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.
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1). The reviewer thought the book was good, but it was probably difficult to like because she wasn't a fan of nonfiction books.
ReplyDelete2). She noticed how descriptive and detailed the writing was. Also, how lives of different people with similar struggles all intertwined together.
3). The passage that was chosen sounded like the highest point of the story, or when Seabiscuit was at his best.
4). This sounded like an honest review, because she didn't say that she loved it, and she mentioned that she wasn't a fan of nonfiction books.
5). I probably wouldn't read this book. But that's not because the story line doesn't sound good because it does, it's more of a prefference. I'm not a fan of nonfiction either, and if the book is lengthy, that doesn't sound very appealing.
1. Tess seemed to have enjoyed this book, even though it was not totally her style.
ReplyDelete2. Tess noticed that the author was very descriptive in her writing, almost too much. Although there was a lot of detail, Tess said it was all necessary for the story, and that she liked it.
3. The passage that Tess chose was very interesting, and was chosed from an interesting part of the story.
4. I liked this review. Tess did not only include all of the good things about the book, but she also said what wasn't so good about the book, so she was honest.
5. I don't think I would read this book, because I need books to be very intriguing for me to be fully engaged in them, and this book does not seem like it is like that.