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The Sport of Kings: Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017
Unavailable
The Sport of Kings: Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017
Unavailable
The Sport of Kings: Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017
Audiobook23 hours

The Sport of Kings: Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017

Written by C. E. Morgan

Narrated by George Newbern

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Fiction Prize
Winner of the Kirkus fiction prize

‘You and I are family. Blood and treasure. Listen to me, I created this world with my own two hands, and I am going to leave it all to you’

Hellsmouth, an indomitable thoroughbred filly, runs for the glory of the Forge family, one of Kentucky’s oldest and most powerful dynasties. Henry Forge has partnered with his daughter, Henrietta, in an endeavour of raw obsession: to breed the next superhorse. But when Allmon Shaughnessy, an ambitious young black man, comes to work on their farm after a stint in prison, the violence of the Forges’ history and the exigencies of appetite are brought starkly into view. Entangled by fear, prejudice, and lust, the three tether their personal dreams of glory to the speed and grace of Hellsmouth.

A spiralling tale of wealth and poverty, racism and rage, The Sport of Kings is an unflinching portrait of lives cast in shadow by the enduring legacy of slavery. A vital new voice, C. E. Morgan has given life to a tale as mythic and fraught as the South itself – a moral epic for our time.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 3, 2016
ISBN9780008180393
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The Sport of Kings: Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017
Author

C. E. Morgan

C.E. Morgan is a graduate of Berea College in Kentucky and of Harvard Divinity School. ‘All the Living’ is her first novel.

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Reviews for The Sport of Kings

