I had continued because I wanted to see what kind if relationship the two would develop, but for some reason Hawkes creates pages and pages of diversions by having the groom Ralph tell crude stories about his sexual adventures with his own sister, then Master tells weird stories about his childhood, and Sweet William/Old Horse just stands listening in disbelief. I do not feel the author captured a true equine mindset in this book, and I was rolling my eyes in exasperation long before the final section of the book, when Master buys Old Horse and the story picks up where it started before the memories began. A stallion needs to handled with respect and awareness, of course, but they are not sex maniacs on four legs, unless that is all they are allowed to be. They were all perfectly capable of behaving themselves while around other horses and during the breeding process. I worked for four years on a breeding farm which stood three stallions. Geeze, talk about finding your own adversities! Hawkes makes the horse witness a breeding, something which not only showed him what he was supposed to do with his life but made him feel guilty for seeing it, and later the horse has dreams of replacing the breeding stallion (who just happened to be his own sire) and breed with his own mother, but of course he would be a tender lover, not the lustful monster he witnessed. And he was a stallion, but here is where the author lost credibility in my eyes. High-strung, overly sensitive, but also very intelligent, as many Thoroughbreds are. He was a Thoroughbred, meant for the racetrack. This is a gritty, disturbing look at what can happen to a horse when the people in his life are greedy, stupid and heartless, as so many in the horse world are.īut while I was prepared for gruesome, I was not prepared to disbelieve the thought processes the author put into the mind of Sweet William. Here there is no love or respect between horse and human, no understanding or comfort such as Beauty found in various times in his life. Comparisons to that book are only valid because the narrator of each story is a horse.
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Only Sweet William's fiery temper helps him survive to become the Old Horse we meet in the first pages, the horse who then shares his life story in graphic, bloody detail. Sweet William is one of those horses who live under a cloud, always having bad things happen to him, whether through his own intractability or from the spite and ignorance of the people in his life. So, forewarned is forearmed, right? Nearly every fictional horse book has at least one or two brutal episodes of abuse. But if you are not easily aroused to indignation, and if you are prepared to set aside familiar expectations, then persist, walk on, ride to the end, and in the adversities of this horse's life find your own." "If convention and reassurance are what you must have, then stop and spare yourself unsettling surprise. But if you are not easily aroused to indignation, and if you are prepared to set aside familiar expectations, then persist, walk on, ride to the end, and in the adversities of this horse's life find your own." So, forewarned is forearmed, right? Nearly every fictional horse book has at least one or two brutal episo The final two sentences in the author's 'gentle warning' before the book begins:
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The final two sentences in the author's 'gentle warning' before the book begins: "If convention and reassurance are what you must have, then stop and spare yourself unsettling surprise. It's a remarkable achievement."- The Wall Street Journal. Hawkes portrays not merely a mistreated animal but something akin to a tragic personality. "Writing in this profoundly improbable yet ultimately moving and persuasive voice, Mr. In his most engaging, accessible novel to date, John Hawkes brings to life the sad, stately voice of Old Horse, nee Sweet William, who recounts the trials and tribulations of his life: his days as a racehorse, as a riding school nag, and finally as the broken down mount of a strange old man whose kindness transforms his life. "A moving book, a warm, cranky book, in the end a book full of love of the horse."- The Washington Post In his most engaging, accessible novel to date, John Hawkes brings to life the sad, stately voice of Old Horse, nee Sweet William, who recounts the trials and tribulations of his life: his days as a racehorse, as a riding school nag, and finally as the broken down mount o "A moving book, a warm, cranky book, in the end a book full of love of the horse."- The Washington Post