For those of you who have been following my blog for any length of time, you will know that I have been on a bit of a mission to swot up on my knowledge of both World Wars. As part of that, I have been trying to bring the era to life through books and films and TV. War Horse was one of those novels that I really wanted to read for that purpose. I first became aware of it, after having seen the stage production on a visit to Toronto. The stage production really blew my mind, the staging was ingenious, the costumes and the way they portrayed these huge beasts and the terror of war on a stage was mind-blowing, I would really recommend it to anyone.
The book tells the story of Joey, a horse who has been sold to a farmer. Joey finds himself being trained to work on the farm, threatened by the farmer who has purchased him. He finds a very loving relationship with the farmer's son, Albert. Joey and Albert are separated when Joey is sold to the army and goes to fight on the front line with British soldiers. In his time at war, Joey fights with the British, is captured and employed by the German army, and manages in an extraordinary twist of fate to find his way back to Albert once again.
The book is charming, short and lovely, and definitely a children's book. The whole story is told from Joey's point of view, which is lovely. It is WW1 for kids, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, maybe just not what I was after.
Overall score - 3/5
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