Rating: 3.3837209023255816 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

86 ratings13 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I found this book very dark and depressing. The title is a bit misleading, as horse racing is only a backdrop for a story of the Forge family and their former slaves' history, and Henry Forge's desire to build a legacy. There are many triggers in this book including racism, slavery, abuse of children, women and animals, rape, incest, suicide, drugs, language and stereotyping. The characters are well-drawn, but not particularly likeable. It appears to be an ambitious effort to write an epic; however, there are many paragraphs that seem unnecessary, with nonsequiturs thrown in occasionally. I am sure the author had a good reason for these passages, but I could not discern it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Depressing and melodramatic for the most part. Bright spots were where we were given information about racehorses: care, training from foal to three-year old and how much and what goes into horseracing itself.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The title will suggest that the novel is about horse racing. Not really. Oh, there’s plenty of story, and a good deal of information, about the so-called “sport of Kings” in it. And if you’re not already appalled at the way animals are treated by owners, trainers and handlers, you will be if you read this. Further, you’ll probably summon up a bit of sympathy for the grooms and jockeys that you may not have known they had coming. But what this book is really about is breeding --- genetics, and Class, and sex, and every other connotation of that word. And it’s about race.The Forge family is Kentucky nobility. Forebears traveled into the Virginia wilderness before it became Kentucky, and made themselves prosperous planters. For generations, acres of corn and tobacco filled the Forge barns and purses, as well as the state's Bourbon barrels and pipes. Until one rebellious scion decided he wanted to raise thoroughbred horses despite his father’s strong objection that it was a disreputable endeavor unworthy of his lineage. He would by god raise horses, notwithstanding. And so he did. He also raised a daughter in his own image...a woman who knew horses, knew breeding, and knew—in a Biblical sense---many many men. One of those men came from another long line---a long black line that could trace its existence on this continent back to that same wilderness trek. And here is where it becomes impossible to talk about the twists and turns of the modern and the historical stories intertwined in the novel without giving away elements that deserve to be discovered by the reader.If you take Absalom, Absalom, shift a few things around but keep the core elements (obsession, possession, miscegenation both intentional and accidental, incest), extend the action into the current century, move it all to Kentucky and pretend it's about breeding horses, you’ll have a vague idea of the scope of The Sport of Kings.C. E. Morgan has done a credible job of telling a mythic, Southern Gothic tale worthy of the master; she even has a talent for what one Faulkner critic called "hallucinated language". Neither she nor her editors, however, knew quite when to holler “Whoa!”, and there were spots when I really wanted to shake the book and let the excess fall out. An engrossing read, nonetheless, and one I’d recommend, if you’re up for this sort of thing. Do not expect to root for anyone (except maybe a horse), and do not look for a redemptive denouement.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The first half of this book is perfection: gorgeous writing, well-drawn characters with believable attributes, important issues tackled from a surprising angle. The second half is an utter mess. The gorgeous writing becomes mere wordiness because the plot is unfocused, wildly wheeling from one topic or character to another, telling you more than you needed to know about most and nothing at all of what you were interested in from the start.Many reviewers before me on this page have said the book needed a stronger editorial hand. I absolutely agree. Morgan was failed by her editor(s) here. If she was capable of writing the first half, they should have pushed her through the problems of the second half until she had something even slightly as good. Keep cutting costs & editorial jobs, publishing companies; you're really contributing to the enrichment of our culture. (Sarcasm, for those who can't tell)So five stars for part one, one star for part two = 3 stars
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Less than the sum of its parts. Or possibly more? It starts as yet another Great American Novel about a Great American Family, then takes a delightfully unexpected turn. However, once the novelty wore off, I couldn’t help feeling that, as with the Underground Railroad, the characters were just very polished cover versions of very, very familiar songs. But polished they were, and but for a couple of odd plot points I really did enjoy this. Not groundbreaking, but exciting to read all the same.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    With The Sport of Kings, there is little doubt that C.E Morgan intends her version of the "Great American Novel". Because there is much more going on here than the overarching theme of breeding horses to future greatness. In fact, this is much more about the breeding of people and the impact of nature vs nurture.There are 3 main characters: Henry Forge grows up under the iron tutelage of his father, John Henry, a man much concerned with propriety, the family name and family reputation and with very definitive views on race who is very hostile to racing. Never the less, on John Henry's death, he turns the family property into a very successful racing stables. His daughter, Henrietta, grows up being force fed a diet of horses, breeding and the benefits of in breeding to unfortunate consequences. Allmon Shaugnessy, a descendant of Forge family slaves (although he does not know this) grows up in deprived quarters of Cincinnatti, before a spell in prison leads him to be trained as an expert groom who comes to work with Henrietta.With these characters Ms Morgan clearly hopes to paint on a broad canvas something profound and meaningful about the history of the South and the characters of the South. She is only partially successful in this, for a couple of reasons. Firstly one of her main characters, Henrietta, is a cypher, with no discernible motivations or personality other than extreme and random promiscuity. And yes, one of the reasons for this is revealed towards the end of the book, but in general she is simply a token pulled between her father and Allmon Shaughnessy. Secondly, if you are going to have a highly promiscuous character , you need to write about sex a bit better than Ms Morgan does. Some of the scenes here should win bad sex writing competitions in perpetuity. Thirdly, the fact is that the best section of the book has nothing to do with horses and horse breeding but with Allmon's upbringing in Cincinatti. This is an engaging and powerful narrative, and even if cliche ridden (black youth with essentially good intentions, is forced by the circumstances of his mother's ill health to choose between college or the gang) shows a lot more grimy reality than most other sections of the book. But when the book contrives to move Allmon to the Kentucky stables, his character too seems to fade away and he becomes little more than a symbolSo a lot to enjoy here; few would not cheer lustily at the triumphs of the filly Hellsmouth and Allmon's grandfather, The Reverend, is a fabulous character. If anyone deserves a spinoff, its The Reverend. But there are a few problems too. Plenty of ambition, but some basic characterisation failures in my opinion, and all trying a bit too hard
