War Horse (1982)

In 1914, Joey, a beautiful stallion with a distinctive cross on his nose, is bought by the British army. He leaves his owners and his life on an English farm and becomes a cavalry horse. He is shipped to France and witnesses horrific battle after battle with the German calvary, always hoping to be reunited with his beloved master, Albert.

Originally published in 1982, Michael Morpurgo's poignant tale of a horse, and his experiences on the battlefields of World War I, has recently been reprinted, amidst renewed attention arising (I assume) from the stage productions and film that have been made from it. I'm glad that this is so, and that the Children's Fiction Book Club to which I belong chose it as their October selection, as it is incredibly powerful reading experience, one made all the more affecting by its simplicity of narrative, and quiet style, and I might never have picked it up, otherwise.

Told, like the classic Black Beauty, from the horse's perspective, War Horse is the autobiography of Joey, a beautiful red horse who, having been sold as a very young colt to a bad tempered farmer, grows to adulthood with the farmer's son - his true friend, caretaker, and guardian, Albert. When Albert's father sells Joey to the army, at the outset of WWI, the young man vows to follow his equine friend to the continent, while Joey himself enters a strange new world, full of terrors previously unknown to him. Trained as a cavalry horse, then captured by the Germans and used as a cart horse, to pull the wounded, and then eventually in a team drawing German guns, Joey experiences kindness from men on both sides, and is made to endure hardship by men on both sides. Will he survive this strange human war? And will he ever see Albert, and the farm, again...?

A story that highlights the stupidity and suffering of war, not just for combatants, but for civilians, and for animals - for all of creation, really - War Horse is a book that reduced me to tears, on more than one occasion. The reader feels with Joey (as she is meant to do), and so the sudden twists and turns in the narrative - the moment when Joey's kind rider is shot off of him; the terrible day that Topthorn, his constant horse companion, dies; the surreal experience of running loose, trying to escape the sound of guns, and finding oneself injured in No Man's Land - have a visceral kind of power. One feels what it must be, to be an animal in a human world, forced to participate in a madness that is not of one's own creation. The differences of nationality, the question of right and wrong (a question that has never really been clear, when it comes to WWI), are reduced to nothing, because we experience events from a horse's perspective. Who cares about Germans or British? Does a man have gentle hands? Does he speak kindly to a horse, and try to lessen his load? Does he care for him, when he is ill? Those are the important questions...

The conclusion of the tale may feel a little less than realistic, in its happiness - the reunion with Albert, the auction and its results - but it does not feel easy. Most importantly, it feels right. I suspect that I will be thinking of this book, and certain moments in it - the conversation between the Welshman and the German who both cross into No Man's Land to help Joey, especially - for a very long time to come. ( )

Let me start out by saying I love children's literature. Really. Let me continue by saying that I actually saw the movie before reading this book. The movie blows the book out of the water and as a result, my rating might be higher because I couldn't help but combine the two formats. I am normally a "books are soooooo much better" type of person, but not in this case.

Pros for the book - I love that it is told from the horse's perspective. Very cool, and that part is NOT in the movie as you're not actually reading it. My son and I decided, though, that the horse should get a Best Actor nod - he was awesome. I also liked that the author portrayed some of the realities of WWI but kept it at a children's level of understanding and didn't get too gruesome.

Cons - It might be that because of the movie, I could only bring up those images in my head and now I felt like the book was missing key elements as the movie was much more in depth. I just couldn't move past that.

( )

I think people who like this book would also love JaneSmiley's Horse Heaven. ( )

It's been a while since I read Black Beauty, but this seemed to have pretty much the same story arc, with World War I taking the place of London as the scene of horrors. ( )