Horse
By Geraldine Brooks
Published by Viking, June 2022,9780399562969, 416 pp.
The Short of It:
An interesting snapshot of a time long gone.
The Rest of It:
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history. ~ Indiebound
Based on the true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a living and breathing account of Kentucky in 1850 and beyond. Jarret is the enslaved groom hired to care for young Lexington. A horse bred to win, but the unusual bond between the two is threatened to be broken when Lexington begins to get the attention of those wanting to profit off of Lexington’s noble lineage.
Fast forward to 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist becomes curious about a skeleton found in the attic of the museum. As she works to restore it, properly articulating each bone, she realizes that a horse of this stature most likely had quite a history. Enter Theo, he finds a discarded painting of a horse and it turns out that the two are related.
Horse is one of those stories that spans decades and includes many key players but the story that held my attention the most was the bond between Jarret and Lexington. Everything else, although interesting on its own, took me away from what I really wanted to focus on, this magnificent creature and the boy hired to care for him. Status, race, slavery. It’s all here.
This is not a book I would have picked up on my own but as a book club book, I think there will be plenty to discuss.
Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.
Book Chatter 
I’m hearing good things about this and sat in on a virtual author talk with Brooks. It was interesting to hear her talk about writing the book.
So much of it was based on real facts. It’s interesting how the story came together.
This sounds good, may add it to read. Another blogger recently posted a review about a horse. I was going to add it to my list to read but didn’t and now I can’t remember the name of the book.
It may be the same book. I saw that another blogger reviewed Horse as well. Book Club Mom I believe.
I checked and it was BCM, thanks!
Ti, I totally agree with you. I’ve read this novel and my main interest was the storyline of Jarrett and the horse. That was by far the best and most intriguing part and I didn’t care much for the modern-day thread. I like the horse’s racing days in New Orleans and then afterwards running away from the Civil War plunderers … I wish she had focused only on Jarrett’s thread which I thought fascinating.
This sounds like a good book club discussion book