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A review by anitaofplaybooktag
Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley
3.0
It was hard for me to rate this book because if I was rating it sheerly on how much I personally enjoyed it - - it would have 4 stars. But I had to factor in some other, more objective criteria - - and that knocked it down a bit.
This book is 650 pages of 3-5 pages "chapters". It follows at least four major storylines with a few minor ones thrown in for good measure. And it features at least 30 characters, all of whom appear and reappear. This makes for some challenging reading!
The stories do connect and intersect and their commonality is the world of horse racing. If you don't know a thing about horse racing, you'll know quite a lot after reading this book. It definitely is soap operaesque! And in that way, I enjoyed the book. It just has wonderful details about a world which I knew nothing about. It also brings horses to life in a way that you actually sympathize with their trials and tribulations.
My major criticisms of the book are:
1. If you don't like horses, at least a bit, I'm afraid you really should NOT read this book.
2. There's a few storylines that are a bit far fetched - - like one about an animal communicator that I found both dull and silly. Fortunately, those storylines are not prominent.
3. It's so darn long! But each chapter is so short that it really isn't tough to read like some lengthy books.
What I loved was the detail of the writing and the voice of Jane Smiley. She just has a great way with words and characters. I found these characters to be fascinating and delightful, and I was glad to spend 650 pages with them.
This book is 650 pages of 3-5 pages "chapters". It follows at least four major storylines with a few minor ones thrown in for good measure. And it features at least 30 characters, all of whom appear and reappear. This makes for some challenging reading!
The stories do connect and intersect and their commonality is the world of horse racing. If you don't know a thing about horse racing, you'll know quite a lot after reading this book. It definitely is soap operaesque! And in that way, I enjoyed the book. It just has wonderful details about a world which I knew nothing about. It also brings horses to life in a way that you actually sympathize with their trials and tribulations.
My major criticisms of the book are:
1. If you don't like horses, at least a bit, I'm afraid you really should NOT read this book.
2. There's a few storylines that are a bit far fetched - - like one about an animal communicator that I found both dull and silly. Fortunately, those storylines are not prominent.
3. It's so darn long! But each chapter is so short that it really isn't tough to read like some lengthy books.
What I loved was the detail of the writing and the voice of Jane Smiley. She just has a great way with words and characters. I found these characters to be fascinating and delightful, and I was glad to spend 650 pages with them.