War Horse
Series: War Horse, Book 1
By: Michael Morpurgo / Narrated By: John Keating
Length: 4 hrs and 3 mins
… >sniffle< …>sniffle< WAAAAAH!!!
Okay, up front I should say that there are oooodles of different narrations available for War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, but there’s only one John Keating out there, and he’s one of the finest narrators there is. So even tho’ I have to admit that, in this case, I do NOT have every single available narration (‘Twasn’t offered at cheaper WhisperSync prices to go with the kindle version), I CAN say that I’d bet one of my cats that Keating’s version will be the TOP of the mark. No offense to the others out there that appear to be highly rated, but… Dang!
Things get off to a raucous start when a colt gets bought by a brutal drunk who MEANT to get a horse for plowing but was steered by the boasts of another man—He WILL buy what another man covets. But when he gets back to the farm and the colt shies away from him, he’s enraged and lashes out at the colt. But almost immediately, the farmer’s 15-year old son, Albert, comes in to soothe the terrorized colt, names him Joey, and the two form a supremely tight bond. Albert’s father treats Albert pretty much the way he treats Joey, so the two show each other care and affection that they can’t find elsewhere.
But storms are brewing, there’s word of war coming, and even though Albert has taught Joey to plow and the horse earns his keep, Albert’s father sells Joey whilst Albert is away. Captain James Nicholls sees what a fine horse he is, and when Albert flies over, desperate to join the Cavalry so that he might stay with Joey, Nicholls assures him that he himself will ride Joey and will take care of him. Albert is too young to enlist, so he is dejectedly turned away but only after swearing to the horse that he WILL find him wherever he goes in the war.
This is a new kind of war, however, and the Cavalry is soooo out of place. Men on horses, sabers drawn, are mighty to look at but are just ripe for slaughter from machine gun nests. Nicholls is killed immediately, and the only comfort Joey now has is with a fellow horse named Topthorn. Soon both he and Topthorn are captured and are used by the Germans as ambulance horses where they’re treated like heroes for coming to the aid of the wounded and the fallen. At night, they are stabled with a French pair, young Emilie and her grandfather, and Joey and Topthorn find love and happiness again. Not to last, as the two are taken and worked practically to death as horses drawing extremely heavy artillery guns and extremely heavy loads of ammunition.
Topthorn IS worked to death and Joey, fleeing from a bombardment and running through fields of mud and tho’ gashed by barbed wire, finds himself in a No Man’s Land. A toss of the coin with the winner being an Allied soldier brings Joey back to the British, where he finds… and so it goes and goes for a bit more.
So many adventures, but SUCH chaos and suffering and heartache. All told from Joey’s point of view, we’re given a comprehensive view of the human costs of war, both sides humanized, both sides suffer and commit brutality. Joey finds companionship and soulmates only to be ripped from them most grievously. I read that Morpurgo’s inspiration came from stories by old timers plus from a timid boy who found his voice when he met up with a patient horse who just stood there and listened to him. This isn’t the first Morpurgo I’ve listened to, and he has maaaany more audiobooks, not to mention a continuation of Albert’s story as an old man reminiscing and narrated by the talented Derek Jacobi, but I can say without a doubt that it’s my favorite thus far, and aaaaallll audiobooks of his I embark upon in the future will have a verrrrry high bar set before them.
John Keating is absoLUTEly brilliant, effortlessly carrying off a multitude of accents, a wide variety of characters. I read one review that said no characters could come to be cared about as there were so many. I must say that, with Keating? He adds depth to each of them so that each is fleshed out and given such dignity, such humanity. This goes for our Non-Human, Joey, as well. Through his eyes, we feel the love he has for those around him, and we feel his fear as shelling comes close, as shelling kills, as the brutality of war takes its toll. Bravo, Mr. Keating! Am I glad I chose your narration!
I’ve given a rather leeeeengthy synopsis, but lemme just add to it that while the ending was a neat little bow, beFORe the ending? Oh jeez, there’s a meeting and an interaction that had me sobbing!!! Morpurgo can WRITE soooo well, with such an emotionally evocative style even tho’ this is “just” a Kids Book!
And do NOT think that because you saw the (AWESOME!) stage play or the jolly-decent movie that you know the story. Those two were “creatively adapted” and, while good, do not capture the magnificence that is the audiobook. A riveting story that rather brilliantly shows the horrors of war through the eyes, the life, of an innocent, this is a keeper!
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