Horse
Autor Geraldine Brooksen Limba Engleză Paperback – 16 ian 2024
Remarcăm cum un simplu tablou abandonat la gunoi și un schelet uitat într-un pod pot deveni punți peste secole, dezvăluind o istorie a gloriei și a nedreptății. În Horse, Geraldine Brooks nu scrie doar despre un animal de legendă, ci despre legăturile profunde, adesea invizibile, dintre oameni și creaturile pe care le venerează. Premisa este captivantă: în Kentucky-ul anului 1850, Jarret, un tânăr sclav, și un mânz de golf forjează o conexiune care va propulsa calul spre victorii record. Însă, pe măsură ce Războiul Civil sfâșie națiunea, această relație este testată în afara arenelor strălucitoare, într-un peisaj dominat de supraviețuire și pierdere. Găsim în această carte o structură narativă ambițioasă care alternează între tensiunea secolului al XIX-lea și munca de detectiv a doi cercetători moderni din 2019. Jess, o specialistă de la Smithsonian, și Theo, un istoric de artă, recompun fragmentele unei istorii pierdute a sportivilor de culoare care au fost esențiali pentru succesul hipismului american, dar ale căror nume au fost șterse din cronici. Ca și Lexington de Kim Wickens, romanul explorează viața celui mai faimos armăsar din istoria SUA, dar dintr-o perspectivă care pune accentul pe costul uman și pe nedreptatea rasială, mai degrabă decât pe detaliile tehnice ale curselor. Suntem de părere că stilul lui Brooks, deja consacrat prin lucrări precum March sau The Secret Chord, atinge aici o nouă maturitate. Dacă în The Secret Chord autoarea explora figura biblică a lui David cu o violență și o vitalitate aparte, în Horse tonul devine mai contemplativ, dar la fel de incisiv în examinarea caracterului uman. Ritmul este bine dozat, alternând între cercetarea academică minuțioasă și dinamismul curselor de altădată, oferind o experiență de lectură care onorează faptele istorice fără a sacrifica emoția pură a legăturii dintre om și animal.
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Specificații
ISBN-10: 0399562974
Pagini: 464
Dimensiuni: 131 x 197 x 30 mm
Greutate: 0.33 kg
Editura: Penguin LLC US
Colecția Penguin Books
De ce să citești această carte
Recomandăm această carte cititorilor care apreciază ficțiunea istorică de mare profunzime, unde documentarea riguroasă întâlnește o sensibilitate narativă rară. Horse este mai mult decât o poveste despre sport; este un omagiu adus contribuțiilor uitate ale persoanelor de culoare în istoria Americii și o explorare emoționantă a modului în care arta și știința pot recupera adevăruri incomode. Veți câștiga o perspectivă nouă asupra modului în care trecutul continuă să ne modeleze prezentul.
Despre autor
Geraldine Brooks (născută în 1955) este o jurnalistă și scriitoare australiano-americană, celebră pentru capacitatea sa de a transforma episoade istorice reale în narațiuni vibrante. A lucrat ca corespondent de război pentru Wall Street Journal, experiență care i-a șlefuit stilul direct și empatic. În 2006, a primit Premiul Pulitzer pentru ficțiune cu romanul March, o reinterpretare a vieții tatălui din „Micuțele doamne”. Opera sa, care include titluri precum People of the Book și Year of Wonders, reflectă un interes constant pentru religie, justiție socială și reziliența umană în perioade de criză.
Descriere
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history
'I loved this book so much' ANN PATCHETT
'Brilliantly varied and with a galloping pace' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'A masterpiece' JANE SMILEY
'Thrilling' NEW YORK TIMES
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamour of any racetrack.
Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse - one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.
Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred, Lexington, who became America's greatest stud sire, Horse is an original, gripping, multi-layered reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America.
Recenzii
I loved this book so much - an important book, gorgeous, full of love . . . a super smart book that will keep you up all night
In telling the story of an antebellum racehorse, Geraldine Brooks balances two compelling timelines and explores the rotten legacy of American slavery... It richly transcends the category of 'for horse lovers'
One of our most supple and insightful novelists . . . Brooks is as adventurous as a novelist as she once was a journalist . . . her journalistic sense of story has remained vibrant.
