Just
in time for the big kahuna of horse races, the Kentucky Derby,
author Jane Smiley takes the lead with HORSE HEAVEN, her latest
novel, set in the big-time world of horse breeding. An equal
opportunity storyteller, she works in the interrelated lives of
owners, trainers, assistant trainers, farm managers, jockeys, vets,
bettors, and grooms. A club, which would not accept a lot of us as
members, the horse world offers Smiley a wide open prairie of
opportunity in which to exploit her well-tuned nose for both satire
and pathos. HORSE HEAVEN is great fun.The
unscrupulous trainer Buddy Crawford; upper-crusty horse owners
Alexander and Rosalind Maybrick; Elizabeth Zada, a horse psychic,
who "streams" the thoughts of Mr. T, a horse in love with his
caretaker, Joy Gorham; prize fillies Froney's Sis, Justa Bob, Epic
Steam --- these are some of the stars of this show. When was the
last time you read a book where the animals and the humans shared
top billing? Most likely it's been a long while, perhaps dating
back to A. A. Milne. With great wit, supreme compassion, and a
little bit of tongue-in-cheek, we have thinking, feeling horses,
dogs, and cats and thinking, feeling humans from all walks of life.
It is rare that a community as closed-off to the general public as
horse racing to be served up in such an all-encompassing
fashion.Like
she did with MOO, her comic novel about the goings-on in a
Midwestern academic community, Smiley is able to intercept numerous
stories with insightful observations, tying the poor bettor into
the life of the rich owner; the horse's world into the human's. The
Zada story is my favorite: a horse psychic? What better fodder for
both hooting laughter and gentle sorrow --- the fact that someone
believes that they can get into a horse's mind, literally, is
funny, but also...well, not pathetic, but her belief in her ability
to do so is a striking characteristic of a desperate yet sincere
individual. And the fact that Mr. T (the old horse has been saved
from the glue factory by the emphatic letter of a young girl who
loved him to his new owner who grows to care deeply for him) grows
to love Joy is the sweetest crush of an animal on a human since the
Velveteen Rabbit became real for love of its owner.These are mythic ideas set in the present day, described so
lovingly and with such tenderness that we find ourselves taking no
sides, but rather caring about every single character with equal
attention. That is a great and powerful way to tell a story, and
Smiley, remarkably, maintains this balance all the way through,
across some fifty characters and their interloping story lines. It
is a writer's greatest feat, completely and utterly
successful.Smiley's no-nonsense style, the way she just waltzes right
inside each character's head and heart with timely precision, and
the utmost confidence in her right to be there, is completely
winning --- each word travels through your mind like a cow's tongue
on a salt lick. You just can't stop reading her words or tossing
the ideas they create around your mind. HORSE HEAVEN is a huge
success, a contemporary novel that employs every trick in the book,
so to speak, and does so with such creative control and mastery
that it leaves you breathless, from laughing, from crying, from
feeling so much and so deeply. HORSE HEAVEN is a must-read --- I
guarantee we will see this tome's title tossed about throughout the
2000 literary award season.