Rating: 
Summary: Still can't figure out if I liked it!
Review: Having been an excercise jockey and assistanttrainer/barnmanager for a stable full of racehorses of course I wasgoing to read this book. Now take into consideration that I am not only a very experienced horseperson (racing and hunter/jumper) but I have a degree in English Literature. With this in mind, realize that I did not read "Horse Heaven" to gain any profound knowledge of the horse world, nor did I expect to be enlightened by its metaphoric artistry. No big surprises there as far as the book goes.Smiley draws out for the reader a very accurate portrait of the racing world as a whole. She creates real-life characters of racing - the crooked trainer, the clueless owners, the ever hopeful horse crazy young girl, the slightly cooky but ever lovable animal communicator, the trainer trying to get a break, the up and coming jockey, and the ever hopeful bettor. The book touches on many of the harsh realities of track life - common injuries that easily threaten a horses career, having a horse claimed, shady veterinary dealings, bad luck, and bad decisions. For anyone who wants to get an idea of everything involved with the glamorous and not-so-glamorous horse racing scene, this book could easily serve as the beginnner's guide. In its entirety, "Horse Heaven" is much like an impressionist painting: From far away the big picture looks great. As an overall description of the racing world and so on Smiley paints a perfect picture, but the closer you look, the picture becomes more and more fragmented. While the characters were believable, they were lacking any depth. Smiley did not give them enough attention or time to allow the reader to understand them at all. Their actions and reactions make no sense because the reader does not know them well enough to understand why or how they came to such conclusions! Each character is only a study in brief that never fully allows the reader enough detail to gain any insight to that character's mind. Perhaps this is a result of Smiley taking on a bit too much at once. The most endearing and realisitic character in this novel is Justa Bob, that claimer who continually gets passed along until someone deems him useless and then neglects him. Something that gets totally lost in this book is the plot! Nothing ever happens! Smiley bounces from character set to character set in a manner that would lead you to assume these groups will intertwine, which they do to some extent in a six degrees of seperation kind of way. It could be said that since this is a realistic portayal of racing life, the story is realistic too in that day to day life appears uneventful. I would have liked a little more plot though, if only for sheer entertainment value. With all this said, I must admit that I did find it hard to put the book down. I started to like the people and horses and kept hoping something monumentous would happen, and little by little, small things did. END
Rating: 
Summary: Give Jane Her Due....
Review: Horse Heaven's cast-of-dozens and frequently shifting perspective seems to have offended a number of reviewers. Probably they're members of the same group of viewers that just 'didn't get' Pulp Fiction. Well, this guy thinks Jane Smiley has created the literary equivalent of a Really Good B-Movie. Yes, she's gone out on a limb or two - but in doing so she's captured the depth and breadth of thoroughbred racing. No mean trick. Well and truthfully written - in dozens of voices and points of view - Smiley covers the elegant and sordid gamut of the sport. In the world of horse racing, as in all equestrian pursuits, there are noble, caring riders/owners/trainers and there are those to whom the horse is little more than a medium of exchange - and there are those somewhere in the middle, attempting to do the least harm to themselves and their charges, guilty of occassional lapses, but for the most part - repentant. Smiley recognized that she needed every set of eyes, every stream of consciousness, every peaceful and guilty conscience she could lay bare to properly tell that story, and through them all, she tells it all. Some found the book busy, big, and jittery. I found the story better, and more honest for it than if she had restricted herself to the "smaller palate" that so many cried for. Nicely done. You want a predictable, easier to follow story that follows all the rules? Go buy some more Dean Koontz.
Rating: 
Summary: Horse Heaven
Review: If you like to read 10 books at once this is for you. While this book falls under 'literature' and not just a story, I feel Ms. Smiley bit off more than she could chew. Each character could have been a book in itself, or a series of stories. I love to read 'horse stories', and the author has a knack for presenting a different approach. I didn't really enjoy reading this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb Reading
Review: This is superb reading; the best novel I've read in many, many years. It has many characters who, after finishing the book, I feel are now my personal acquaintences. Certainly not just for horse lovers, but for anyone who loves to read about the lives of fascinating people. Everything written rings true; it is obviously based on thorough knowledge and understanding of the racing community, from owners and trainers to jockeys and grooms. I feel indebted to the author for her enormous effort in creating this wonderful novel.
Rating:
Summary: Crowded Cast of Competitive Characters....
