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A review by kikiandarrowsfishshelf
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
3.0
I'm not sure if this novel or [b:Black Beauty's Family|3200392|Black Beauty's Family|Josephine Pullein-Thompson|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|3233620] came first, but Black Beauty's Family is much better.
This isn't to say that War Horse is bad, it's not. But outside its complete debt to [b:Black Beauty|3685|Black Beauty|Anna Sewell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165030312s/3685.jpg|4639714] (and the ups and down mirror that book extactly), the book is cliche after cliche. All the boy and his horse cliches are here as well as 90% of all the war ones.
Still, it's not a bad book, but there is a surprisely lack of place. I understand that it's a children's book, but so was Black Beauty and BB Family, and they did a much better job in presenting the bad side. War Horse is compelling told, but it doesn't hold a candle to the other two.
Additionally for a book about a horse told from the horse's point of view, Joey doesn't do a good job describing or connecting to the other horses. If you look at [b:Black Beauty|3685|Black Beauty|Anna Sewell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165030312s/3685.jpg|4639714], the supporting horses of Ginger, Duchess, and Merrylegs are characters in thier own right. Morpurgo doesn't do that. Two other horses are mentioned by name, but there is no real connection. The horses don't seem to do anything except neigh at each other sometimes. It's like a Black Beauty story but only half way, as if Morpurgo thought having horses communicate with each other would be too corny or unrealstic. Yet, Joey is telling the tale to the reader, so why not go all the way?
This book isn't bad; I'm not upset that I read it. If you like horse stories, it's worth the read. If Speilberg, however, wanted to tell about war from a horse's point of view, he would be better served by buying the rights to [b:Black Beauty's Family|3200392|Black Beauty's Family|Josephine Pullein-Thompson|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|3233620]
This isn't to say that War Horse is bad, it's not. But outside its complete debt to [b:Black Beauty|3685|Black Beauty|Anna Sewell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165030312s/3685.jpg|4639714] (and the ups and down mirror that book extactly), the book is cliche after cliche. All the boy and his horse cliches are here as well as 90% of all the war ones.
Still, it's not a bad book, but there is a surprisely lack of place. I understand that it's a children's book, but so was Black Beauty and BB Family, and they did a much better job in presenting the bad side. War Horse is compelling told, but it doesn't hold a candle to the other two.
Additionally for a book about a horse told from the horse's point of view, Joey doesn't do a good job describing or connecting to the other horses. If you look at [b:Black Beauty|3685|Black Beauty|Anna Sewell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165030312s/3685.jpg|4639714], the supporting horses of Ginger, Duchess, and Merrylegs are characters in thier own right. Morpurgo doesn't do that. Two other horses are mentioned by name, but there is no real connection. The horses don't seem to do anything except neigh at each other sometimes. It's like a Black Beauty story but only half way, as if Morpurgo thought having horses communicate with each other would be too corny or unrealstic. Yet, Joey is telling the tale to the reader, so why not go all the way?
This book isn't bad; I'm not upset that I read it. If you like horse stories, it's worth the read. If Speilberg, however, wanted to tell about war from a horse's point of view, he would be better served by buying the rights to [b:Black Beauty's Family|3200392|Black Beauty's Family|Josephine Pullein-Thompson|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|3233620]