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Sweet William: A Memoir of Old Horse
“A moving book, a warm, cranky book, in the end a book full of love of the horse.”— The Washington Post
In his most engaging, accessible novel to date, John Hawkes brings to life the sad, stately voice of Old Horse, nee Sweet William, who recounts the trials and tribulations of his his days as a racehorse, as a riding school nag, and finally as the broken down mount of a strange old man whose kindness transforms his life.
“Writing in this profoundly improbable yet ultimately moving and persuasive voice, Mr. Hawkes portrays not merely a mistreated animal but something akin to a tragic personality. . . . It’s a remarkable achievement.”— The Wall Street Journal
In his most engaging, accessible novel to date, John Hawkes brings to life the sad, stately voice of Old Horse, nee Sweet William, who recounts the trials and tribulations of his his days as a racehorse, as a riding school nag, and finally as the broken down mount of a strange old man whose kindness transforms his life.
“Writing in this profoundly improbable yet ultimately moving and persuasive voice, Mr. Hawkes portrays not merely a mistreated animal but something akin to a tragic personality. . . . It’s a remarkable achievement.”— The Wall Street Journal
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
1 person is currently reading
182 people want to read
About the author
John Hawkes
109 books192 followersJohn Hawkes, born John Clendennin Talbot Burne Hawkes, Jr., was a postmodern American novelist, known for the intensity of his work, which suspended the traditional constraints of the narrative.
Born in Stamford, Connecticut, and educated at Harvard University, Hawkes taught at Brown University for thirty years. Although he published his first novel, The Cannibal, in 1949, it was The Lime Twig (1961) that first won him acclaim. Later, however, his second novel, The Beetle Leg, an intensely surrealistic western set in a Montana landscape that T. S. Eliot might have conjured, came to be viewed by many critics as one of the landmark novels of 20th Century American literature.
Hawkes died in Providence, Rhode Island.
Born in Stamford, Connecticut, and educated at Harvard University, Hawkes taught at Brown University for thirty years. Although he published his first novel, The Cannibal, in 1949, it was The Lime Twig (1961) that first won him acclaim. Later, however, his second novel, The Beetle Leg, an intensely surrealistic western set in a Montana landscape that T. S. Eliot might have conjured, came to be viewed by many critics as one of the landmark novels of 20th Century American literature.
Hawkes died in Providence, Rhode Island.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 7, 2017
The final two sentences in the author's 'gentle warning' before the book begins:
"If convention and reassurance are what you must have, then stop and spare yourself unsettling surprise. But if you are not easily aroused to indignation, and if you are prepared to set aside familiar expectations, then persist, walk on, ride to the end, and in the adversities of this horse's life find your own."
So, forewarned is forearmed, right? Nearly every fictional horse book has at least one or two brutal episodes of abuse. But this one is overflowing with them. Sweet William is one of those horses who live under a cloud, always having bad things happen to him, whether through his own intractability or from the spite and ignorance of the people in his life.
This story is grotesque on many levels. Only Sweet William's fiery temper helps him survive to become the Old Horse we meet in the first pages, the horse who then shares his life story in graphic, bloody detail.
This is NOT Black Beauty. Comparisons to that book are only valid because the narrator of each story is a horse. Here there is no love or respect between horse and human, no understanding or comfort such as Beauty found in various times in his life. This is a gritty, disturbing look at what can happen to a horse when the people in his life are greedy, stupid and heartless, as so many in the horse world are.
But while I was prepared for gruesome, I was not prepared to disbelieve the thought processes the author put into the mind of Sweet William. He was a Thoroughbred, meant for the racetrack. High-strung, overly sensitive, but also very intelligent, as many Thoroughbreds are. And he was a stallion, but here is where the author lost credibility in my eyes. Hawkes makes the horse witness a breeding, something which not only showed him what he was supposed to do with his life but made him feel guilty for seeing it, and later the horse has dreams of replacing the breeding stallion (who just happened to be his own sire) and breed with his own mother, but of course he would be a tender lover, not the lustful monster he witnessed. Geeze, talk about finding your own adversities!