Review: It is a testament to how entertaining Jane Smiley's "Horse Heaven" is to read that I gave it 4 stars. That 4 stars does come with some reservations tho; to be honest 3.5 would be closer to the mark. In this tale of Thoroughbreds, their trainers, jockeys, owners & assorted others there are so many different points of view, so many switches in tone from satire to realism to fantasy that it gets confusing. There are so many different characters that there is a 2 page list of them at the start of the book, & while on page 225 I realised that half of them still had not made an appearance! That's A LOT of characters to keep track of! To make matters more confusing, each character gets at least 1 chapter through their eyes. This includes not only the humans but also most of the horses & even a terrier named Eileen! Personally I felt this was distracting & made the story line seem unimportant since it was strayed from so often. Some of the characters seemed to be cartoon figures, some acted inconsistently, & some you wished to spend more time with. All in all, this would have been a much better book if it had either followed just the horses outlook, or picked one particular group of people (for instance the Maybricks & their trainers & horses) & simply followed them thru the 3 years in which the novel takes place. The true pleasure of "Horse Heaven" is the horses. Jane Smiley obviously loves & respects the Thoroughbred horse as an insider & it is nice to read a book from someone whose viewpoints are very close to my own, horse-wise. If you've ever placed a bet, watched the Derby on TV or dreamed of crossing the finish line crouched over a straining neck, you will enjoy "Horse Heaven". Just don't expect to be touched by it.
Rating:
Summary: Getting into a Horse's Head...
Review: Jane Smiley did an astonishing job of exploring the world of thoroughbred racing, frequently from the horses' perspective, and with great sensitivity to the interpersonal workings of the racing world. I had almost not ordered after reading several other reviews. I am delighted that I persevered, as I found the book extremely readable and enlightening, particularly to someone who has grown up around horses but not around horse racing. An affinity for and some experience around horses is a real asset in appreciating this fine book. Thank you, Ms. Smiley!
Rating:
Summary: enjoyable but too encyclopedic
Review: I enjoy Jane Smiley's novels and am enjoying this one too, but.....too many characters not given enough time in each chapter for the reader to develop a clear sense of who they are. After a while most of the characters merge together. It would have been a better novel if she had written about fewer characters in more depth. Why she does this I don't know. Maybe she needs a stricter editor, because she is certainly an amazing writer. A smaller canvas is sometimes way more effective.
Rating:
Summary: Think like a horse
Review: Smiley captures viewpoints of horse, human and terrier. She gets it right without anthropomorphizing and without maudlin prose. She puts you inside the heads of the thoroughbred atheletes, trainers, owners, and enthusiasts. Once there you can't resist empathy. I devoured this book, forcing myself to slow down and savor the many characters and not reach the end too soon. I assume Smiley must be a first class horsewoman herself. If not, she must have had the good fortune to have significant contact with a wise "Fairy God Gelding".
Rating:
Summary: sentimental, didactic and full of itself
Review: "Horse Heaven" suffers from the weaknesses of both "Moo" and "A Thousand Acres" -- it's as smug as the former and as sentimental as the latter. Smiley grips her characters tightly, revealing them to us in careful dribs and drabs like a neighbor girl who will let you SEE her doll but not HOLD it yourself. They're forgettable inventions who haven't been endowed with the magical illusion of free will that enlivens the most memorable literary characters throughout history. Similarly, the plot is riddled with improbable, tedious coincidences and cliched stock characters who spout platitudes masquerading as original insight (the Irish woman with the handkerchief in the park on Rosalind's fiftieth birthday comes immediately to mind, but so do too many others). This overlong, heavy-handed brick of a book is crammed full of a rather tedious mishmash of ideas, details and anecdotes artificially injected into the characters' own words instead of arising from the intersection of an organic plot with complex characters. This is being billed as a "satire," and I can see why -- Smiley is careful to show us everyone's weaknesses, foibles and underbellies -- but true satire shows people as they really are, while "Horse Heaven" shows them as Smiley would have them be, which isn't the same thing at all.
Rating:
Summary: Loses by a Length (the book's length, that is)
Review: I hoped this would be Moo in the horse world, but it's too disjointed, too unfocused, too overpopulated by characters we don't meet long enough to care about, or even remember. (It doesn't help that there are characters named Leo and Leon, Deirdre and Deedee, and Ellen and Eileen). It also lacked the brilliant humor of Moo. It was hard work to slog through this book, and I felt very little reward for my efforts at the end. I'm a horse-lover and a Smiley-lover, but the combination didn't work this time. Jane, choose a smaller canvas for your next work!
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