Ack, it's sooo beautiful and heartbreaking and awesome! <3 this book! :)

Thank fuck this had a somewhat happy ending, otherwise it would have completely broken me

Sometimes I forget to add my audible books! (and/or some of the ones I read to pass on to my kids or my nieces & nephews, too. For me, this is a record of everything I have read at any age, and that doesn’t just include someone else’s idea of what should be here and what is “appropriate.” I think all books count for something when it comes down to it, but really if it makes me happy to include them then snobs can stow it.

Moving on, I read this book many times as a child and growing up. I seemed to like any books having to do with animals defying the odds, red haired girls with braids being quirky, the existence of magical lands, and even visiting the sad reality where a boy could lose his dog and have to do the worst thing imaginable to set him free.

It was no less relaxing or amazing to go back and listen to the life of Black Beauty as an adult than it was as a kid. This audio version was very pleasant and I used it to relax and drown out the noise of life and listen to a pleasant voice narrate what it was like for Beauty for a while. Some books you never get tired of and for me, this is one of those classics, whether in written or audio form.

read in 2001 - read at grandmas house over the summer - better review to come

n  3 starsn

A timeless classic, indeed.

I've read this years ago as a child but forgot most of what the book is actually about. I think I didn't even catch on the moral Black Beauty tries to convey here! I was also disinterested when it comes to animals back then and I was absolutely increduled at the idea of reading in a horse's point of view. Also, the part where Ginger died and got carted away left me utterly depressed. I dropped the book and did not look back... until now, that is.

Today, I realize how ignorant and unsympathetic I was..

This is a great book that raises awareness on animal abuse. Black Beauty is a horse that started off well before he was sold from one person to the next. Sometimes he was lucky enough to be sold to a gentle owner. Other times though, he was handled by cruel men and was powerless to stop the abuse. Afterall, men are stronger and Black Beauty, as a horse, is merely a dumb animal without the ability to 'talk in words.'
I can only say that Black Beauty has really touched me. And thanks to this story, it has also opened up a wider window for me to gaze through.

הספר פורסם בשנת 1877 ובתחילה נתפס כספר לבני נוער, אבל עם השנים הפך לקלסיקה גם למבוגרים בשל התכנים שבהם הוא עוסק.
Black Beauty הוא סיפור חייו של סייח מנקודת מבטו של הסוס באנגליה הוויקטוריאנית. בתקופה הזו סוסים היו כלי התעבורה העיקרי של בני אדם ולכן הם היו מרכזיים בחייהם. בניגוד לספרים של ג'ק לונדון שם חיי בעלי החיים הם משל לחיי האדם, הסיפור אינו משל לחיי בני אדם אלא סיפור על זכויות בעלי חיים והאכזריות של בני האדם כלפי בעלי החיים.

במהלך הספר סוול מתארת תיאורים קשים ואכזריים על עבודה מופרזת, הזנחה ופציעות. היא מעבירה היטב את המסר שבעלי חיים יכולים להרגיש כאב בדיוק כמו בני אדם ולכן התעללות בבעלי חיים היא פשע (אומנם פשע נפוץ באנגליה הוויקטוריאנית אבל עדין פשע).

לפי מה שקראתי בשיטוטי באינטרנט, הספר של סוול הפך ללהיט ענק, עורר זעם ציבורי ועניין עצום ובזכותו חוקקו חוקים להגנת רווחת בעלי חיים. התיאורים על האכזריות שבשימוש בסוג רסן האופנתי ("bearing rein") הגורם לסוס לזקוף את ראשו, גרמו לכך שבאנגליה השימוש ברסן זה הוצא מהחוק.

הספר בוחן את מערכת היחסים בין בני אדם לבעלי חיים והוא בוחן את שלל הצורות האפשריות באמצעות חייו של הסייח: החל מאהבה וטיפול מסור, למערכת יחסים סימביוטית בין רוכב לסוס שלו ועד למערכת יחסים אכזרית שבה הסוס נתפס כעבד.

