Lord of Misrule

There was a big upset in the National Book Awards fiction category this year (no Jonathan Franzen, for one) and the winning book is about horse racing! Written by Jaimy Gordon, Lord of Misrule, explores the world of claiming races at a small time track, Indian Mound Downs in Wheeling, West Virginia.

I am about a third of the way in and the book is mesmerizing. Not so much for the plot--which is page turning--but for the characters and the magical writing. Gordon is sparse with words and big on dialect--it takes a while to get the hang of whether or not characters are thinking or speaking--and often big events (like someone dying) get lost in the language (you have to ask yourself if the person is really dead or just looking that way), but the entire effect is to draw you into the world of small time claimers, where everyone is out to make a buck in any way possible.

Underneath it all is some beautiful writing about the female character and her affinity for horses, which must be somewhat autobiographical because it rings so true, and some deep insight into the often forgotten world of grooms and hotwalkers, especially at small time tracks.

It is not offered on Kindle, but the hardcover is worth a read if you want to know how and why a small time press (McPherson & Company) blew the big boys out of the water. Good for them and very good for her.