second quarter orb review

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. The Random House Publishing Group, 2001.
Genre: Nonfiction

Seabiscuit is the true story of a racehorse and all the people that were in the horse's life. First, Hillenbrand introduces us to all of the characters. Slowly we learn about Charles Howard, Tom Smith, Red Pollard, and Seabiscuit. Hillenbrand describes the lives of all these main characters and how they all came together. It takes place during the Great Depression, and a few years before and after. The setting is mainly California, but also all over the United States and parts of Mexico. Also, there is not really one conflict. It chronologically goes through Seabiscuit's story and we hear all the ups and downs. Some of the downs, which you could call conflicts, are: Seabiscuit getting hurt, Red getting hurt, and Seabiscuit losing races.

"A terrifically appealing Cinderella story, but it's Hillenbrand's instinctual feel for the drama of the sport and her formidable literary talents that bring the tale to life."
- W Magazine

Although this is the only book of Hillenbrand's that I have read, I think she writes wonderfully. Personally, I am not a fan of nonfiction, and she made it interesting. She provides a lot of information, maybe too much, about everything. Just from reading this book, I learned a little bit about life during the Great Depression, and a lot about all three of the main characters' lives. Some would say this is too much information, it is a pretty thick book after all, but I think all this is needed to understand the type of people they are and how all their lives are intertwined. I think she did a good job because, to me, it is harder to write good nonfiction because it is about facts, not just ideas that popped into her head one morning like some works of fiction.

"Seabiscuit may have been trapped in the barn, but his idleness didn't hurt his celebrity. He was the hottest name in the nation" (357).

Although Seabiscuit took me a long time to read, and I am not a fan of nonfiction, I though it was a good book. In the end, this book is about a bunch of people, who have had hard lives, and, together, they all end up on top of their sport. I'm a sucker for stories like these because competition and sports are things that I enjoy. The happy ending also helps. Plus, you didn't have to know anything about racing to understand this book because I don't and I understood it. People who do know a lot about racing may find it even more enjoyable though.