Post by tintin on May 26, 2011 16:21:18 GMT 1
Thanks to the site I recently decided to renew an old childhood acquaintance.
I had almost completely forgotten about this book until I saw it on the site when memories came flooding back.
As a young boy I experienced great difficulty learning to read and had to have special classes at school, however, once I had cracked it (thanks to a very gifted teacher) I was an enthusiastic reader. For a long time though I was still daunted by longer books. One day my father invited me to take up the challenge of reading “Black Beauty”. I still remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom with some trepidation and beginning. Well I could n’t stop and read it at a sitting. The next day I read it again. Subsequently I kept reading the best bits. I was so pleased, as were my father and mother.
My mother then bought me “Son of Black Beauty” from a local corner shop. In those days many small shops sold a small selection of childrens books usually displayed on a revolving metal stand and this book was often one of them. I well remember how much I loved the cover with its charming picture of the mare and foal. Unfortunately I could n’t remember the story. When I re-discovered the book I just had to buy it (1p on Amazon plus P&P !)
Oh Dear.
“Black Beauty” is still to me the “gold standard” in horsy literature by which all the rest must be compared. “Son of Black Beauty” falls short, very short. It is unsurprising I could not remember the book and why I had n’t retained it. The writing is just “clunky”. The plot is similar to Black Beauty – horse leaves original loving owner, has a series of misadventures and is eventually re-united. Some of the misadventures are potentially interesting and/or instructive, but it never really comes alive. It is also original in that the lead character becomes a bad horse, unlike the original, succumbing to the influence of his environment rather than rising above it. It is perhaps an interesting parallel of the times when they were written. Victorians loved a hero like Black Beauty who triumphed in adversity through strength of character, turning aside from unethical choices whatever the personal cost. Son of Black Beauty, however, has echoes of the “I was a juvenile delinquent” type stories popular in the fifties. The hero plunges deeper and deeper into despair and desparation following a series of bad choices made from ignorance and anger. He is not bad he is just misunderstood.
On an aside one interesting feature of Son of Black Beauty is his stint in the circus as a "counting horse". There actually was a black counting horse in the Victorian days and the account here is very close to real life.
The book, to me, is a victim of bad writing which is a shame. It also does n’t ring true. I think writing fiction about horses and riding is similar to writing fiction about the army or the police. If you have not put some time in yourself you either have to be a very good and empathetic researcher or a really, really good writer (and preferably both).
Only two horseshoes here I'm afraid.
I had almost completely forgotten about this book until I saw it on the site when memories came flooding back.
As a young boy I experienced great difficulty learning to read and had to have special classes at school, however, once I had cracked it (thanks to a very gifted teacher) I was an enthusiastic reader. For a long time though I was still daunted by longer books. One day my father invited me to take up the challenge of reading “Black Beauty”. I still remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom with some trepidation and beginning. Well I could n’t stop and read it at a sitting. The next day I read it again. Subsequently I kept reading the best bits. I was so pleased, as were my father and mother.
My mother then bought me “Son of Black Beauty” from a local corner shop. In those days many small shops sold a small selection of childrens books usually displayed on a revolving metal stand and this book was often one of them. I well remember how much I loved the cover with its charming picture of the mare and foal. Unfortunately I could n’t remember the story. When I re-discovered the book I just had to buy it (1p on Amazon plus P&P !)
Oh Dear.
“Black Beauty” is still to me the “gold standard” in horsy literature by which all the rest must be compared. “Son of Black Beauty” falls short, very short. It is unsurprising I could not remember the book and why I had n’t retained it. The writing is just “clunky”. The plot is similar to Black Beauty – horse leaves original loving owner, has a series of misadventures and is eventually re-united. Some of the misadventures are potentially interesting and/or instructive, but it never really comes alive. It is also original in that the lead character becomes a bad horse, unlike the original, succumbing to the influence of his environment rather than rising above it. It is perhaps an interesting parallel of the times when they were written. Victorians loved a hero like Black Beauty who triumphed in adversity through strength of character, turning aside from unethical choices whatever the personal cost. Son of Black Beauty, however, has echoes of the “I was a juvenile delinquent” type stories popular in the fifties. The hero plunges deeper and deeper into despair and desparation following a series of bad choices made from ignorance and anger. He is not bad he is just misunderstood.
On an aside one interesting feature of Son of Black Beauty is his stint in the circus as a "counting horse". There actually was a black counting horse in the Victorian days and the account here is very close to real life.
The book, to me, is a victim of bad writing which is a shame. It also does n’t ring true. I think writing fiction about horses and riding is similar to writing fiction about the army or the police. If you have not put some time in yourself you either have to be a very good and empathetic researcher or a really, really good writer (and preferably both).
Only two horseshoes here I'm afraid.