about famous race horses.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting and Exciting
Review: I read Seabiscuit at the recommendation of an editor at a New York publishing house. He felt that the structure of the book represented the best of current American writing.
True, true. But there is so much more to this book!
Hillebrand captures the era, the social demographics of the 1930's, and the mystique of this horse. She researched this book extensively and her work comes through in all corners of her masterpiece: she builds tiny descriptions in her depictions of characters (he had a dime in his pocket) that tell everything. Her chapters on the lives of the jockeys at that time-living in poverty, no health insurance, many of them only 15 or 16-made me cry.
Hillebrand also writes beautifully. At times, yes, she can go too far. But for the most part, the passion she feels for her topic and for her characters, channels itself realistically into her descriptions and depictions.
I read this book for two very different book clubs: a group of well educated suburban women and a very intense Ivy League city club of older intellectuals. I would say that 90-95% of the members of both clubs loved it. Five to ten percent found it boring. However, I can't give an exact demographic on those who disliked it-it was a personal thing. I can say that all types of people loved it: people who hate sports and horses, people who love sports, young mothers, seventy-something retired professors, grandmothers.
I would recommend this book for most people. You should be able to find something in it that you will like if not love: beautiful writing, exciting horse racing, carefully researched descriptions of historic settings and times in the 1930's, a strong plot with two climaxes, memorable characters. If you are one of the random people that I have encountered who for whatever reason finds the book boring, I apologize!
Rating:
Summary: The horse is a legend, the book's a classic.
Review: I just re-read this book after initially reading it about a year ago. At the time of my first reading, I had never heard of Seabiscuit and only picked it up because of the glowing reviews. Boy, were those revies on target! The book is simply phenomenal. It actually makes you care deeply about an animal that has been out of the headlines for decades. I didn't know much about horse racing and not much more about horses but this book is an education in itself. Beautifully written, suspenseful, poignant and always respectful of its subject, this book is a masterpiece, destined to be a classic. I am now a huge fan of Seabiscuit and of the author, Laura Hillenbrand. I highly recommend this book
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating look into the horse and the people involved
Review: The author captivates the reader right from the first page. This is a wonderful book providing a look into American history. You need not be a horse racing fan to enjoy this book. I rate this in my all-time Top Ten books I have ever read!
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