Like the Appearance of Horses

De: Andrew Krivak

Narrado por: Jamie Renell

Rooted in the small mountain town of Dardan, Pennsylvania, where patriarch Jozef Vinich settled after surviving World War I, Like the Appearance of Horses immerses us in the intimate lives of a family whose fierce bonds have been shaped by the great conflicts of the past century.

After Bexhet Konar escapes fascist Hungary and crosses the ocean to find Jozef, the man who saved his life in 1919, he falls in love with Jozef's daughter, Hannah, enlists in World War II, and is drawn into a personal war of revenge. Many years later, their youngest son, Samuel, is taken prisoner in Vietnam and returns home with a heroin addiction and deep physical and psychological wounds. As Samuel travels his own path toward healing, his son will graduate from Annapolis as a Marine on his way to Iraq.

In spare, breathtaking prose, Like the Appearance of Horses is the freestanding, culminating novel in Andrew Krivak's award-winning Dardan Trilogy, which began with The Sojourn and The Signal Flame. It is a story about borders drawn within families as well as around nations, and redrawn by ethnicity, prejudice, and war. It is also a tender story of love and how it is tested by duty, loyalty, and honor.

©2023 Andrew Krivak (P)2024 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Stong Writing in this War Family Saga

This multigenerational war novel follows one family from WWII through Iraq. Krivak's writing style features beautiful prose and has a knack for making difficult scenes compelling without being exploitative.

The story jumps between different time periods and focuses mainly on the men who go to war and how that affects everyone left behind. It's definitely heavy material dealing with combat trauma, addiction, and family dysfunction, so not exactly light reading.

If you're looking for fast-paced action, this isn't it. It's more of a slow burn that builds emotional impact over time. The characters feel real and the family dynamics are complex in a believable way.

The audiobook works well since there are multiple storylines to follow and some difficult foreign names to pronounce. Worth reading if you like character driven stories and gorgeous writing.