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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
It's been at least twenty years since I last read Black Beauty, yet its message is timeless - to treat animals with care and respect, not be swayed by concerns of 'fashion' or the demands of society, and speak up for those who have no voice to speak for themselves.
The life of a horse told from a horse’s point of view. The horse seemed to accept that his life was to be controlled by humans (he never longed for days of roaming the wild prairie, for example) but he always wished that his masters be kind. Some were. Some were not. Sewell saw lots of cruelty toward horses and part of her reason for writing the book (as it says in the forward to this book) was to show the torment that many horses faced.
I especially liked this version of the book, filled with illustrations of horse terms and places in London and depictions of complicated events in the story.
I especially liked this version of the book, filled with illustrations of horse terms and places in London and depictions of complicated events in the story.
4 stars!
I was wonderfully surprised by this novel. I think the same happened when I read Morpurgo's War Horse - it was a pleasant surprise since novels about animals in general aren't necessarily my go-to genre, but I found myself laughing and smiling throughout this entire book. It was cute and heartwarming and tear-jerking all at the same time, which is exactly what I expect from a good book.
I was wonderfully surprised by this novel. I think the same happened when I read Morpurgo's War Horse - it was a pleasant surprise since novels about animals in general aren't necessarily my go-to genre, but I found myself laughing and smiling throughout this entire book. It was cute and heartwarming and tear-jerking all at the same time, which is exactly what I expect from a good book.
I thought that it would be a great horse story. I attempted to read Black Beauty, but just could not get into this book.
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This a very touching novel by Anna Sewell who described the abuse of bearing rein in the horses. Nowadays this question of mistreatment of animals is becoming a harsh reality even in the XXI century.
A movie was made based on this book Black Beauty (1994).
This a very touching novel by Anna Sewell who described the abuse of bearing rein in the horses. Nowadays this question of mistreatment of animals is becoming a harsh reality even in the XXI century.
A movie was made based on this book Black Beauty (1994).
I revisited this classic horse story not knowing what to expect, really. I have found that I can't really trust my childhood memories. In this case, however, the years made no difference. The odd thing I noticed while reading this book was how completely I'd internalized the messages regarding animals and how one should treat them. I know that I must have read this 20 or 30 times before I was 14, but I didn't realize that I was memorizing whole chunks of it and grafting it into my moral code. It's a wonderful book.
This book was the first book I was ever given, christmas 1986 by my grandad. It pretty much defines my childhood up until the age of 10/11 when I discovered Judy Blume and Black Beauty didn't cut it anymore.
I still have the first copy I was given that christmas and have just passed it on to my 10 year old daughter.
I re-read this book dozens of times when I was a child, I would sniffle and smile at the same parts everytime and even though it's not a groundbreaking story or a life changing one, it hit a nerve with a young girl who threw herself into the world of this horse and honestly made me love sitting on the fence of my grandma's house, watching her horses run around, a place I ended up spending hours, usually with this book in hand.
For that reason it's always going to be a lovely book and even though my daughter has labelled it boring, I hope she attempts to read it again when she's older, even though it won't have the same impact it did on me, I want her to experience knowing this book.
I still have the first copy I was given that christmas and have just passed it on to my 10 year old daughter.
I re-read this book dozens of times when I was a child, I would sniffle and smile at the same parts everytime and even though it's not a groundbreaking story or a life changing one, it hit a nerve with a young girl who threw herself into the world of this horse and honestly made me love sitting on the fence of my grandma's house, watching her horses run around, a place I ended up spending hours, usually with this book in hand.
For that reason it's always going to be a lovely book and even though my daughter has labelled it boring, I hope she attempts to read it again when she's older, even though it won't have the same impact it did on me, I want her to experience knowing this book.
Picked this up out of the unit box at the camp I volunteer at. The girls in the cabin were going into 4-6th grade, and I read it aloud over three nights. I enjoyed the fact that the book is narrated by Beauty; I only knew of a few other classics like that. It really lacked human details, though, and I found myself wanting to rewrite chapters from the human perspective as a fun writing exercise. (Why was the master’s wife sick?, for example.)
A warning, though: this book is pretty real about the way horses were treated back then (and, I’m sure, in some places now). It doesn’t not leave humans with a favorable view of humankind, but only that there are kind exceptions to the rule. The parts surrounding Ginger (who appears several times across the book) are especially dark, with Ginger voicing aloud to Beauty that she wishes someone would shoot her and put her out of her misery. Beauty even feels this way a little when he gets hurt. In another chapter, Beauty sees Ginger looking especially bad and being led away, and then late Beauty thinks he sees Ginger dead in a cart that rolls by. Not good bedtime fare, but definitely realistic, and I enjoyed it in general.
A warning, though: this book is pretty real about the way horses were treated back then (and, I’m sure, in some places now). It doesn’t not leave humans with a favorable view of humankind, but only that there are kind exceptions to the rule. The parts surrounding Ginger (who appears several times across the book) are especially dark, with Ginger voicing aloud to Beauty that she wishes someone would shoot her and put her out of her misery. Beauty even feels this way a little when he gets hurt. In another chapter, Beauty sees Ginger looking especially bad and being led away, and then late Beauty thinks he sees Ginger dead in a cart that rolls by. Not good bedtime fare, but definitely realistic, and I enjoyed it in general.
