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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
sad
fast-paced
Este livro narra a história de beleza negra , belo cavalo que viveu na Inglaterra vitoriana. Narrado pelo próprio cavalo , ele relembra todas as fases e sofrimento da sua vida ; desde de donos maravilhosos até alguns cruéis que muito lhe maltratava. Narra também como escapou de um incêndio mortal e se recuperou de vários acidentes.
O livro denuncia o cruel tratamento a que esses animais são submetidos em nome da moda, muitas vezes por pura ignorância. O assunto se mantém atual até hoje. Evidências de abusos que causam dor e sofrimento aos cavalos são vistos por todo o livro. Denunciar os maus tratos na esperança de por um fim a isso com certeza foi o objetivo da autora Anna Sewell .O livro não só dá lições relacionadas aos cavalos , mas também ao ser humano : Devemos fazer o melhor e trabalhar duro, dar valor e retribuir um gesto amável, integridade e ajudar ao próximo. A história de Beleza negra contada através de livros e filmes , é uma história que toca o coração humano no mundo todo.
O livro denuncia o cruel tratamento a que esses animais são submetidos em nome da moda, muitas vezes por pura ignorância. O assunto se mantém atual até hoje. Evidências de abusos que causam dor e sofrimento aos cavalos são vistos por todo o livro. Denunciar os maus tratos na esperança de por um fim a isso com certeza foi o objetivo da autora Anna Sewell .O livro não só dá lições relacionadas aos cavalos , mas também ao ser humano : Devemos fazer o melhor e trabalhar duro, dar valor e retribuir um gesto amável, integridade e ajudar ao próximo. A história de Beleza negra contada através de livros e filmes , é uma história que toca o coração humano no mundo todo.
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Finally, I have read this book. It's one I somehow managed to not read during my 'read every horse book ever' phase back when I was a child. I watched the movie, but never read the book. I would like to say, from what I remember, the movie surprisingly followed along with the book rather well. Anyways, this is about the book, not the movie haha!
Anna Sewell wrote this book while confined to her room due to bad health. Afraid she wouldn't live to see this published, she worked tirelessly at it and lived long enough for her mother to find a publisher and see her book in print before passing five months later. It was the only book she ever wrote and it lived on as a classic. Amazing, right? I thought that was pretty neat, if not a bit sad (much like this book is).
This book, written like a biography told by a horse, is basically a letter to people out there to be kind and gentle to horses (and in general for that matter). Which means, we get to see the rather dreadful things certain horsemen do to abuse horses as Black Beauty bounces from owner to owner. Some good, some awful, others uneducated. It's certainly not a book for the faint of heart, but I enjoyed the message behind it. For the most part. You get educated along the way on the treatment of horses, something Anna was an advocate for (for animals in general).
I could have done without the random chapters put in that veers off from a horse telling his story and more into lessons about getting good with God. Not so much for the religious aspect of it, Anna grew up in a strict Quaker home and everyone can have their beliefs, I won't judge anyone for that. So long as they don't judge me for my own beliefs. I just personally felt like they were out of place, if this is indeed written in the eyes of a horse who has repeatedly said in the book he doesn't understand everything humans say. I doubt he'd know the first thing about religion or politics that got squeezed in this with a few tossed in chapters.
All in all, a good book, and I'm glad I finally read it to complete my horse book phase.
Anna Sewell wrote this book while confined to her room due to bad health. Afraid she wouldn't live to see this published, she worked tirelessly at it and lived long enough for her mother to find a publisher and see her book in print before passing five months later. It was the only book she ever wrote and it lived on as a classic. Amazing, right? I thought that was pretty neat, if not a bit sad (much like this book is).
This book, written like a biography told by a horse, is basically a letter to people out there to be kind and gentle to horses (and in general for that matter). Which means, we get to see the rather dreadful things certain horsemen do to abuse horses as Black Beauty bounces from owner to owner. Some good, some awful, others uneducated. It's certainly not a book for the faint of heart, but I enjoyed the message behind it. For the most part. You get educated along the way on the treatment of horses, something Anna was an advocate for (for animals in general).
I could have done without the random chapters put in that veers off from a horse telling his story and more into lessons about getting good with God. Not so much for the religious aspect of it, Anna grew up in a strict Quaker home and everyone can have their beliefs, I won't judge anyone for that. So long as they don't judge me for my own beliefs. I just personally felt like they were out of place, if this is indeed written in the eyes of a horse who has repeatedly said in the book he doesn't understand everything humans say. I doubt he'd know the first thing about religion or politics that got squeezed in this with a few tossed in chapters.
All in all, a good book, and I'm glad I finally read it to complete my horse book phase.
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Audiobook. A reread! I haven’t read this since I was a kid. But this story holds so much nostalgia for me. It definitely held up. There are a lot of things that I noticed this time around like class differences and a commentary on the lives of those around the horses. So much packed in but it was such a cozy read.
Some pros/cons to this.
PROS:
I like that it teaches children to be compassionate and kind, not just to animals, but people too.
Keeping the book for the artwork.
CONS:
Overly religious, constant implication that only good people are those who go to church and believe in God. All bad people are atheists or not religious, and/or drinkers.
This book is heavily against drinkers, not just alcoholics, but anyone who drinks. Of course, this book was written in 1800s, so Anna Sewell didn't know that drinking on occasion is actually beneficial to your health.