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Sport of Kings, finalist for this year's Pulitzer Prize, is an ambitious novel that weaves the stories of three people set to a background of Kentucky racehorse breeding and the making of greatness. First we meet John Henry Forge who grows up under the whip of his crop farming father only to anxiously await the day he dies so that his dream of raising race horses can begin. As some years pass his daughter Henrietta becomes the focus. She shares his passion for the sport of kings, for genealogy and eventually for the body of a of black horse groomer whom she hires, called Allmon Shaughnessy. Allmon's story, poor childhood, sick mother, eventual jail time makes up the final narrative. The intertwining of these three, in every sense, propel the conflict of this a long novel, epic in its themes, and worth the effort.NYT- Ms. Morgan bears down incisively on topics — the lust for speed and power and domination, the prison experience of black men, male camaraderie, the bonds between fathers and sons, the brute intricacies of the dirty Southern soul — that men have tended to claim.Horses, Faulkner said in Sports Illustrated, tap something in us. That something, in Ms. Morgan’s telling, is only rarely pretty. The subject of reparations for slavery hangs in this novel’s humid air."Some quotes:Lavinia had probably never been disliked before. That sort of thing could unsettle a white woman and make her needy, the way cats only want to be petted by the hand that won’t touch them.What she was coming to realize, but what no woman was allowed to utter aloud, was that there was no guarantee your child would be adequate compensation for the life you gave up to have it. More and more, life looked an awful lot like a hoax perpetrated on women and designed to further men’s lives at the expense of their own.An individual is not necessarily a genius, but every genius is an individual. If you remember nothing else I ever tell you, remember this: you must be completely yourself in order to achieve greatness, but you may have to lose yourself entirely in the process. That’s the paradox I’m willing to endure not just for my ideals, but for you. For Henry so loved the horse that he gave his only begotten daughter, so that whosoever believeth in perfection shall have everlasting life, which is fame among men.I got disappointments like some individuals got dollar bills.”The one thing they all have in common is they were purchased out of the auction bin, headed for slaughter. About a hundred thousand horses are slaughtered in this country every year. They breed Thoroughbreds to the tune of thirty thousand a year, so for every stakes winner there might be two hundred draggers who get shipped off to the meat house when they can’t earn their keep on the track. What happens is they slam a four-inch nail into their foreheads to knock them out, then they hoist them up by a rear leg and cut their throats, bleed them out. I want you to keep that in mind while you work with these horses—you’re here in a life-saving capacity.“Malt does more than Milton can to justify God’s ways to man.They won’t understand that she was racing on a prayer of a leg. They won’t know that painkillers were coursing through her gladiator’s blood. And they won’t understand what happened next. They’ll think Henry was an idiot or a madman. But the madness had all come before. New knowledge is sunflower honey on the tongue.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is another ToB. [book:The Sport of Kings|28636686] was written by C. E. Morgan and published in 2016. This is a BIG book and it is faulted for being wordy but I like words and so I enjoyed the book for it's writing. First off its a story about family, one white and one black, one from Kentucky and one from Ohio and it is around horses that the meet. Here are some quotes from the bookpg 22, "real knowledge begins with knowing your place int eh world..."Pg 23 "women live a life of the body. It chains them to material things--children and home--and prevents them from striving toward loftier pursuits.""...there was no guarantee your child would be adequate compensation for the life you gave up to have it." The storm.. pg 107 "mother left, things changed""creek to muddy to see into, too dull to divulge its contents or reflect back anything of the world, pg 109. "you've suffered the misfortune of being born into an age of political correctness, when a polite lie is the truth and the truth is anathema." "sameness is safe, sameness is survival itself" "His mother had died looking not at him, her son, her accomplishment, but into the well of herself at something. And that something was emptiness." pg 325 "I think Northerners are worse than Southerners. They think they're better than us because they survive the world's shittiest weather and they're convinced of the religious retardation of the South. They're ignorant but arrogant. Southerners, on the other hand, know perfectly well they're ignorant; the problem is they're proud of it". That gives you an idea just how wordy this 545 page book is. It's epic, with history and geography and physical science. The ending is a bit of a surprise and has a little magical realism feel to it, just not sure that it fit the book. This book is another look at racism in the United States from a female/Caucasian author. It covers several generations though the largest part is spent on the current father, daughter Forge's and is set in the nineties. It did look at the changes of racism and that which doesn't change from the time that the Forge family crossed over the Appalachian Mountains to start a farm in Kentucky. The Ohio River plays a major part in the book and is the separation of north and south and the north represents freedom. The river is dark, moving and dangerous but it also is the escape to freedom. The characters are well developed but over all not very likable. You hope that one or more will overcome their defects. I think the author achieved what she set out to accomplish and that being an epic book that looks at family, black and white, women and men as well as evolution, nature and history.