Monday, June 11, 2012

Book Review: Seabiscuit - An American legend

This book is about a horse and four people around it: the owner, the trainer and two riders.

To be honest, I did not start the book with high hopes. To begin with, it was non-fiction and then it was about a horse. About 10 pages deep, I had an inkling that Laura Hillenbrand was luring me into a trap. I distinctly remember thinking "This is not how one writes a historical account" but I could not figure out what was amiss. The facts were all there, the cross-references seemed to match up and I could find nothing wrong apart from some poetic exaggerations which brought forth gentle chuckles. I circumspectly read through the account of earthquake in San Francisco without realizing anything.

It was just after the first race in Tijuana that I realised what was wrong with the book: It wasn't boring!