Horse by Geraldine Brooks

 

Summary (from the publisher): 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.

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.

New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.

Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse--one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.

Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.

Review: Beautifully written and meticulously researched historical fiction with a compelling storyline and moving characters, this is an outstanding novel. In 1850 Kentucky, an enslaved groom named Jarrett forges a close bond with a record-setting horse. In 1954, Martha Jackson is a gallery owner who becomes intrigued by a nineteenth-century painting of a horse. And in 2019, Jess is a Smithsonian scientist and Theo is a Nigerian-American art historian, who connect over a stallion's bones found in the museum attic and an abandoned painting of a horse. The one magnificent horse is the central thread through every storyline, but also at play is systemic racism and the legacy of slavery that binds Jarrett in 1850 and still shapes the world that Theo lives in 2019. 

Despite having little interest in horses and no knowledge of the famous history Lexington that inspired this novel, I found this book extremely compelling, which truly speaks to Brooks' mastery for language and storytelling. While the different strands of this novel vary so widely in tone and place, I was equally interested in the two primary timelines of 1850 and 2019. 

An overarching theme of this novel is abuse and lack of humanity in the interest of personal gain. Both horses and humans fall prey to the greed and cruelty of others. It is this disregard that binds Lexington to his groom Jarrett, and it is also what ties Jarrett to Theo, despite living so many years in the future.  Lexington, Jarrett, and Theo all live at the whims of whites around them. 

My sole issue with this novel was the full purpose of the 1954 timeline. Only a few chapters were included from this period and while it did bridge the 1850 to 2019 timelines, it felt as though it either needed to be more fully fleshed out or left out entirely.

This was a heart-breaking, beautiful novel. Brooks has done Lexington justice in both documenting what is known about the actual horse and filling in the gaps to craft a full story. A true work of art that I am happy to have read, despite the sadness some parts of the story made me feel. 

Stars: 4.5

Related Title: March by Geraldine Brooks