I worked for four years on a breeding farm which stood three stallions. They were all perfectly capable of behaving themselves while around other horses and during the breeding process. A stallion needs to handled with respect and awareness, of course, but they are not sex maniacs on four legs, unless that is all they are allowed to be.
I do not feel the author captured a true equine mindset in this book, and I was rolling my eyes in exasperation long before the final section of the book, when Master buys Old Horse and the story picks up where it started before the memories began. I had continued because I wanted to see what kind if relationship the two would develop, but for some reason Hawkes creates pages and pages of diversions by having the groom Ralph tell crude stories about his sexual adventures with his own sister, then Master tells weird stories about his childhood, and Sweet William/Old Horse just stands listening in disbelief. I skimmed through most of this final section until I found places where the horse was speaking again. I really saw no need for most of this part of the book, but then who am I to wonder about an author and his adversities.
"If convention and reassurance are what you must have, then stop and spare yourself unsettling surprise. But if you are not easily aroused to indignation, and if you are prepared to set aside familiar expectations, then persist, walk on, ride to the end, and in the adversities of this horse's life find your own."
So, forewarned is forearmed, right? Nearly every fictional horse book has at least one or two brutal episodes of abuse. But this one is overflowing with them. Sweet William is one of those horses who live under a cloud, always having bad things happen to him, whether through his own intractability or from the spite and ignorance of the people in his life.
This story is grotesque on many levels. Only Sweet William's fiery temper helps him survive to become the Old Horse we meet in the first pages, the horse who then shares his life story in graphic, bloody detail.
This is NOT Black Beauty. Comparisons to that book are only valid because the narrator of each story is a horse. Here there is no love or respect between horse and human, no understanding or comfort such as Beauty found in various times in his life. This is a gritty, disturbing look at what can happen to a horse when the people in his life are greedy, stupid and heartless, as so many in the horse world are.
But while I was prepared for gruesome, I was not prepared to disbelieve the thought processes the author put into the mind of Sweet William. He was a Thoroughbred, meant for the racetrack. High-strung, overly sensitive, but also very intelligent, as many Thoroughbreds are. And he was a stallion, but here is where the author lost credibility in my eyes. Hawkes makes the horse witness a breeding, something which not only showed him what he was supposed to do with his life but made him feel guilty for seeing it, and later the horse has dreams of replacing the breeding stallion (who just happened to be his own sire) and breed with his own mother, but of course he would be a tender lover, not the lustful monster he witnessed. Geeze, talk about finding your own adversities!
I worked for four years on a breeding farm which stood three stallions. They were all perfectly capable of behaving themselves while around other horses and during the breeding process. A stallion needs to handled with respect and awareness, of course, but they are not sex maniacs on four legs, unless that is all they are allowed to be.
I do not feel the author captured a true equine mindset in this book, and I was rolling my eyes in exasperation long before the final section of the book, when Master buys Old Horse and the story picks up where it started before the memories began. I had continued because I wanted to see what kind if relationship the two would develop, but for some reason Hawkes creates pages and pages of diversions by having the groom Ralph tell crude stories about his sexual adventures with his own sister, then Master tells weird stories about his childhood, and Sweet William/Old Horse just stands listening in disbelief. I skimmed through most of this final section until I found places where the horse was speaking again. I really saw no need for most of this part of the book, but then who am I to wonder about an author and his adversities.
November 2, 2008
The William of the title is a thoroughbred horse. Traumatized by events in his youth, William is not your average sweet creature. In fact, he is sometimes murderous. This was an enjoyable, interesting horse tail, not one for the kiddies, but moving and well written.
