National Velvet: Amazon.ca: Enid Bagnold, Ted Lewin: Books

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Review

Story of a 14-year old girl with a passion for horses, who trains her outlaw piebald and wins the Grand National. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description

When Velvet Brown wins a troublesome piebald gelding in a shilling raffle, it begins a series of events which takes this frail girl to victory in the greatest of all horse races. The story of how Velvet takes on the male-dominated racing establishment was made into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

3.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Priceless Slice of Time, April 6 2002

By

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: National Velvet (Paperback)

Forget Elizabeth Taylor and her impossibly gorgeous wide mauve eyes. Forget Mickey Rooney. "National Velvet" has nothing to do with Hollywood, and everything to do with a microcosm of time, England between the Wars, in a working-class society that no longer exists.

The Brown family, staunchly working class, gets by on a pittance. The hugely obese mother, who misses nothing through her "hooded eyes," was once a world champion swimmer, the first woman to swim the English Channel. It is her spirit, her sense of competition and the right of women to step out of their structured lives, that has been passed down to her youngest daughter Velvet. And THAT is what this story is about: the strength of one young girl to rise above every restriction of her class and society, and to excel where no woman has ever excelled before.

So in one sense, yes, this is the story of a young girl and her love of a horse. And it is thrilling on that level. It is also the story of a society that cannot ever exist again, but that, for all its restrictions, was ruled by love of family and a strong sense of right and wrong. And third, it is the triumphant story, long before feminism was in vogue, of one small woman who overcomes centuries of prejudice to become a champion. What else does one need?

There are other characters in this book who are as interesting as Velvet: Her older, beautiful but vacuous sister Edwina, who slithers out at night to meet her boyfriend; her second oldest sister Malvolia, another "thoroughbred beauty," her impossible baby brother Donald, who collects his own spit in a bottle he keeps on a cord around his neck; her staunch, but mostly silent working-class father; and of course, Mi, the groom whose love of horses and fierce loyalty to the Brown clan hides some terrible secrets he refuses to reveal.

Add the Piebald, the most wonderful fictional horse ever, and you have a story for the ages: the story of a young girl who finds and trains a wayward horse, and takes him all the way to England's famed Grand National, where she dresses as a boy (no female was allowed to ride) and takes her horse--and hersef--to glory.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Great, but confusing, Feb 28 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: National Velvet (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book a lot, but the way that the auther writes is confusing.It was interesting,about a girl named Velvet and her horse, The Piebald. They won the Grand National. I liked her idea about cutting out horses from magazines and taping them on cardboard. Now, I do it too. Still, it's mind boggling.Sometimes, the characters aren't formally introduced, they just seem to jump in. Also, it's too jumpy, from one scene to another. But it's a great book for horse lovers like me, besides its flaws.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A good book, Mar 26 2001

By

Luke Dela Calzada (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: National Velvet (Paperback)

I thought this book was good. But the reason i gave it 4*, is because the story isn't really origional if you think about it. It is a classic story of girls trying to do somthing that they love and overcome thier obticles. The book is about a girl named Velvet. Velvet loves to ride and race horses; however, no girls are allowed. So she cuts her hair and shows people what she is made of. To find out how it ends, you have to read it. If you like these kinds of books, you'll definatly like this book. But if your like me (not really into corny stuff) then you'll think it's ok.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A simple dream.
This is a book about horses obviously. And I would definately classify it in the classic section. It's a book that nobody has left lying around and everyone has read at least... Read more

Published on Jun 26 2000 by Charity Kingsley

1.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical horse story . . .
. . . and not trying to be. As a horse-crazy 11 year old, I read every horse book in the library. This was my least favourite. I remember being very disappointed and bored. Read more

Published on Jun 15 2000