Havurah Shalom

Author: Geraldine Brooks
Fiction/401 pages

Horse by Geraldine Brooks, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for March, is a story covering nearly 170 years of American history, stretching from antebellum Kentucky to present-day Washington, DC. Thoroughbreds provide the unifying element for this far-reaching narrative, but horses and the complex culture surrounding them are only devices for Brooks to explore her fundamental subject: race and its corrosive influence on our nation’s foundation and cancerous impact on society today.

Told from the perspective of six characters, Horse interweaves the story of the Black equestrians who made their white masters fabulously wealthy with those of contemporary young professionals struggling to form relationships despite racial discrimination and misunderstanding. I was particularly impressed with Brooks' ability to interweave seamlessly the stories of her characters spanning different time periods. In addition, the development of horse racing in this country and the enslaved men who groomed and trained them was a fascinating piece of history with which I was unfamiliar. Based on the true story of Lexington, the greatest racehorse in American history, "Horse” is an imaginative, and impeccably researched work of historical fiction, wonderfully written as well as skillfully structured, with characters to connect to and a story that I cannot forget.

Discussion led by Leah Hershey. Nonmembers welcome. RSVP for Zoom info.