July 21, 2018
I am at a crossroads. On the one hand, beyond impressed somebody wrote contemporary adult fiction that is, in fact, an equine autobiography. On the other hand, it's not much fun to read about a horse who is a self-avowed bitter misanthrope pretty much from birth, or some of the deeply disturbing imagery (traumatized forever by zombie!horse), or how a huge section of the end gets bogged down in these pointless, boring conversations between two men in which the horse essentially just stands there and listens to them go on and on and ON.
[Edit: Downgrading from 3 to 2 stars, as 3 years later, I remember nothing positive about it, and have only an unpleasant feeling when I think about rereading it. There is a reason I decided against tagging this on my 'horses' shelf.]
[Edit: Downgrading from 3 to 2 stars, as 3 years later, I remember nothing positive about it, and have only an unpleasant feeling when I think about rereading it. There is a reason I decided against tagging this on my 'horses' shelf.]
November 20, 2010
Unusual and often pretentious, Sweet William strives to be Black Beauty for grownups. Although written from a horse’s point of view, the author takes many liberties with the equine thought process. For example, after a horse is gelded, he mourns that he will not get to see his traits passed on to any foals. Come on!
Readers should be aware that although this is an animal story, it is not for children. There are numerous violent and sexual scenes throughout.
Readers should be aware that although this is an animal story, it is not for children. There are numerous violent and sexual scenes throughout.
December 14, 2022
I have a special place in my heart for books in which the narrators are animal. It's so interesting when an author attempts to give a voice to an animal and I admit that it's not as easy as it sounds. When I saw this book in my school's library, I was immediately intrigued by it and once I read the blurb, I decided to give it a try without a second thought. After I finished it, I must say that it wasn't what I expected, but it was still a very interesting book.
As the title says, this book is a memoir of an old thoroughbred horse, named Sweet William. The horse is the narrator of the story and throughout the book, he recounts the trials of his life - which was by no means easy. Since he was young, he encountered many difficulties but most importantly, he had to face humans' cruelty and abuse and mistreatment.
Despite his name, Sweet William is anything but sweet. He's actually a pretty bitter, obnoxious and misanthrope horse, who is far from perfect and well-behaved. Even though this might seem strange, this is exactly why he was such an interesting character and narrator. It's makes total sense that he acts the way he does. He had been traumatised by many things in his life and he suffered a lot at the hands of cruel people. He is a tragic and complex character and I really liked the way the author portrayed him. It was interesting to follow the story from his point of view and to see that his behaviour was driven by his experiences and feelings about humans. It provided insight into his psyche and it highlighted his personality. I admit that at first, I didn't like his bitterness and negativity but soon I was intrigued by his characterisation and I understood why he was portrayed like that. I sympathized with him and I even encouraged his bad actions towards some people, at times.
While I was reading about William's life, I was both surprised and disturbed. I expected that there would be some disturbing aspects in the book, but I assumed that there would be some light-hearted moments too. I was proven wrong. For the majority of it, the book was by no means pleasant to read. William's exploitation and abuse angered me and it's really sad to thing that many horses have to endure this. The book dealt with plenty mature and difficult themes and although it was harrowing, it made me want to learn more about William.
The writing style of the book was simple and it described William's life in a very detailed way. It provoked some emotions and it made me visualise the events William desribed. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of nature and English countryside, they set a refreshing and lyrical tone to the story. The book was easy to read, but I must say that it dragged quite often. While I was reading some chapters, I got bored and I felt like it took me forever to finish them. Sometimes the writing felt quite plain and messy and I think that the author should have dived deeper into some aspects of the plot, because it seemed like they were brushed off.
The second part of the book was less interesting compared to the first part. The first one was centered around William's life before he got bought by his master, while the second one focused on his life after. In the majority of the chapters, there was minimum plot development and there were just huge sections of dialogues between William's master and another character, named Ralph. I have no problem when the pacing of a story is slowed down due to dialogues, as long as they are interesting enough and as long as they serve a purpose to the developement of the characters or the story. However, the dialogues in the book contributed nothing to the story and most of them were uninteresting. Master and Ralph discussed repetitevely about their past experiences while William, who is supposed to be the protagonist and the narrator of the story, standed listening to them, without adding a single comment.
