Grand Theft Horse started out slow, but once we get into the legal aspects and the world of horse racing things pick up. Told in first person narrative, G. Neri tells the story of his cousin Gail, who on Christmas Eve decided to steal a horse. Of course, it is not as simple as that. Part owner of a racing horse, she (as his trainer) realizes he is unable to run the next race due to an injury. But the majority-owners do not see an injured horse. They just dollar signs and will race him regardless if it means permanent damage and death of the horse. So, Gail does the only thing she can and this sets off years of legal battles, living in poverty and even losing her license to train horses. The ins and outs of a system that is set up to make money come to light, but also the love one woman has for horses and her hope to have the sport she also loves, be more humane.
Since this is a graphic novel, one should mention the illustrations. However, since they are not my “thing” I don’t really want to insult the time or effort Corban Wilkin put into them. They are mostly browns, tans, with a pop here and there to flesh something out. Yet, they never really spoke to me. The repetition of the setting (mostly different stables, legal places and a field or two) also took away from the overall enjoyment for me. However, there is one image towards the end of the book that was perfect. Gail is standing in front of a door that has EXIT written on it. It felt very potent and summed the situation up well.
If I had not been told that this was a true story, I almost would not have believed it. It seems outrageous that in the early and mid 2000’s the situation would have been so extreme that a person would allow themselves to become the first person to be accused of horse theft in almost 200 years in the state of California. Of course, while I believe what Gail is saying is true, I had to stop and remind myself of course she wouldn’t put herself in any bad light, so I was wondering how factual and emotional was mixed. So if nothing else, even if I had not I learned about horse racing from an insider, it got me thinking about writing and the narrator’s role in telling a story.