Coal Black Horse

Written by Robert Olmstead

Narrated by Ed Sala

Author Robert Olmstead's work has been called "brilliant and compelling" by the Chicago Tribune. Here, he takes us back to the Civil War. Robey Child, only 14, must go to the battlefield to bring his injured father home. Clad in a homemade uniform-gray on one side, blue on the other-and riding a powerful coal black horse, Robey sets out on a journey that will make him a man. "... a powerful, redemptive narrative."-Publishers Weekly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 4, 2008
• ISBN: 9781449802202

Reviews for Coal Black Horse

[rbeffa_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wish I could say this was a great book. It almost gets there. Reading this I added some obscure words to my vocabulary and I could appreciate the skill and dexterity the author displays in telling the story set during the American Civil War. I also didn't add lots of words to my vocab since I preferred to read the novel rather than repeatedly going to the dictionary. End of very small silly rant. Oh, a familiarity with horse anatomy will help too. The young boy Robey Childs that we meet at the beginning of this tale is sent by his mother Hettie to retrieve his father from war once she knows of the death of Thomas Jackson. The boy, 14 years of age, goes out from the hollow to a world he has never seen. The story is a powerful one with a variety of interesting and mostly unsavory characters. The story is not really about a "Coal Black Horse" ... It is about the timeless horrors of war and the timeless inhumanity of man. As an aside, many years ago I visited the building and I saw the bed where TJ Jackson died, after being accidentally shot by his own soldiers. To Hettie Childs, the death of Jackson in May 1863 meant the mistake of war was evident and the war was lost and to be done with. The battle of Gettysburg would come less than 2 months later. Robey is told he must find his father and bring him home before that. Hettie, you see, has a gift of sight and magically knew that Jackson had just died and something bad was gonna happen in two months. Overall I'd say this was a very good read on a par with great Civil War fiction like Cold Mountain. There is some graphic, ugly violence in here. There is also lyricical poetic imagery that lovers of such might not want to miss. "He let float in the dark air his free hand and then raised it up and reached to the sky where his fingers enfolded a flickering red star. The star was warm in his hand and beat with the pulse of a frog or a songbird held in your palm. He caressed the star and let it ride in his palm and then he carried the star to his mouth where it tasted like sugar before he swallowed it." Recommended

[pidgeon92_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had no idea really what this book was about. We talk constantly about the "good-old-days," things that couldn't have happened "back then." There is no back-then. Humanity has always been warlike and desperate, and this book is a great reminder.

[mysterymax_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A story about one young man during the US Civil War, this is a book that needs to be read twice in a row. In the first reading, the story is gripping as Robey leaves his quiet, loving home to bring his father back from the war and then encounters all the dangers, horrors and evils that bred in war. Your chest gets so tight that it aches and you can hardly breathe as he begins to change in order to survive the dangers, both physical and mental, that he encounters along the way. He learns not to trust blindly, to steal and even to kill. He leaves home a young teen, not only in years but in understanding and returns home still a teen in years but a grown man in understanding. And even while you are in the grips of the story you are aware that you are reading a book of exceptional beauty.And that is why you must reread. To savor, to inhale the exquisite prose of this book. I am sure that someone else could have taken this tale and written a 500 page novel that would not leave you as awe-struck as this thin book does. Each word is so carefully chosen, so perfectly placed that a masterpiece emerges and the book enters not only your mind, but also your heart.The book is very graphic in describing the horrors of the aftermath of Gettysburg (in truth, any battle in any war). And well it should be, for the truth of the scene is horror and to tell it less is to take away the need for Robey's changes. It also makes war 'civilized' which it is not and takes away our need to understand that.

[paperbackpirate · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Coal Black Horse is a Civil War story centered around a teen boy named Robey. After Robey's mom has a spooky premonition, she sends Robey off to retrieve his soldier dad who is fighting with the Confederate army. Immediately Robey sets out on his busted old farm horse, but good fortune a la Red Dead Redemption allows him to upgrade to a coal black Hanoverian.And how does a boy find his dad in the middle of a war without a cell phone or MapQuest? Does he grow from boy to man along the way? Where does his all-knowing steed get his mystical powers from? What was the Battle of Gettysburg like? This is the story Robert Olmstead tells in a creative and graphic way.I thought there would be more focus on the relationship between the horse and the boy, but I still enjoyed the story and I appreciated the image of what it might have been like to live or fight in the South during the Civil War.