Some of Ralph's comments didn't sit right with me, especially when he talked about his sister... I completely understand that he was meant to be written like this and I understand why the author portrayed him in an unlikeable way, but I wish he had focused more on William's life and comments. Last but not least, I didn't expect that the book would contain scenes about sexual activities between horses... I was very shocked and at first, I felt uncomfortable. I got used to them but this is another aspect of the plot that the author shouldn't bring that often. I understand their purpose, but there was no reason for William to be portrayed as a sex maniac.
All in all, this book made me experience a range of emotions and overall, it was well-written and enjoyable (as enjoyable as it could be). It certainly was not what I expected, but I do not complain and I'm happy that I read it. It will most likely stick in my mind for a pretty long time and now I just want to read more books about horses.
As the title says, this book is a memoir of an old thoroughbred horse, named Sweet William. The horse is the narrator of the story and throughout the book, he recounts the trials of his life - which was by no means easy. Since he was young, he encountered many difficulties but most importantly, he had to face humans' cruelty and abuse and mistreatment.
Despite his name, Sweet William is anything but sweet. He's actually a pretty bitter, obnoxious and misanthrope horse, who is far from perfect and well-behaved. Even though this might seem strange, this is exactly why he was such an interesting character and narrator. It's makes total sense that he acts the way he does. He had been traumatised by many things in his life and he suffered a lot at the hands of cruel people. He is a tragic and complex character and I really liked the way the author portrayed him. It was interesting to follow the story from his point of view and to see that his behaviour was driven by his experiences and feelings about humans. It provided insight into his psyche and it highlighted his personality. I admit that at first, I didn't like his bitterness and negativity but soon I was intrigued by his characterisation and I understood why he was portrayed like that. I sympathized with him and I even encouraged his bad actions towards some people, at times.
While I was reading about William's life, I was both surprised and disturbed. I expected that there would be some disturbing aspects in the book, but I assumed that there would be some light-hearted moments too. I was proven wrong. For the majority of it, the book was by no means pleasant to read. William's exploitation and abuse angered me and it's really sad to thing that many horses have to endure this. The book dealt with plenty mature and difficult themes and although it was harrowing, it made me want to learn more about William.
The writing style of the book was simple and it described William's life in a very detailed way. It provoked some emotions and it made me visualise the events William desribed. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of nature and English countryside, they set a refreshing and lyrical tone to the story. The book was easy to read, but I must say that it dragged quite often. While I was reading some chapters, I got bored and I felt like it took me forever to finish them. Sometimes the writing felt quite plain and messy and I think that the author should have dived deeper into some aspects of the plot, because it seemed like they were brushed off.
The second part of the book was less interesting compared to the first part. The first one was centered around William's life before he got bought by his master, while the second one focused on his life after. In the majority of the chapters, there was minimum plot development and there were just huge sections of dialogues between William's master and another character, named Ralph. I have no problem when the pacing of a story is slowed down due to dialogues, as long as they are interesting enough and as long as they serve a purpose to the developement of the characters or the story. However, the dialogues in the book contributed nothing to the story and most of them were uninteresting. Master and Ralph discussed repetitevely about their past experiences while William, who is supposed to be the protagonist and the narrator of the story, standed listening to them, without adding a single comment.
Some of Ralph's comments didn't sit right with me, especially when he talked about his sister... I completely understand that he was meant to be written like this and I understand why the author portrayed him in an unlikeable way, but I wish he had focused more on William's life and comments. Last but not least, I didn't expect that the book would contain scenes about sexual activities between horses... I was very shocked and at first, I felt uncomfortable. I got used to them but this is another aspect of the plot that the author shouldn't bring that often. I understand their purpose, but there was no reason for William to be portrayed as a sex maniac.
