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Publisher's Summary

National Book Award, Fiction, 2010

At the rock-bottom end of the sport of kings sits the ruthless and often violent world of cheap horse racing, where trainers and jockeys, grooms and hotwalkers, loan sharks and touts are all struggling to take an edge, or prove their luck, or just survive.

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©2010 Jaimy Gordon (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

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Audible.com Reviews
Amazon Reviews
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Worthy of the National Book Award

Marvelous language, fully developed characters that draw you in instantly. Myra Lucretia Taylor is a masterful reader who has made each character distinctive. A great listen even if you aren't into horses or racing.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Don
  • Bloomington, IN, United States
  • 03-19-13

I Felt Like I Was Working at the Track

What did you love best about Lord of Misrule?

The dialogue and the voices of the characters was great; and the characters themselves were also fascinating and real in a "Runyonesque" sort of way.

What did you like best about this story?

I really liked the general flow of the story.

Which scene was your favorite?

There were many scenes that worked well, but one does not particularly stand out over the others.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, but I seldom do.

Any additional comments?

The narrator (or reader) did an excellent job with this book. She made the characters and the story feel very real.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Tough read

I'm a horse lover and was really looking forward to an enjoyable read. I was terribly disappointed to find it very hard going. Not being conversant with racetrack lingo I had a hard time understanding what was going on even when there were explanations because they were made using that same lingo. I gave up then returned to the book several times but have not yet been able to get into it. I feel like a hopelessly lost outsider struggling and failing to comprehend what's going on. Perhaps reading the actual book first will help but at present it seems a waste. I'm looking for entertainment not a study course in which I have to have reference books at hand.
On another note, the reader was a surprise, being female (If left up to me I would have opted for a male reader), but I felt she had a good grasp of the characters and an excellent range of voices and I quickly became comfortable with her.

2 of 5 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Over-wrought

What would have made Lord of Misrule better?

Muddy descriptions and language need a good, hard edit. So much going on, nothing stands out as authentic or interesting. The language is just plain hard to follow at times. And what, exactly, is Gordon trying to do with those occasional shifts to second-person perspective? A total fail.

Has Lord of Misrule turned you off from other books in this genre?

Books on horse racing? Not necessarily. But I won't be reading any more of this author.

Would you be willing to try another one of Myra Lucretia Taylor’s performances?

Yes. The reader is not the problem. It's the condescending dialect that Gordon saddles some of her characters with that gets under the skin.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Lord of Misrule?

Over-wrought sex scenes and scenes with second-person narration.

Any additional comments?

I can usually find something good in just about any book. But this one irritates me.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful