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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
I won this read through Goodreads giveaway. I listened and read the book. The audio narration was very well done and I felt the story was very interesting.
This was an very fun. The structure and manner of telling the story here was very cleverly done. The book is divided into basically three parts. The German/Austrian/Polish characters lead up to the year of the rescue, then the American lead up, then the rescue and the fallout itself. Elizabeth Letts does a great job of making you care, and keeping you hooked in. She does take some creative license with behavior thoughts, and scenes but overall it's a very engaging and rewarding reading experience.
If it's a time/topic that interests you I really recommend it. It was really good.
If it's a time/topic that interests you I really recommend it. It was really good.
emotional
informative
slow-paced
I like both horses and war stories, and this book was a perfect blend of the two. I knew of Lippizzans before reading this, but I had never heard of the rescue effort to save them and other horses in WWII. Reading this book, you get a feel that the author put lots of effort in to tell the full story.
Excellent story in a slightly slow, dull book that feels too cluttered with excess information and an overwhelming number of characters.
When I was 8 years old I watched the Disney production "miracle of the white stallions." I was always impressed by the art of classical riding even though I am a simple pleasure rider myself. I was so excited to see this book, that revisited the story of these treasured horses. I especially liked that the author included the story of the Arabian horses that where kidnapped from Poland. While this book is a tad long in some parts, it is incredibly well detailed and gave me a greater appreciation of the men and women who lived through the horrors of war and sought to preserve the horses that touched their lives.
I don't think this story could have been written at any time before now. It would have been too much to think about the resources that were used to save these horses in the face of the human deaths and suffering that coincided with the operation. As someone who considers pets family members, I doubt that I wouldn't have felt outraged knowing horses were saved while children died.
However, from the safety and distance of time, I can hold an objective view that agrees with the efforts to save the Lipizzaner horses. The biggest reason is preservation of a living cultural artifact, both the horses and the way of life involved in their rearing and training at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna. Great efforts were made to save priceless art, and the same was done for the horses. At the end of the day, it was the right thing to do for a country that had endured, and lost, so much at the hands of the Nazi regime.
The book is written quite well. The pacing and the way the events unfold, and intertwine, is fantastic. If you're interested in history and horses, I highly recommend this book. Even if you're not interested in horses, learning about the efforts of individuals from opposing sides of the war risking their lives to work collaboratively to save them, is fascinating.
However, from the safety and distance of time, I can hold an objective view that agrees with the efforts to save the Lipizzaner horses. The biggest reason is preservation of a living cultural artifact, both the horses and the way of life involved in their rearing and training at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna. Great efforts were made to save priceless art, and the same was done for the horses. At the end of the day, it was the right thing to do for a country that had endured, and lost, so much at the hands of the Nazi regime.
The book is written quite well. The pacing and the way the events unfold, and intertwine, is fantastic. If you're interested in history and horses, I highly recommend this book. Even if you're not interested in horses, learning about the efforts of individuals from opposing sides of the war risking their lives to work collaboratively to save them, is fascinating.
Week 28 of the 2017 Reading Challenge: A non-fiction. I wanted to like this book and reading all the reviews, everyone just loves it. Except me. It was such a difficult book to read. It was too dense and filled with too much that wasn't really relevant. While I think it's an interesting story, it could have been told in about 1/3 of the pages.
I love a good horse story - almost as much as a dog story! And I have read another book by this author - "The Eighty Dollar Champion" and just loved it. I was hoping for so much more from this one.
I love a good horse story - almost as much as a dog story! And I have read another book by this author - "The Eighty Dollar Champion" and just loved it. I was hoping for so much more from this one.
informative
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
An interesting story of WWII I didn't know much about including: The Nazi's stealing valuable thoroughbreds in their drive to develop the perfect horse. The difficult compromises and nerve wracking decisions the horse caretakers made to ensure these beautiful animals stayed safe. The fate of some of those horses transported to this country as they ceased to have value in a machine driven army. However the multi- focus, the shift of settings (Europe?USA), detailed characterizations of so many people detracted from my enjoyment. I liked [bc:The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation|10340846|The Eighty-Dollar Champion Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation|Elizabeth Letts|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1333577658s/10340846.jpg|15243554]better, and gave that 4 and a half stars. I give this one three and a half.