סוול מנצלת את הספר גם לעורר מודעות על נזקי השימוש באלכוהול ותוצאות ההרסניות של השיכרות. תוצאות השימוש באלכוהול כל כך שליליו�� ודרמטיות, שהן מובילות לפציעתו של יופי ולהתדרדרותו כלפי מטה. השכרות מובילה לאובדן עבודה, הרס המשפחה ולבזבוז כסף.

Mi libro favorito de pequeña. Es la autobiografía de un caballo, ya con eso me tienes.

Recuerdo leerlo y releerlo incontables veces, a lo largo de mi infancia.
Mi amor por esas criaturas cuadrúpedas tan nobles se veía perfectamente reflejado en esta historia: Belleza Negra, un adorable caballo que relata su vida, sus alegrías y penurias.
Un libro lleno de valores y amor por los animales, aunque también de crueldad.

También recuerdo todo el misticismo que emanaba la historia de la autora, y lo que eso me hacía sentir. Esta fue la única novela que escribió, y tuvo que dictarla, ya que un accidente no le permitió hacerlo por sí misma.

Imperdible. Una oda a uno de los seres más maravillosos de este planeta.

I'm sorry, I read this book when I was 6 or 7 and it almost scarred me for life..the sight of Ginger's body being carted away stayed with me for years. Between this, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Yearling, and of course Old Yeller I have to assume that somewhere there is a Marquis de Sade school of children's literature. I never gave these to my children as they were growing up (they had to make do with Narnia, Charlie Bucket, and some others). Neither the books nor the movies did I take them to. If they want to read them later on their own, that's up to them.

Note....There is a spoiler below line.--------------

It's a classic, and oh by the way when the horse is old he finally stops being tortured...whoopee.

I hated it.

Update Jan. 2013

Okay I originally reviewed this in 2009 (just after my wife died). There has been a lot of "controversy" over my dislike of this book (as there has been over my reviews of Old Yeller, The Yearling, etc., etc...). This was (I think) the first book my dad bought me when it became clear I was reading well beyond my "school fellows" (I was 6 I think).

I hated this book. I still retain the picture in my mind of Ginger being removed lolling head and all. In my life I've had enough of pain. As a kid (on a farm) I had 2 dogs shot lost a dog to distemper and had to deal with deaths of other animals I loved. I also had to deal with the loss of people I loved.

My dad (and mom) were of the generation that said, "their just animals". I believe they thought that stories like The Yearling, The Red Pony and so on toughened kids up and prepared them for life. The fact I actually loved my pets was almost foreign to them. They saw no difference (or little difference) in a dog and a hog or a beef cow or whatever.

I have dealt with the actual pain of loss in life and I see no reason to spend good time and money to experience artificial emotional pain. Yes life can be hard, but love is worth it. In the darkest view of things to love anyone or anything is a down-payment on pain. To love a pet or a person one of you will in most cases die first. Still to concentrate on that misses the truth that with pain there is a time of love.

C.S.Lewis said:“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

I don't think inoculating a child with stories like Old Yeller helps them. It actually helps build those walls. As I noted. The books still exist. If my kids choose to read them they can. They're both adults now. I think they actually effected me negatively and chose not to expose my kids to them. Had one of them brought one of these books home from the school library I'd have warned them it was sad but they would then have read it, I wouldn't have forbidden it. I just didn't choose to supply that experience.

We have lost pets to death and from that I think they have understood that life ends. Their mother (my wife) died in 2009. They know people you love pass. I don't think children need these books to "get it". Each parent will decide on their own...but MY EXPERIENCE of these books has been negative and I rate them accordingly. Each here may rate and review them as they see fit...please if these are books you like enjoy.

I've lived life and don't need my free time reading (or indeed viewing) to tell me how life can hurt.

Note, Oct. 13, 2015: The review below is premised on the idea that this is a children's book; it's typically treated as such today, and I did read it as a kid. But my fellow Goodreader Fiona just made me aware that Sewall actually intended the novel for adult readers. This should be kept in mind in approaching and interpreting it!
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Since this is basically a children's book, my rating is based on my reaction to it as a child reader. If I re-read it now and rated it as adult fiction, probably the rating wouldn't be as high; and it's also the case that the book wouldn't be as easily read or understood by modern kids as it was by their Victorian counterparts. Only the more motivated and better readers in that age group would be apt to give it 4 stars today.