I think it teaches children to 'know their place' too much. For example, in the beginning of the book, Ginger and Sir Oliver were speaking about their abuse ordeal and everyone had this attitude of "Well, we have good people now so let's not sound ungrateful!" (Literally... ??? How is pointing out that suffering from humans is being ungrateful!? It's like speaking about oppression and someone tells you that you're ungrateful to certain friends you may have that don't oppress you ?? ) Further on, Ginger and Black Beauty are met once more, and Ginger has such a defeatist attitude and that 'man have the strongest will', i.e. I use to kick about when I was abused but now I know my place.
On the other hand, it is so contradictory in that the humans will always step up and defend the horses whenever possible. So the object (animals) who are oppressed are not allowed to say anything but the oppressor is? Again, I don't want to teach any child that as it goes back to 'knowing my place' attitude and being silent on abuse.
3/5 stars, there is good intention here but the overly religious, 'know your place' bits are problematic. In particular, quiet women seldom make history and seeing as girls are the ones who will read about horses, I don't want them to think they should stick to their stereotypical gender roles of keeping quiet and knowing her place.
PROS:
I like that it teaches children to be compassionate and kind, not just to animals, but people too.
Keeping the book for the artwork.
CONS:
Overly religious, constant implication that only good people are those who go to church and believe in God. All bad people are atheists or not religious, and/or drinkers.
This book is heavily against drinkers, not just alcoholics, but anyone who drinks. Of course, this book was written in 1800s, so Anna Sewell didn't know that drinking on occasion is actually beneficial to your health.
I think it teaches children to 'know their place' too much. For example, in the beginning of the book, Ginger and Sir Oliver were speaking about their abuse ordeal and everyone had this attitude of "Well, we have good people now so let's not sound ungrateful!" (Literally... ??? How is pointing out that suffering from humans is being ungrateful!? It's like speaking about oppression and someone tells you that you're ungrateful to certain friends you may have that don't oppress you ?? ) Further on, Ginger and Black Beauty are met once more, and Ginger has such a defeatist attitude and that 'man have the strongest will', i.e. I use to kick about when I was abused but now I know my place.
On the other hand, it is so contradictory in that the humans will always step up and defend the horses whenever possible. So the object (animals) who are oppressed are not allowed to say anything but the oppressor is? Again, I don't want to teach any child that as it goes back to 'knowing my place' attitude and being silent on abuse.
3/5 stars, there is good intention here but the overly religious, 'know your place' bits are problematic. In particular, quiet women seldom make history and seeing as girls are the ones who will read about horses, I don't want them to think they should stick to their stereotypical gender roles of keeping quiet and knowing her place.
A heart-warming tale about the life of a horse in the late 1800s England.
Black Beauty is by turns treated well and treated badly, by different owners and drivers, and very rarely does he lose his spirit or drive to do what he thinks is right. His story shows us the many different kinds of work that horses were put up to in England at this time, from cart horses to private carriages to city cabs to cavalry in war. This work, especially when carrying heavy loads, could terribly affect a horse's health, depending on how much it was overworked, and we see this being described throughout the book.
I think it's very telling that Anna Sewell knew a lot of real cab drivers and how they treated their horses. Her way of describing a horse's body and how it would move in different situations shows her skills of observation, logic and empathy.
Not surprisingly, there are a LOT of moral overtones in this story, as could be expected of a Quaker: not only treating one another with kindness like you would be expected to, extending that same compassion towards animals and humans, and standing up for those who are in oppression, no matter the species, but - - - also taking care to participate in elections according to one's conscience and credible information, not just getting caught up in the hype surrounding a party, and the importance of having some time to rest after long periods of work (stress and burnout is a great problem amongst our time, in many fields). Something that I wasn't expecting was a discussion, albeit short, of alcoholism, and how prevalent it could be; Jerry, Beauty's kind cab owner, confesses to have had the "bad habit" of drinking too often, and the effect it had on his relationship with his wife Polly. He, with Polly's help, eventually gave up drinking altogether, and says he's better off for it. The value of kindness, compassion, and caution plays out often and plays out well in this book.
All in all, this will definitely be a story I'll return to again in the future.
Black Beauty is by turns treated well and treated badly, by different owners and drivers, and very rarely does he lose his spirit or drive to do what he thinks is right. His story shows us the many different kinds of work that horses were put up to in England at this time, from cart horses to private carriages to city cabs to cavalry in war. This work, especially when carrying heavy loads, could terribly affect a horse's health, depending on how much it was overworked, and we see this being described throughout the book.
I think it's very telling that Anna Sewell knew a lot of real cab drivers and how they treated their horses. Her way of describing a horse's body and how it would move in different situations shows her skills of observation, logic and empathy.
Not surprisingly, there are a LOT of moral overtones in this story, as could be expected of a Quaker: not only treating one another with kindness like you would be expected to, extending that same compassion towards animals and humans, and standing up for those who are in oppression, no matter the species, but - - - also taking care to participate in elections according to one's conscience and credible information, not just getting caught up in the hype surrounding a party, and the importance of having some time to rest after long periods of work (stress and burnout is a great problem amongst our time, in many fields). Something that I wasn't expecting was a discussion, albeit short, of alcoholism, and how prevalent it could be; Jerry, Beauty's kind cab owner, confesses to have had the "bad habit" of drinking too often, and the effect it had on his relationship with his wife Polly. He, with Polly's help, eventually gave up drinking altogether, and says he's better off for it. The value of kindness, compassion, and caution plays out often and plays out well in this book.
All in all, this will definitely be a story I'll return to again in the future.