Title: Horse
Author: Geraldine Brooks
Genre: Literary Historical Fiction
Pages: 464
Publication Date: January 16, 2024
StoryGraph* Moods: Emotional, Informative, Reflective
How I Stumbled Upon This Book: Assigned for book club
Other Books by Brooks: Fiction – Year of Wonders, March, The Secret Chord, People of the Book, Caleb’s Crossing. Nonfiction – Foreign Correspondence, Memorial Days (Memoir), Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women.
*StoryGraph also offers content warnings.
Description: A story told in three time periods that braid together around a central figure – a record-breaking thoroughbred horse named Lexington (who was a real horse). Each chapter starts off with a title and a year so that the reader knows exactly where they are in time and whose head they will be inside: in the 1850s with enslaved groom and trainer Jarret (who works with the horse starting from the day the foal is born); 1954 with gallery owner Martha Jackson who has a painting of Lexington fall into her lap, which sets her off on the trail of discovering everything she can about this horse; and in 2019 with either Jess, a scientist with the Smithsonian, or Theo, an art historian – whose paths cross as they, too, work to learn more about this mysterious horse (Jess through his bones; Theo through finding a painting his neighbor was throwing out).
Why I recommend this book:
First, the writing is incredible. (I mean, Brooks has a Pulitzer, so no shock there.) Also, the historical aspects are so well-written – she puts you right there in that time in such a beautiful way. She doesn’t shy away from the realities of the 1850s, which considering one of the narrators is an enslaved person was important. She allows for the realities while also allowing Jarret to have his authentic reaction. (There are a few instances in the present day chapters where the conversation about racism feels a bit forced. They are still necessary, but they didn’t feel as seamless as in Jarret’s chapters.)
I also love the idea of Brooks learning about this horse and needing to write a story about it – just in the way all her characters learn about this horse and find a similar need to know more. The idea of something unexpected connecting people across time is so lovely.
Something missing?
Not really anything missing, just a couple things that bugged me. One is that after Darley and Jarret are sold, the new owners rename the horse to Lexington – and in the exposition, Brooks began referring to him this way, even in Jarret’s POV, who still calls him Darley (at least initially). As the narrative continues, she goes back and forth with it. As someone who cheered on Jarret and Darley together, I wished she had stuck to this name at least in Jarret’s POV.
Another thing was that some chapters would switch perspective. For example, we might be in Jess’s chapter, but we get Theo’s thoughts at times. It took me out of the story for a moment because we had spent so many chapters strict to the perspective – so it would trip me up when I’d realize that was someone else’s thought, and I would need to skip back a couple sentences and reread.
The biggest bug would be a spoiler – but there is an event in the Theo/Jess timeline near the end that feels unnecessary – like she was trying to drive home a very specific point rather than serve what had been the natural arc of the story. You’ll know what I mean the second you get to it. It felt too much like the author trying to drive home a point. (That all being said, I still fully recommend the book.)
(Honestly, I would have taken an entire book focused only on Jarret’s story/time period.)
“I will not trade my horse for any that walks on four legs. When I sit astride him I soar, I am a hawk. He trots on air. The earth sings when he touches it.”
― Geraldine Brooks, Horse
Ami Maxine 