This "Autobiography of a Horse" narrates an equine life running pretty much the gamut of possible horse experiences (except for cavalry service) in the 19th century, many of them decidedly unpleasant. Sewall's message is a forceful and entirely justified plea for decent and humane treatment of the animals whose well-being is so dependent on us. The book is well-written (being intended for younger readers, its prose is more direct and straightforward than that of much Victorian adult fiction); its human and animal characters are vividly-drawn individuals, the pacing is brisk, and it has a satisfying, full-circle kind of plot. To maintain her conceit of a horse narrator, of course (and to do so for an audience too young to respond to the drastically different style of thinking and narrating that would actually be expected from an animal if it could speak), the author makes her horses much more intelligent and anthropomorphic, and much more capable of verbal communication with each other, than they probably really are. Black Beauty, Ginger, and Merrylegs come across essentially as humans in horse bodies. This makes it easier for kids to identify with them, and to see them as entitled to kind treatment; but it arguably sets that conclusion up for refutation and rejection once the readers realize that this picture of horses isn't accurate. Possibly it might be better not to make the case for decent treatment of animals depend on an anthropomorphic view of them, but rather on the fact that they do have feelings and needs which it diminishes us to ignore and deny. It's also true that children who have no experience at all of horses being used as draft animals might find the issues posed here hard to understand or relate to. But for kids --and adult readers-- who can understand the underlying concept, this book has all sorts of modern-day applications to issues, such as factory-style farming, pet neglect, use (or abuse) of animals for "research" purposes, etc.

Do not be expecting an objective review here. I have loved this book since a copy was given to me at the end of my fifth grade school year and have read it so many times I practically know it by heart. And as a matter of fact, I still have that very book! Here is the GR link for it, which did not take me nearly as long to find as I thought it might (there are nearly 800 editions of Black Beauty listed).
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

The story follows Black Beauty from his days as a foal through training, happy times, sad days, and many unexpected changes in both living and working conditions. We meet the people around him: good ones like John Manly and Jerry Barker, and bad ones like Lady W---. We get to know his friends: Merrylegs the pony, Ginger the high-spirited chestnut mare, Captain the ex-cavalry horse who survived what my adult self recognizes as the Charge Of The Light Brigade in the Crimean war.

Throughout the book we witness the cruel treatment many horses received during Black Beauty's day. As frightening as city streets can be in modern times, with drivers of all skill levels behind the wheels of cars of all shapes and sizes, the London streets of the past would have been much much worse. Cars at least don't think for themselves. But imagine the horses! Being told what to do and where to go, but still with their own brains at work. If one got scared, it could trigger a catastrophe all around.

This book was meant to show the inhumane treatment of horses, and to suggest better ways to behave. I have read a few copycat books written not long after Black Beauty was published, but this is the only one that gets the point across without being annoyingly preachy or interrupting the flow of the story. I thought Sewell's methods were quite effective.

Black Beauty was my dream horse when I was younger, as I am sure he will be for many girls for years to come. It would be poetic for me to say that I thought of this book when I began working with horses myself, and remembered to use Sewell's gentle and friendly approach. But I loved any and all horses so much that it never would have occurred to me to behave any other way.

This is the first book I ever read. I remember the day that I brought it in to show to my teacher, Miss Gerardi. She asked me if I could read it, so I started reading it aloud to her right away.

The story is told in Black Beauty's own words. Beauty's friends are hard to forget, especially high-spirited Ginger. Anna Sewall's words are full of loving empathy for these beautiful animals. The story was set in 19th century England, at a time when almost everyone came into frequent contact with horses. I hope that her story caused at least a few people to treat them with greater kindness.

I was obsessed with horses as a child as most little girls are and so badly wanted my own.
Black Beauty is a sad story that gives children and adults alike hope, what is means to love, hardship, sacrifice and so much more.

Elise-Capricorn Book Reviews