All in all, this book made me experience a range of emotions and overall, it was well-written and enjoyable (as enjoyable as it could be). It certainly was not what I expected, but I do not complain and I'm happy that I read it. It will most likely stick in my mind for a pretty long time and now I just want to read more books about horses.
January 21, 2023
This book has a lot of problems, the biggest being that the story itself is meandering and lacks a compelling kernel, which is hard to avoid when attempting a realistic story about a bored animal; a few sections feel superfluous or awkwardly paced but that's how life goes sometimes. As is common in Hawkes's books, most of the characters, including the Hero, are consistently unlikable- they may or may not bother you enough to put it away, but fortunately there's still sympathy for even the most unpleasant of them. His prose also isn't at his best, with some repetitive phrasing and questionable stylistic choices. But the emotions resonate well, and it's a success in terms of the main theme constant in the writer's work- triumph over adversity, finding the good in the bad, ultimately laughing at life when the sole alternative is to cry. It's just hard to view it as something he felt he had to write, and other attempts at similar sentiment were more successful.
Objectively this deserves a harsher score than I'm giving it, but my love of Horsies and Hawkesies elevates it in my estimation, and there are a few people out there I can imagine truly loving it. Gallop on, dear reader!
Objectively this deserves a harsher score than I'm giving it, but my love of Horsies and Hawkesies elevates it in my estimation, and there are a few people out there I can imagine truly loving it. Gallop on, dear reader!
December 18, 2022
Sweet William is a memoir given by the thoroughbred point of view. Starting with the early days next to his dam onward thru various handlers,owners,riders right up to his last living moment. The sense of never being truly known nor ever really safe carries through his memories. Early trauma causes mistrust and sourness(hatred of people) to lodge in his heart. His attitude is not an error. It made me reflect on the hot racetrack horse or the beat down' trail 'horse .so many creatures misunderstood and made dangerous thru poor handling .what I love about this tale is the hopeless wreck of his being is seen as glorious through the eyes of a new eccentric owner. This is a great story showing off the difference that love can make in the recounting a horses life .
September 26, 2008
A really amazing analysis is here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi...
This is a book about how humans appropriate animals in order to individuate themselves. It's a book about language, and a book that attempts to recreate a very physical, immediate animal existence, without symbolism, while at the same time parodying and symbolizing the human struggle to find ourselves in Otherness.
It's pretty fascinating stuff, if you can stomach all of Ralph and Master's long-winded stories...
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi...
This is a book about how humans appropriate animals in order to individuate themselves. It's a book about language, and a book that attempts to recreate a very physical, immediate animal existence, without symbolism, while at the same time parodying and symbolizing the human struggle to find ourselves in Otherness.
It's pretty fascinating stuff, if you can stomach all of Ralph and Master's long-winded stories...
November 27, 2008
I read this years ago...it was a gift from my grandmother while I was in high school. As a lifetime horse owner, I was profoundly horrified, but riveted. It is an extremely well-written, emotional book. I eye it on my bookshelf all the time, thinking I should re-read it as an adult.
October 28, 2008
This book will break your heart...beautiful, sad, and worth it.
September 5, 2011
Everyone who has loved Black Beauty ( and poor Ginger) as a child could relearn the story of a horse, from a horse, from Sweet William.
November 16, 2013
Eh...maybe 2 1/2 stars rather than two. Story was okay, I think it was more the writing style that I found tedious.
Read
July 8, 2015Couldn't read it. Too grim!
March 30, 2017
I loved the voice of this prickly, beautiful, passionate thoroughbred as he progresses through his very English life. And I also loved the portrait of his inept yet devoted final master. This is not a lyrical book, except in occasional descriptions of the English countryside. It is rough with its truths: "Pain is my favorite word. Each joint, each sickened and unresilient muscle, each of my more than two hundred bones is a source of pain...the ammonia that rises from the filthy straw in which I stand is not a metaphor. Spleen is the sustaining lyricism of those unlucky horses consigned at last to the abandoned paddocks of old age (p.57)."
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