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Made it through, what, a quarter of the thing? Never one word where ten, or twenty, will do. Self-consciously "beautiful" prose whose sentences nevertheless sag throughout from imprecision and overreach. If phrases like "pliant musk" don't set your teeth on edge--and there's more than one such on any given page in this forced-march alleged epic--then go for it. As for me, a reminder that anything labeled "literary fiction" is almost certainly going to be a waste of time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a gigantic, scary book of horrors and horses. Set in the Kentucky bluegrass country, it explores racism at its most painful, from pre Civil War to modern day. It's such an encompassing, sexual, violent, and painful book, told from the PoVs of the last scion of the white Forge family, the African American groom of a all-conquering Secretariat filly, and an escaped slave. There are other older voices, parents, grandparents, and a jockey who is both wise and incendiary. It all adds up to a tragedy with only the thinnest glimmer of hope and light and a mysterious conclusion. It is also a must-read, even better than The Goldfinch, which is the only other novel with which I can really make a comparison. Like Donna Tartt's book, The Sport of Kings could lose about 200 pages, but don't put it aside for that. Read it for its essential fire and beauty.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An impressive epic, The Sport of Kings runs strong. Despite focusing on horse racing and farming of the last century, Morgan's second novel is extremely relevant for today's tumultuous American landscape. With gorgeous prose, realistic characters, and a story that never stays stagnant for long, Morgan has crafted a winning novel, entertaining and intelligent.I'm not one for horse racing. I don't even like horses—I've always found them to be frighteningly alien in appearance. But when this novel showed up on an Anticipated Future Release List of some variety, the description somehow enticed me—I had been curious about the author anyway—and I gave it a try. Initially, I admired the strong writing, but I wasn't pulled into the story. The Sport of Kings is in many ways an epic, and it certainly takes some time for the story to develop.Some readers will not care for the breadth of Morgan's novel. As evidenced by The Sport of Kings, Morgan is perhaps wordy at times. She has a great grasp of the English language and her descriptions will tire some readers. Further, she is an intelligent author, but that can also get in the way at times. Word choice can grow repetitive. “Dais,” for instance, is used any time a character speaks from a pulpit or platform. Who uses this word? Is this prominent in Kentucky? The frequent repetitiveness stopped me every time.But these are minor quibbles. The fact is, The Sport of Kings is a phenomenal and sweeping family saga. It is gutsy and provoking in a way that reminds me of a serious Man Booker contender. I will not be the least surprised if The Sport of Kings does not make this year's long list (to be announced July 27). Remember, if it makes the list, you heard it from me first.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    545 pages of the most unlikable characters ever construed. The horse Hellsmouth was the star of this tedious read. If you want a good book about The Sport of Kings read Seabiscuit. Could have used a lot of editing and the story line tightened up and many characters and story lines dropped. One insane story line had a woman drive from paris kentucky to churchill downs in Louisville (two and half hour drive on best of days) on Derby Day and get inside the STABLES OF THE KENTUCKY DERBY CONTENDERS!! Damn near impossible even if you are in the biz. Skip this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is not a happy book. It deals with important issues like racial struggle, family legacy, ambition and greed, abuse and rape with the theme of horse racing used in the background to illustrate the characters’ lives and destiny.This is the epic story of the wealthy Forge family and the farm they have run since the first white settlers arrived in Kentucky. Young Henry Forge, rebelling against his dominant father, decides to transform his family’s plantation into a racing horse breeding farm. Through his arrogance and ambition he aims to breed the perfect race horse and ensure the Forge legacy continues. He expects his daughter Henrietta to become his partner and successor in the quest for the perfect racehorse and to achieve his plans at any cost. Through Henrietta, the Forge family story gets linked with Allmon Shaughnessy’s family history, a tragic past of mixed race, hatred and struggle. Allmon’s father was a white farmer and his mother a black nurse who struggled all her life to bring her only son up. From lack of opportunities in life, Allmon gets involved with the wrong crowd and ends up in jail, where he learns the art of grooming horses. When he arrives at the Forge farm and gets a job looking after their promising race horses his life will make an irreversible turn.I found this a hard book to get into. The language it uses is very rich and dense, at times I could happily get lost in the descriptions of the American South and savour its detailed images and other times I wanted it to speed up and get on with the story. The author paraphrases from biology and evolution journals quite often to illustrate her views and background to the characters’ actions but I found this did not bring much to the story and could have done with a bit of editing. Also, the story is told in very long chapters where the action jumps from different timelines and I found this distracting and hard to get into.This is a very sad story where each and every character experiences tragedy and misery in their lives. The only happy characters are secondary to the main story (the vet, Henrietta’s teacher, Reuben the jockey…) and don’t get affected much by the main events. The main characters all have major flaws in their personality and the way they behave so it is hard to relate to them and feel sympathy towards them. I am not very interested in horse breeding or racing but I found the Derby and horse race scenes were very exciting and they made a break from the depressing lives of the Forges and Allmon’s misery.This book deals with important issues like the legacy of slavery in the American South and racial issues which are currently still going on, with the ambition of wealthy white families vs the lack of opportunity of the poor black population, with abuse and rape and with the consequences of greed and ambition. However, because of the dense writing style, the jumps in the storyline and its inconclusive ending I don’t feel it will remain on my bookshelf for a second reading.I received a proof copy of this book from Real Readers to read and review and this is my personal and unbiased opinion.