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hyzenthlay76's review against another edition
4.0
This was so much better than I was expecting. While it does follow Smiley's year as a racing hobbyist and contains some animal communicator silliness, it is also filled with thoroughly researched and thought-provoking questions about the nature of horses and their place in our lives. It's also nice to read a horse book by a more literary writer.
giantsdancefarm's review against another edition
4.0
Actually, I'm giving it a 3.75.
I will say, folks not into horses or racing might not enjoy this book as much as I did. If you are interested in the racing world, you may enjoy this book. This book is about the (mostly) Thoroughbred horses she has owned, bred, and raced, with brief mentions here and there of post-racing careers in Jumping and Eventing.
My first two mares were TB, and I bred my 2nd mare and got a TB colt, then bred her a few more times to have 7/8 TB foals, so this intrigued me.
I've read all of Smiley's fiction novels and enjoyed them. I don't ever remember her making a stupid mistake when writing about horses, which is refreshing.
I will say, folks not into horses or racing might not enjoy this book as much as I did. If you are interested in the racing world, you may enjoy this book. This book is about the (mostly) Thoroughbred horses she has owned, bred, and raced, with brief mentions here and there of post-racing careers in Jumping and Eventing.
My first two mares were TB, and I bred my 2nd mare and got a TB colt, then bred her a few more times to have 7/8 TB foals, so this intrigued me.
I've read all of Smiley's fiction novels and enjoyed them. I don't ever remember her making a stupid mistake when writing about horses, which is refreshing.
nkmeyers's review against another edition
2.0
Much of what happened during [a:Jane Smiley|1339|Jane Smiley|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1245100250p2/1339.jpg]'s [b:A Year at the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck|32099|A Year at the Races Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck|Jane Smiley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168331511s/32099.jpg|32303] remains hidden from the reader.
What's missing? Smiley describes betting on her own horses in small amounts a couple of times. Did she really spend a year at the races and never bet another horse? Did she really never lose a bet? Wish she would have told us!
She describes herself as the mother of children, but we don't hear what happened to their father(s) or of their opinions of her involvement with the horses. Most middle-aged mothers' real life horse stories are fraught with arguments over horses and money. The difficulty of making time for horses when there is a household to care for, and children to rear is the story of every horsewoman's life who has ever raised a child, yet that story remains untold here. The story of the arguments, the decisions about time and money are absent here, leaving a hole at the middle of Smiley's account.
We are privy to Smiley's reflections on various methods of horse training and her own horses' responses to the trainers Smiley's hired. She describes the short careers of two of her horses that were sent to the track, their trainer, and her relationship with that trainer. Her own involvement appears to be that of an owner who would drop in for her horses' races and an occasional morning work, but her insights are sincere and her concern for the horses rings equally true.
She responds to (& appreciates) the routine and order of the backside of the track, but not to the cast of characters that populate it. The reader gets the impression that she didn't get to know these people well enough to make their stories part of her own story or her personal experience of horse racing, maybe she feels she's already written their story in [b:Horse Heaven|32226|Horse Heaven|Jane Smiley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168378222s/32226.jpg|801323]?
Which is a shame,because the insightfully drawn characters and relationships between them that she creates for her fiction are so much more fully drawn than the horses and race people she presented here in [b:A Year at the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck|32099|A Year at the Races Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck|Jane Smiley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168331511s/32099.jpg|32303] .
What's missing? Smiley describes betting on her own horses in small amounts a couple of times. Did she really spend a year at the races and never bet another horse? Did she really never lose a bet? Wish she would have told us!
She describes herself as the mother of children, but we don't hear what happened to their father(s) or of their opinions of her involvement with the horses. Most middle-aged mothers' real life horse stories are fraught with arguments over horses and money. The difficulty of making time for horses when there is a household to care for, and children to rear is the story of every horsewoman's life who has ever raised a child, yet that story remains untold here. The story of the arguments, the decisions about time and money are absent here, leaving a hole at the middle of Smiley's account.
We are privy to Smiley's reflections on various methods of horse training and her own horses' responses to the trainers Smiley's hired. She describes the short careers of two of her horses that were sent to the track, their trainer, and her relationship with that trainer. Her own involvement appears to be that of an owner who would drop in for her horses' races and an occasional morning work, but her insights are sincere and her concern for the horses rings equally true.
She responds to (& appreciates) the routine and order of the backside of the track, but not to the cast of characters that populate it. The reader gets the impression that she didn't get to know these people well enough to make their stories part of her own story or her personal experience of horse racing, maybe she feels she's already written their story in [b:Horse Heaven|32226|Horse Heaven|Jane Smiley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168378222s/32226.jpg|801323]?
Which is a shame,because the insightfully drawn characters and relationships between them that she creates for her fiction are so much more fully drawn than the horses and race people she presented here in [b:A Year at the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck|32099|A Year at the Races Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck|Jane Smiley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168331511s/32099.jpg|32303] .
raehink's review
3.0
Smiley has the same passion for horses and racing that I do, but she has the money to go with it. A great read.
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