Black Beauty

I have just re-read this after many, many years. What a marvellous book. Miss Sewell wanted to give Victorian society a wake-up call about how it treated its horses, then so necessary for commerce and travel. She succeeded perfectly.
The story flows realistically, the characters and their ways of speaking are natural and believable, and we can even suspend our disbelief easily and hear horses talk. I was shocked and harrowed all over again at the cruelty though.
"There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham -- all a sham, James, and it won't stand when things come to be turned inside out and put down show more for what they are". show less

Black Beauty is a well told, heart-wrenching story. No wonder it’s a classic. I think it was read to me as a child, so I knew I would shed tears. At times it’s almost too heart-wrenching to read. Yes, it’s very Victorian in its concerns (but not sententious) and utterly anthropomorphic in the telling, but it works as well as it did in 1877. If it was just a didactic piece condemning the bearing rein, it would probably have faded into oblivion. It is about our approach to the world in the face of economic pressure and the importance of calling out what is wrong when we see it. This is a great story that cleverly enfolds other stories (Ginger’s story and the Old Captain’s story) with profound consequences as to how animals (all show more creatures) are perceived by humans.

Somewhere I kept a newspaper clipping about how the men of the Australian Light Horse were ordered to shoot their horses after WW1 ended because the army could not afford to bring them back from the theatres of war in Europe and the Middle East. Most of the cavalry men found this harder and more tragic than anything they’d encountered in the fighting. show less

One of my all-time favorite books as a horse-mad girl, even though my riding days were cut short by family dynamics. I loved getting into the mind of a horse as best one can, and to see what good treatment vs. unkind treatment yields. I often thought of Ginger and her views on humans, and how many adventures Black Beauty had throughout his long years.

As an adult reading this book I was struck by many things that I didn't notice at the time: the cause of Black Beauty's accident that ruined his knees being caused by the evils of drink. And there were many instances of lectures against alcohol, what was called in the US "Prohibition," together with many instances of an effort for more humane treatment of animals.

The story of Old Captain show more in what was probably the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War is now something I have historical reference to; then, it was just simply a horse charging into battle. The care of horses' injuries being warm bran mash points out the strides in veterinary medicine since this book was written. But I was glad to read the many instances both animal and human characters advocated for the better treatment of the horse. I just wish there were more of them around! show less

"John had many stories to tell of dogs and horses, and the wonderful things they had done. He thought people did not value their animals half enough, nor make friends of them as they ought to do." (pg. 72)

I'm always pleased when a book surpasses my low expectations and presumptions, so I enjoyed Black Beauty more than its objective quality ought to suggest. Often dismissed as a children's book because it is written in simple prose and concerns animals, Anna Sewell's short novel works on that level but also proves to be much more.

Sewell died just a few months after the book's publication, after a life of sickness and disability, and her modesty and intuitive compassion towards suffering gives Black Beauty a genuine heart. Sentimental but show more never syrupy, and simple but not simplistic, her book was intended for an adult audience and designed to raise awareness of the proper care of animals. Society at that time revolved around the work-horse, and "ninety-nine out of a hundred [people] would as soon think of patting the steam-engine that drew the train" (pg. 200) as of treating a beast of burden with affection. We follow the titular horse Black Beauty throughout his entire life, in a collection of events that each illustrate some moral message about the proper treatment of and behaviour towards horses – or, to Sewell's credit, towards other people.

The effect is rather like Aesop's fables, and though this approach may often seem childlike, the book is rather an affecting one for any age. The moral lessons are told with a humility and clarity that would not be possible nowadays without seeming preachy or cynical. In Sewell's hands, they come across as entirely proper and are heightened by her attention to the horses' characters: there is a level of detail and accuracy about how horses behave, love and feel pain that, even with the anthropomorphism, comes across as realistic, and there are many well-drawn moments of both happiness and sorrow. It shows Sewell's sincerity where modern "children's" books often seem commercially manipulative or committed solely to inflating self-esteem.

You might be thinking why you ought to read a book that, even if not solely a children's read, is concerned primarily with moral instruction regarding horse husbandry – more of a niche concern in our mechanical and electronical age. It is, first of all, interesting, from a literary perspective, to observe a society that did rely so much on the horse, and the legacy of that today. Secondly, Black Beauty is a good example of how literature, however unassuming, can encourage you to stop and look at things from a different perspective, and to a greater purpose. Horses are "used to bear[ing] their pain in silence" (pg. 138), but they "do not suffer less because they have no words" (pg. 237). It's easy to scoff at the earnest pastoralism of Black Beauty, but giving voice to incommunicable suffering is one of the most admirable things a story can do. show less

An outstanding book slightly marred by some remarks about God's goodness and plans. Much of the abuse described in the book still goes on today. Making the horse the narrator of events was a remarkable literary innovation at the time. The book avoids the sentimentality of a good deal of Kipling's animal-as-narrator stories.

It's also quite interesting in the way it describes the legalities surrounding ownership of horses in that period.

Book 263 - Anna Sewell - Black Beauty

Another return to a simpler time in the late 1800s and another children’s classic. This one I knew nothing about and it blew me away. Told from the perspective of the horses…it is brilliant…it is emotional and it is dark…so dark…so very dark.

The life of a horse and his journey from kindness to cruelty and back again…as the years progress… we are taken from the English countryside into the city of London as Beauty goes from being owned by the landed gentry to being treated so poorly as a pack horse.

So many of these classics go to the ultimate of dark places…death stalks the characters and sometimes death wins. It shows us how animals were treated and in details that are hard to show more follow…and take in…how they were strapped…controlled and forced to wear bits and other hard metallic items that were so abusive. Horrible times.

It is emotional…and getting into the head and the heart of the horses is genius…what a change of pace and it feels so real…wow

I don’t know if any modern children’s book would ever dare to go to the places this one does. Superb…just superb. show less

I loved this book when I was little, but it's darker than I remembered. I reread it with my kids and we were all on the edge of our seats. The author's ability to give the reader deep empathy for horses is beautiful. We found ourselves reflecting on the way people can treat animals or those with less power. It's a true reflection of who they are as a person. I still loved it as much as when I was young.

“We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.”

“There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham - all a show more sham, James, and it won't stand when things come to be turned inside out and put down for what they”

“Do you know why this world is as bad as it is?... It is because people think only about their own business, and won't trouble themselves to stand up for the oppressed, nor bring the wrong-doers to light... My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.” show less