The Book Bolts Out Of The Gate & Never Slows Down

books:

	• Seabiscuit: An American Legend Laura Hillenbrand Ballantine Books, 2002 - 399 pages average customer review:based on 649 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A heartwarming story!

One of the things that really gets you about Seabiscuit is that it is the type of story that if it were not true, would be considered bad fiction. It is sentimental and yes even downright sappy at times but the fact that it is true makes it very moving and, at times, uplifting. The story features so many twists and turns that again were it all not true you would not believe it.

Laura Hillenbrand is a great writer and makes each of the principal characters, including Seabiscuit, realistic and believable. The story told is one of redemption and success and of people who in almost any other situation would never meet, but forget a unique partnership that is literally one in a million.

This book can not be recommended high enough and I would add that it is one of the best sports books of all time!

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The Book Bolts Out Of The Gate & Never Slows Down

My interest in horse racing was right up there with watching paint dry. The movie Seabiscuit was very well done and I purchased the paperback in conjunction with the theatrical release of the movie as well as the gushy reviews Ms. Hillengrand's book had received. And then there it sat... gathering dust on my bookshelf for nearly six years. Don't be an idiot like me and rush out to get this absolutely fantastic story. It has everything short of ET phoning home or bodies being dumped into the harbor. It is truly an educational and suspenseful story. I found myself rooting for Seabiscuit, Howard, Small, Pollard, Woolf, oh heck, practically everyone that had a hearbeat. There are plenty of other reviews on Amazon that go into more detail about Ms. Hillenbrand's masterpiece. So, this write-up is my screwy attempt to convey the feeling of one of those inspirational, ole-time gospel pitches. Brothers and sisters, I'm tellin' you that I've read ah lot of books in my time on this here lowly planet and this baby is easily one of my favorites. Seriously, pick it up and get ready for the ride of your life.

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Riveting, uplifiting

Yes, the movie was pretty good, but the cliche applies--"the book is better", much better. It is simply a sublime piece of writing, all the more admirable if you know that Hillenbrand wrote most of it on a board hovering above her while flat on her back with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Nothing will do but another cliche, rarely to be invoked, but applicable here: "you can't put it down".

Not just about the horse

Hillenbrand tells not just the story of a great horse but the story of America in the late 1930s. The nation was still in the process of recovering from the Depression and it wanted a diversion and a great story. Seabiscuit provided both. Hillenbrand's depiction of the whole long-gone racing world of the era -- the reporters, the track owners, the jockeys, even the stable boys -- and of the public hungry for news is brilliantly done.

Seabiscuit would not have succeeded without the trio of men who surrounded him -- the owner, Howard; the trainer, Smith; and the jockey, Pollard. Hillenbrand portrays each of them as an American unique.

This book could have been 40 pages shorter without losing its impact. But it is still a riveting read and a great accomplishment.

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Hillenbrand is a fine writer

I actually wish I'd read this book before I saw the movie. The story was captivating and rare enough that reading about it first would have been a treat to savor for weeks. In my opinion, this was one of the few cases in which the movie was almost as good as the book.

In any case, Hillenbrand has done an exemplary job at putting together the ultimate unlikely hero story. Perhaps the greatest charm of the story is the forlorn and tawdry little group that came together with a cantankerous, runty piece of horseflesh to form a team that would take the sport of horse racing by storm. The greatest novels throw crisis after crisis at the protagonist until the reader is frantic with fascination to discover how the hero will prevail. This is one the rare true stories in which the real life obstacles become so mountainous that the reader is almost overwhelmed.
You don't have to like true adventure and you don't even have to like animals. The story is so powerful, it will still captivate you and enchant you. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book. It's a keeper.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit?s fortunes:

Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon.

Author Laura Hillenbrand brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story, one that proves life is a horse race.

From the Hardcover edition.

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