Brilliantly varied and with a galloping pace
A confident novel of racing and race... with tender precision, Horse shows us history in flux... the book returns Brooks to the terrain that won her a Pulitzer Prize... She brings the same archival confidence and sensory flair to the antebellum racetrack
This is historical fiction at its finest, connecting threads of the past with the present to illuminate that essentially human something . . . Calling all horse girls: This is the story of the most important racehorse you've never heard of, but it's also so much more than that.
Brooks is a master at bringing the past alive . . . in [her] skillful hands the issues of the past echo our own deepest concerns: love and loss, drama and tragedy, chaos and brutality.
There's something bordering on the supernatural about Geraldine Brooks. She seems able to transport herself back to earlier time periods, to time travel. Sometimes, reading her work, she draws you so thoroughly into another era that you swear she's actually lived in it.
Thrilling . . . a book about the power and pain of words
Horse isn't just an animal story - it's a moving narrative about race and art
Few fiction writers travel across territory as vast as that staked out by the intrepid Geraldine Brooks . . . There's a romance between Brooks and the world, and her writing is as full of heart and curiosity as it is intelligence and judgement . . . her appetite for detail, her wanting to know how things work and why they happened, is enormous.
The wonderful story of an extraordinary real-life racehorse... Brooks moves seamlessly between different times and places... the attention to historical details is impressive
Reveals the truth behind the spirit, obsession and injustice across American history
This deft novel moves between the present day and the Civil War era in a polyphonic examination of the fraught racial aspects of horse racing in US history
Brooks understands and empathises with all of her characters, and it is suspenseful and thoughtful - a masterpiece
Thrilling... Brooks has an almost clairvoyant ability to conjure up the textures of the past and of each character's inner life... Her felicitous, economical style and flawless pacing carries us briskly yet unhurriedly along... And the novel's alternating narratives, by suspending time, also intensify suspense
Brooks is an accomplished writer... [She] has a talent and passion for research that is fully expressed here... The descriptions of 19th-century horse racing are thrilling
A thrilling story about humanity in all its ugliness and beauty... The care with which Brooks crafts each character's voice is a plea to look past the categorical labels and legends with which we describe each other, to truly see the individual. Paired with a compelling plot, the evocative voices create a story so powerful, reading it feels like watching a neck-and-neck race, galloping to its conclusion - you just can't look away
A sweeping tale... fluid, masterful storytelling... Brooks writes about our present in such a way that the tangled roots of history, just beneath the story, are both subtle and undeniable... Horse is a reminder of the simple, primal power an author can summon by creating characters readers care about and telling a story about them
Horse mingles the past with the present, and history melds with well-informed invention... Brooks crafts an exceptionally sensitive portrayal of an enslaved groom and his special bond with Lexington
Brooks demonstrates imaginative empathy [...] and provides some sardonic correctives to White cluelessness... Strong storytelling in service of a stinging moral message
You won't be able to contain yourself while reading this elegant story about three generations of people inspired by the story of America's greatest racehorse... This is a novel about love, anger, passion, and justice - unbridled and bursting
A fascinating saga based on the true story of a famous 19th-century racehorse
Brooks probes our understanding of history to reveal the power structures that create both the facts and the fiction... She has penned a clever and richly detailed novel about how we commodify, commemorate, and quantify winning in the United States, all through the lens of horse racing
Marvellous... Brooks structures the book like a mystery... Equestrian or no, readers will appreciate Brooks's invitation to linger awhile among beautiful and graceful horses, to see the devotion they engendered in her characters
With exceptional characterizations, Pulitzer Prize-winner Brooks tells an emotionally impactful tale... The settings are pitch-perfect, and the story brings to life the important roles filled by Black horsemen in America's past
A Guardian Book of the Year
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks tells a sweeping story of spirit, obsession and injustice across American history.
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamour of any racetrack.
Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse-one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.
Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred, Lexington, who became America's greatest stud sire, Horse is an original ,gripping, multi-layered reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America.
'Thrilling' New York Times
'Brooks understands and empathises with all of her characters... a masterpiece' Jane Smiley