Horse Heaven

Rating:
Summary: Sly, knowing social comedy
Review: Perhaps Jane Smiley did take on a bit too much in Horse Heaven, but the results are admirable, wise and very, very funny. Her own description of the book (a "comic...poem in prose") is very apt -- there's plenty of social statire, but it's handled with a great deal of humanity and droll humor. (That title, for starters -- it's awfully ironic.)

Her comments on American culture are apt and often hilarious, her characters (both human and equine) are believable, and there's a refreshing lack of sentimentality. The equine characters are well-drawn, and (as noted by another writer), anthropomorphism is kept to a minimum. The horses are often more enjoyable than their two-legged counterparts, and their observations on some of the principal human characters are nothing if not astute. As an ex-hunter/jumper rider, I enjoyed this book tremendously, but the real pleasure lies in Ms. Smiley's writing.

Rating:
Summary: Heavenly Horse heaven
Review: Great book! Really gives you insight to another whole way of life. The storyline is a little hard to keep up with at first, but, once you get the hang of it, it is fun. The characters (human & horse) are well fleshed out. I found myself liking and caring about most of them,especially the horses! I recommend this book to anyone who loves horses.

Rating:
Summary: Smile for Horse Heaven
Review: Well written. To my mind, much better and infinitely more exciting than Smiley's Pulitzer Prize winning novel A Thousand Acres. The mix of characters (believeably drawn and full of life), people as well as horses like Just A Bob and a rascal of a Jack Russel Terrier, fulfilled many needs for me as a reader. The gigantic cast and the location shifts around the world to various race-tracks and farms is sometimes difficult if you can't find time for a sustained read - but it's well worth the trouble getting back up to speed with each re-newed reading.

Rating:
Summary: A Writer In Search of An Editor
Review: For anyone who has ever read Jane Smiley, you must know that this book represents one of the worst things she has ever written. Endlessly tangential, wandering stories, endless characters, and pulled together with the most trite of endings-- the very fact that she required a list of characters in the front of the book to explain "who was what" says it all. Clearly Ms. Smiley is a major writer, but why didn't some editor have the guts to tell her that what she had turned in was a first draft? I miss the writer who wrote "A Thousand Acres," and find it hard to believe that she and the person who wrote this book are one and the same.

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: Lively, engrossing, realistic novel.
Review: This novel of horse racing provides an engrossing set of characters whose lives revolve around the horse track and the underlying politics and personalities which dominate it. Fans of Dick Francis will find this a lively, engrossing account which is packed with realistic action.

Rating:
Summary: Horsing Around
Review: I love horses and I love reading but I have to admit that finishing this book was a true challenge! Jane Smiley has a delightful knowledge of both people and horses but trying to tie all these together became an exercise in page turning for me. I had to continue to return to the cast of characters to figure out who was whom. Fewer characters, fewer "aside" stories that really did not add to the main one would have made this a completely delightful read. As it is, I can only recommend it to both horse and Jane Smiley fans.

Rating:
Summary: This book is HEAVEN
Review: Recently, I had the privilege of attending jockey Julie Krone's induction into the Racing Hall of Fame in Sarataga Springs, NY. The keynote speaker on this day was Jane Smiley, an author I was previously unfamiliar with. To my delight, she was a perfect fit for the ceremony, bringing her gift of language and use of horse anecdotes to her speech and charming everyone with her perceptions of horse life and the racing world. I immediately went out and purchased this book, hoping that her words would touch me as profoundly in print as they had in her speech. I am not, I should state, a huge horse or racing fan. It has always remained a world full of characters that mystify me and while I respect their way of life, it has always seemed to be a rather closed off world to most of us. What Ms. Smiley does in this book is to open that world to us via shimmering, interesting characters and marvelously heart wrenching insights. I have read few books that attempt to get inside the soul of an animal and use the animal's voice as she imagines it might be. Smiley has an uncanny ability to make us believe that we are experiencing life as a horse might. It is remarkable. Equally compelling are her human characters, each with their own struggles and unique involvement with horses and the horse racing industry. The book frequently brought tears to my eyes - Smiley's awe and love of these animals is evident in every passage. While anyone who appreciates the art of fine writing will enjoy this book, anyone who has ever had the privilege of enjoying a lasting, meaningful bond with any kind of animal MUST read this. You will never forget it.

Rating:
Summary: It was wonderful!
Review: Just want to put my two cents in here about what I thought was a wonderful book. I was very sad to reach the end. Everyone mentions the horse aspect, and perhaps a life long love of horses and dogs helps when reading the book, but it is also about coastal states of mind (the California characters contrast so wonderfully with their East Coast and Mid West counterparts), relationships, and the various ways people create thought systems to encompass their longings and disappointments. Also, if you have ever owned or known a Jack Russell dog, well, those are the most vivid passages in the book. I keep reading the opening chapter to all my dog-owner friends--the relationship between Jack Russell and family is priceless. I couldn't put it down.