I got this book when I was about 10 years old, along with a lot of other classics in the Scholastic Classics set my mother got for me. But I was never interested in reading it - I'll have to be upfront about something. I've always been scared of animals, and reading a book about a horse did not really interest me.
That being said, I was curious enough recently to give it a chance. And it was a little old at first - I did not expect the story to be told through Black Beauty. And while I have to admit that in a few places, I may have gotten bored, I was also thoroughly surprised that I quite connected with Black Beauty. The telling of this story is so genuine that I believe that Anna Sewell must have been a true animal lover. Her ability to consider horses and how they must feel comes across in a realistic and honest way. It makes you consider the ways in which we do treat animals, putting them to work, etc.
I liked the book. I probably still won't be touching or petting any animals soon -- but this book goes to show that reading really does make you consider different perspectives and different walks of life - even that of a horse.
That being said, I was curious enough recently to give it a chance. And it was a little old at first - I did not expect the story to be told through Black Beauty. And while I have to admit that in a few places, I may have gotten bored, I was also thoroughly surprised that I quite connected with Black Beauty. The telling of this story is so genuine that I believe that Anna Sewell must have been a true animal lover. Her ability to consider horses and how they must feel comes across in a realistic and honest way. It makes you consider the ways in which we do treat animals, putting them to work, etc.
I liked the book. I probably still won't be touching or petting any animals soon -- but this book goes to show that reading really does make you consider different perspectives and different walks of life - even that of a horse.
I've never read this book as a kid. And as it turns out, I'm probably not one to read children's books as an adult, even if they are classics.
So the main character in "Black Beauty" is a horse. I've read a couple books like that before and enjoyed them. But whereas [b:The Art of Racing in the Rain|3153910|The Art of Racing in the Rain|Garth Stein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1377206302s/3153910.jpg|3175590] had a an actual plot - a story of a family told from the dog's perspective, and [b:The Call of the Wild|1852|The Call of the Wild|Jack London|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1452291694s/1852.jpg|3252320] had an interesting historical fiction/adventure backdrop, I found Black Beauty to be boring and completely empty.
Each chapter is an education in horse mismanagement. Throughout the book I find out that:
- if the horse's shoe falls off and you keep riding it on a paved road, it's hoof will get hurt;
- if you feed the horse too much and exercise it too little, it will feel hot and restless;
- if you feed it too little and work it too hard, it'll feel weak and tired;
- if the light in the stables is too dim, its eyesight might get worse;
- if the horse's head is forcibly held up too high, it has a hard time pulling a lot of weight;
- etc. etc.
I don't own a horse, nor do I ever plan to. I'm not even that into horses at all, so why would I care about the particularities of equine diet or the proper use of riding equipment? Because, you know, it's not like anything else is happening in this book except ticking off all of the above mentioned.
There is no plot, no insight into human nature from an animal's perspective, no interesting historical backdrop. The horse changes faceless, indistinguishable owners, gets mistreated/mismanaged in a bunch of ways, and that's it. I didn't care about any characters - equine or human, and was generally bored out of my mind.
So this is another classic piece of literature I completely missed the point of. Maybe if you're a kid or a horse lover it turns into a masterpiece? I don't know. Definitely didn't work for me.
So the main character in "Black Beauty" is a horse. I've read a couple books like that before and enjoyed them. But whereas [b:The Art of Racing in the Rain|3153910|The Art of Racing in the Rain|Garth Stein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1377206302s/3153910.jpg|3175590] had a an actual plot - a story of a family told from the dog's perspective, and [b:The Call of the Wild|1852|The Call of the Wild|Jack London|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1452291694s/1852.jpg|3252320] had an interesting historical fiction/adventure backdrop, I found Black Beauty to be boring and completely empty.
Each chapter is an education in horse mismanagement. Throughout the book I find out that:
- if the horse's shoe falls off and you keep riding it on a paved road, it's hoof will get hurt;
- if you feed the horse too much and exercise it too little, it will feel hot and restless;
- if you feed it too little and work it too hard, it'll feel weak and tired;
- if the light in the stables is too dim, its eyesight might get worse;
- if the horse's head is forcibly held up too high, it has a hard time pulling a lot of weight;
- etc. etc.
I don't own a horse, nor do I ever plan to. I'm not even that into horses at all, so why would I care about the particularities of equine diet or the proper use of riding equipment? Because, you know, it's not like anything else is happening in this book except ticking off all of the above mentioned.
There is no plot, no insight into human nature from an animal's perspective, no interesting historical backdrop. The horse changes faceless, indistinguishable owners, gets mistreated/mismanaged in a bunch of ways, and that's it. I didn't care about any characters - equine or human, and was generally bored out of my mind.
So this is another classic piece of literature I completely missed the point of. Maybe if you're a kid or a horse lover it turns into a masterpiece? I don't know. Definitely didn't work for me.