Seabiscuit - Likewise Book Reviews

"Excellent read"

"Excellent experience reading this book about the underdog "

"Laura Hillenbrand writes some of the most engaging historical nonfiction around. Seabiscuit makes you care about a race horse even if you've never cared about race horses."

"I'm going to stick with my opinion that non-fiction is another word for textbook. I was bored the whole time. I rarely not finish books, but this one was a waste of time. I told myself to try to read a fourth of it but I gave up before I got there. I can't do non-fiction. And I couldn't care less about horses, especially if they're named Seabiscuit. I also disliked the movie Black Beauty. That should have been a sign. (Rating: 1 star)<br/><br/>UPDATE: I'm not a quitter. I'm going to finish this book of the devil if it's the last thing I ever do!<br/><br/>UPDATE: I finished it! I'm so darn proud of myself. I didn't want to quit and my sister-in-law appealed to my extremely competitive side when she told me she was going to be the only one not defeated by books. That did it for me.<br/><br/>I still can't believe that after giving the book a chance and getting used to the textbook writing (yes, that opinion hasn't changed) I actually ended up caring a little. Chapter 5 was the chapter than turned it all around for me. I was so interested in how jockeys torture their bodies to make weight and that chapter just spoke to me. Plus, that was when I fell in love with Red Pollard. I think the fact that I even finished the book at all was because I wanted to know more about him. His story was the one that mattered to me, so much that I went back to Chapter 4 and re-read it, as opposed to skimmed it, this time. I feel like I never cared enough about Seabiscuit. Yeah, he was this awesome horse, I guess. But what makes a book for me is the people, and Red Pollard was just the right person to get me through it.<br/><br/>So, I take back my "waste of time" comment. I still don't think it was the best book ever and I doubt I'll read it again, but I liked it enough to finish it. That counts for me."

"Great book about an underdog. Very detail oriented which makes it lengthy but worth it!"

"I enjoyed this far more than I was expecting to! An excellent non-fiction book. The horse has a personality but is still definitely a horse. Meanwhile, the reader gets a fascinating glimpse into a particular time in history and why Seabiscuit became such a national legend--both due to his own feats but also what he represented to the public. I never saw the movie so I can't compare--but I thoroughly enjoyed the book on its own!"

"2021"

"The story was interesting, but overall I found the book to be a little slow."

"I LOVED this book! I love horses and was raised with horses, and my family raised race horses when I was a girl, so this book held my interest. The author did an immense amount of research to write this book (a true story) about Seabiscuit, a short little horse with crooked legs, and his owner who loved him, his fabulous trainer, and his jockey who loved him as well. It’s a story of rags to riches and seems almost like a fairy tail. It had me rooting for Seabiscuit throughout the book and the detail the author put into the book, made me feel like I was right there with the horse and his people. Even if you don’t love horses, as I do, you will love this story. It had me smiling, angry, laughing, and crying throughout the book. I fell in love with Seabiscuit and his owner and the other people who cared for him. You can’t go wrong with this book."

"Such a well written account of Seabiscuit. "