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Loading... Seabiscuit: An American Legendby Laura Hillenbrand
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  calvetti | Dec 21, 2009 |  I don't even like horses or horse racing, but this was a good read. Interesting insight into the life of being a jockey. (  ) lisavanness | Nov 14, 2009 | When I was younger I read all the horse, dog, and pony books I could get my hands on. Now it takes allot more to capture my interest. I scummed to all the hype about the movie and saw it. I knew I had to read the book. The book is so much richer than the movie. It is so well written and factual it makes no difference if you know what one end of a horse is or what a race is all about. You will learn in a most delightful way. (  ) boneslv | Oct 3, 2009 | Tied for 5th w/ Blackbird. How could I care so much about these people and that horse? So well-written. ( ) AngieN | Aug 23, 2009 | This book is a well-written, and engaging book about a famous race horse. ( ) LSC555 | Jul 10, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Amazon.com's Best of 2001 (ISBN 0449005615, Paperback)He didn't look like much. With his smallish stature, knobby knees, and slightly crooked forelegs, he looked more like a cow pony than a thoroughbred. But looks aren't everything; his quality, an admirer once wrote, "was mostly in his heart." Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of the horse who became a cultural icon in Seabiscuit: An American Legend.Seabiscuit rose to prominence with the help of an unlikely triumvirate: owner Charles Howard, an automobile baron who once declared that "the day of the horse is past"; trainer Tom Smith, a man who "had cultivated an almost mystical communication with horses"; and jockey Red Pollard, who was down on his luck when he charmed a then-surly horse with his calm demeanor and a sugar cube. Hillenbrand details the ups and downs of "team Seabiscuit," from early training sessions to record-breaking victories, and from serious injury to "Horse of the Year"--as well as the Biscuit's fabled rivalry with War Admiral. She also describes the world of horseracing in the 1930s, from the snobbery of Eastern journalists regarding Western horses and public fascination with the great thoroughbreds to the jockeys' torturous weight-loss regimens, including saunas in rubber suits, strong purgatives, even tapeworms. Along the way, Hillenbrand paints wonderful images: tears in Tom Smith's eyes as his hero, legendary trainer James Fitzsimmons, asked to hold Seabiscuit's bridle while the horse was saddled; critically injured Red Pollard, whose chest was crushed in a racing accident a few weeks before, listening to the San Antonio Handicap from his hospital bed, cheering "Get going, Biscuit! Get 'em, you old devil!"; Seabiscuit happily posing for photographers for several minutes on end; other horses refusing to work out with Seabiscuit because he teased and taunted them with his blistering speed. Though sometimes her prose takes on a distinctly purple hue ("His history had the ethereal quality of hoofprints in windblown snow"; "The California sunlight had the pewter cast of a declining season"), Hillenbrand has crafted a delightful book. Wire to wire, Seabiscuit is a winner. Highly recommended. --Sunny Delaney (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:18 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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Wikipedia in English (1)
This book is meant for advanced readers. While it is lenghty, the story moves at a fast pace. I would recommend this for anyone in high school that might be an animal lover. "Seabiscuit" the movie does a great job in following the book as very few pieces are left out. However, the movie is long and dull in parts and does not have the same flow as the book. (