Rating: 
Summary: seabiscuit was "only" a pretty good racehorse...
Review: ...and laura hillenbrand is most definitely only a passable author (over-elaboration is warmly received by oprah's book club members, but not by the dicriminating reader). it boggles the horse-lovers' mind that so much attention is focused on 'seabiscuit' the horse, the movie, and the book, when there have been so many greater racehorses in history: secretariat, man o'war, ruffian, seattle slew, affirmed, alydar, cigar, spectacular bid, dr. fager, count fleet, citation, colin, native dancer, kelso, forego, phar lap, john henry, exterminator, round table, tom fool, buckpasser, war admiral, damascus, bold ruler, swaps, equipoise, nashua, whirlaway, gallant fox, sysonby, assault, etc. (you get the point). 'seabiscuit' the book reads almost like a comedy, because the author keeps building up the horse but he keeps on losing most of the big races. note to clueless author: beating war admiral in one match-race does not make one an immortal racehorse. hopefully the author made enough money from this so she won't fill the shelves with any more poor books.
Rating: 
Summary: This book, like the horse, is a winner
Review: I picked up this book so many times in the bookstore, but put it down because I thought it would be a drag reading a non-fiction book about a horse. I finally gave in and wasn't sorry. This is more than a story about a horse -- it's about fate. Seabiscuit's odd physique caused many so-called experts to doubt his greatness or cast him a favorite. As a West Coast horse, he was not taken as seriously as those horses bred from the established East Coast horse culture. His owner was a self-made man who believed in lost causes. His trainer was a disliked, unrecognized genius. His hard-drinking jockey fell on hard times again and again but was given a second chance when he connected with this temperamental horse. Who could predict that this motley crew would produce such a winner? These people and Seabiscuit persevered through losses, bad luck, and unacceptance before coming out on top. Everybody loves an underdog -- and that's why everyone loves Seabiscuit. P.S. If you think that non-fiction is unexciting, read the passages of the various key races involving Seabiscuit -- especially the race with War Admiral. You will be on the edge of your seat.
Rating: 
Summary: Three guys and a horse make great reading
Review: I would recommend this book for anyone, even if they know nothing about horseracing. In fact it's better if one has never even heard of Seabiscuit, as I was pretty ignorant of the whole story. I had no idea how the races were going to end, and Ms Hillenbrand has a wonderful ability to build suspense. Amazing that she wrote this while dealing with chronic fatigue syndrome (see her essay in the New Yorker, July 13 issue). Now, will the movie be as good?
Rating:
Summary: I'D PLACE A BET ON THIS STIRRING RIDE..
Review: Who'd have thought that a book about a crooked-legged race horse could be such a riveting page-turner! Called "Seabiscuit", our "runty" horse was a neurotic, pathologically lazy also-ran in the louche world of horse racing. Yet, over a course of four years, its three unusual but ardent supporters (the spendthrift owner, a laconic trainer and a half-blind jockey) survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a written off liability into a national sports icon. If you are unsure about the theme, about 5 pages into the book I guarantee you'll be over all such misgivings because the undercurrent of this story has a wide universal appeal -- triumph over adversity, undying love, trust, passion. I reluctantly pull off one star because of the sports-journalist stylization of some of the prose, e.g., while describing the jockey -- "Red Pollard was sinking downward through his life with the pendulous motion of a leaf falling through still air". A bit of such surface coating could have been polished to make the book somewhat leaner than its whopping 400 pages. But a great book it still is, and a top recommendation from me for best friends this year.
Rating:
Summary: Legends
Review: Laura Hillenbrand cronicled her experience with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in a recent issue of The New Yorker, and, to be perfectly honest, it is reminescent of a Heller novel in both of it's obscurity and it's mastery of the art of writing - it's a story that is fit to compete with any fictional masterpiece and Hillenbrand's own non-fictional masterpiece, Seabiscuit, which all people should pay patronage to. She deserves the top-seller spot and all of the critical acclaim without taking into consideration that she was suffering evidently from every symptom short of death when she wrote it. A Great American Writer and a heroine in her own life.
Rating:
Summary: I thought I was there
Review: one of the best true horse racing books I have ever read! I felt like I was right there watching and cheering Seabiscuit on with Smith, the Howards and jockey Red Pollard and all The 'Biscuit's fans.
Laura Hillenbrand didn't turn this book into a romantic fairy tale, she let some of the darker sides of racing come to light. I've read it over and over, can't seem to put it down!
Rating:
Summary: Not a Horse person? Don't buy it.
Review: It was a selection for our book club and I have tried three times to read it. I can't get past all the details and therefore I can't want to read it. I am not a horseperson. I wouldn't have bought it if I wasn't required to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Delightfully intresting!!
Review: Laura Hillenbrand does this biography of Seabiscuit extremely well. She portrays the three horsemen that made Seabiscuit what he was, like you knew them all personally. The first chapter deals with Charles Howard, Seabiscuit's ambitious owner. Charles was "Northern born but had a Westerner's heart", one day Charles couldn't stand Eastern society any longer. He told his wife he would send for her when he had settled himself, with that he hopped on a train for San Fransisco. With only 21 cents in his pocket, it doesn't look like he has much of a future, right? Well he tinkers and borrows enough money to start a bicycle repair shop. Since there aren't any car mechanics in San Fransisco, the car owners come to him. Soon he finds a money laden path, which he follows, and chapter two starts. The second chapter deals with Seabiscuit's odd trainer Tom Smith. Tom has an uncanny gift of training horses with tempers and abuse problems. In other words he could train a horse with physical or emotional problems. Smith was a rare horseman who loved his work, Seabiscuit would follow him everywhere, even without a halter! Charles Howard meets Smith and asks him to be his trainer, Smith does well with the horses under his care, and they start winning. But Charles is itching for that "special" horse, so he sends Smith to find the "one". Smith finds Seabiscuit at the Fitzimmons stable and convinces Charles to by him. So they start to look for a jockey, thus begins chapter three. Chapter three is about Red "Couger" Pollard. The unusual jockey also has a uncanny sense for horses with troubles. But his winning percentage drops down to a very low 4%. Pollard travels from track to track, trying to look for a job, or at least a few wins to put some money in his pocket. With such low winning percentages, no one wants him. One day he stumbles onto the same track as Tom Smith. He yells into every stable but no one excepts him. Finnaly he comes to the last barn - which happens to be Smith's, he yells in and Smith gives him the job. Later on Laura Hillenbrand gives an inside veiw on some of Seabiscuit's races. When she tells you about the races, you feel like you can see the horses running along the backstrech to the wire, and you can hear the rumbling of all those horses hooves. This is a great book if you're looking for information on Seabiscuit, or if you just want to read the book before the movie comes out.
Rating:
Summary: Good for a long trip
Review: Moves right along and keeps your interest. Pack this for your next car trip--and read the book too!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Read
Review: This is one of the best books I every have read in a long time, it keeps the reader interested in the characters from the first page to last a must read. I highly suggest getting this book!
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