A review by rbiddy
Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley

3.0

After reading the first third of this book, I was pretty confused about which horse was which and who was who - there is a vast cast of characters in this book, and it takes a while before any person/horse emerges as being more important to the story than another. I kept at it, and towards the end, couldn't put it down. The stories of the race horses and the people who own/train/ride/bet on them finally start to come together and reach a conclusion. Knowing nothing about horses, I can't comment on the authenticity of the book, but I was drawn into Smiley's depiction of the world of race horses. I found the book to be a little too long (stuffed with too many horses, many of which never get more than a single passage), and so I hesitate to recommend it to anyone