42 reviews for:

Horse Heaven

Jane Smiley

3.74 AVERAGE

varmint3's review

4.0

So far so good - Justa Bob is quite a character!
challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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dllh's profile picture

dllh's review

4.0

This is the second Smiley book I've read, and both have been oddly very slow and very compelling, drawing me in until I was fully absorbed less in the people than in the bits of culture or history the books reveal. In this one, the people are a lot less interesting than the horses (and one dog). This almost paradoxical slow/compelling trick Smiley pulls off in these books is sort of a marvel.

alexamariareader's review

2.0

After attending the Kentucky Derby last year I have been fascinated by the horse world. It was a slow read for me because there were so many characters I couldn't follow the narrative all the time but overall I liked it.

It was hard for me to rate this book because if I was rating it sheerly on how much I personally enjoyed it - - it would have 4 stars. But I had to factor in some other, more objective criteria - - and that knocked it down a bit.

This book is 650 pages of 3-5 pages "chapters". It follows at least four major storylines with a few minor ones thrown in for good measure. And it features at least 30 characters, all of whom appear and reappear. This makes for some challenging reading!

The stories do connect and intersect and their commonality is the world of horse racing. If you don't know a thing about horse racing, you'll know quite a lot after reading this book. It definitely is soap operaesque! And in that way, I enjoyed the book. It just has wonderful details about a world which I knew nothing about. It also brings horses to life in a way that you actually sympathize with their trials and tribulations.

My major criticisms of the book are:

1. If you don't like horses, at least a bit, I'm afraid you really should NOT read this book.

2. There's a few storylines that are a bit far fetched - - like one about an animal communicator that I found both dull and silly. Fortunately, those storylines are not prominent.

3. It's so darn long! But each chapter is so short that it really isn't tough to read like some lengthy books.

What I loved was the detail of the writing and the voice of Jane Smiley. She just has a great way with words and characters. I found these characters to be fascinating and delightful, and I was glad to spend 650 pages with them.
adventurous funny hopeful informative slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
inspiring reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Beautiful. Jane Smiley perfectly captures that something that makes people all over the world be dragged in by horses and horse racing. It made me fall in love all over again too.

Perfect.
sharyl5's profile picture

sharyl5's review

5.0

I really got into this book! There are several stories going on at once, and my favorite character was a horse named Justa Bob.