Title: War Horse
Author: Michael Morpurgo
Genre: Historical
Back Cover:
Joey has lived his life as a farm horse, cared for by the loving Albert. But when Albert’s father, who never really liked Joey anyway, needs money, he sells Joey to the army fighting World War I. Ripped away from everything he knew, Joey finds himself holding various positions as a war horse. Will he ever see Albert again?
Review:
I’d seen the movie War Horse, and it was okay. But I had no intention of reading the book until it was a book club pick. Then I decided, what the heck. It couldn’t be as bad as some of the book club’s selections – after all, the movie wasn’t bad.
Joey was…well, he was a horse. It’s hard to discuss a horse main character. He had little emotion, and no thinking besides what was required to tell the story.
The main concept of the book is a horse’s perspective on a series of owners in the midst of World War I. Joey was trying to survive the war – I was going to say to find Albert again, but he was such a laid-back horse, he didn’t even try to do anything. He just obeyed and did what was asked of him.
The movie was almost exactly like the book. Only, in my opinion, it was better – it was shorter, and the battle scenes lent themselves well to the screen. I think watching the movie first decreased my enjoyment of the book, since they were so close, I already knew the plot.
War Horse wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good, either, but it wasn’t bad. Overall, not my favorite, but there have been worse book club picks.
Bluejay Reads 