[mmillet_7 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a beautifully written book about the Civil War, told from the perspective of a 14-year-old boy. He encounters some truly horrible things as he searches for his father in the aftermath of the battle of Gettysburg. I don't think I could recommend this book to just anyone since it is brutally honest about the horrors of war, but a great coming of age story that truly captures the time and place.

[joycepa_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A classic coming-of-age tale set in the horror of the American Civil War.After hearing of the death of Stonewall Jackson, Hettie Childs sends her 14 year old son Robey off to find his father, who is fighting with Lee’s army. A neighbor gives him a magnificent coal black horse and a pistol, warning Robey that he will have to learn much—and by implication mature into adulthood—quickly if he is to survive his quest.So equipped, Robey sets off from what is probably one of the Shenandoah Mountain ranges in West Virginia, heading vaguely east towards the Rappahanock, where he knows that there are armies fighting. Along the way, he witnesses horrors for which his isolation in his mountain home have not prepared him, among which is a rape he could but does not stop.But always missing an encounter with the army, he goes ever northward—to the aftermath of the carnage of Gettysburg. There he finds his father but completes the loss of his faith in God and the trustworthiness of any member of the human race.The first part of the book, Robey’s journey through the wilderness of West Virginia and the beginning of the lowlands, is utterly lyrical, Robey seeming to move through a dream landscape that represents the innocence of his childhood.But as he meets up with the reality of the war, the language changes as Robey loses his naiveté and starts his rite of passage. No longer a beautiful dream, his surroundings take on the quality of a nightmare. As his journey ends, the narrative style becomes quiet, solid—and mature, in that Robey no longer allows events to run his life but makes the decisions and acts as he needs to in order to survive and protect those he loves.This is an excellent book, beautifully written, on an age-old theme. Highly recommended.

[mrstreme · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead was a story about the physical, spiritual and life journey of 15-year old Robey Childs. When Robey’s mother learned that Stonewall Jackson was killed, she sent her son out to find and retrieve his father. Not exactly sure where his father was, Robey rode a “coal black horse” throughout Virginia, eventually ending up in post-battle Gettysburg, as he looked for his father.Robey’s journey was difficult, encountering danger, violence and crime at every turn. The coal black horse served as a mentor to Robey, literally steering the teenager away from danger when Robey would follow the horse’s cues. And when Robey did not trust his horse, he inevitably regretted it.At 218 pages, Coal Black Horse is a slim book packed with rich language, historical references and interesting characters. Robey’s journey reminded me of Inman’s from Cold Mountain. Both characters saw things that war exposes about our fellow humans – how during crises there are those who will help you and those who will not – and only a smart wit can help you tell the difference.If you like Charles Frazier or Howard Bahr’s writing – or enjoy Civil War fiction – then I would recommend Coal Black Horse to you.

[ohioyalibrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Spectacular! A new civil war classic! Deals more with the effects on the people than on military aspects.

[crazy4novels · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Robey Child's mother instructs him to find his father on the Civil War battlefield and bring him home. What follows is an extremely well-written historical novel and coming of age tale. During his journey, Robey is exposed to the best and worst of human nature, from the murderous deceptions of a wartime scavenger to the fatherly kindnesses of a Union officer, and he is forced to examine his own capacity for cruelty, cowardice, bravery, and tenacity in the wake of war's horror. This book was a winner on four fronts: 1. The plot line was an engaging page-turner. I was totally caught up in the twists and turns of Robey's journey, and couldn't wait to find out what would happen to him and his beloved horse from chapter to chapter.2. The language of the book is beautiful. The author's lush description of Robey's initial descent from his home high in the mountains into the river plain below was gorgeous -- it read like poetry.3. For those interested in the historical aspects of the novel, Olmstead's prose conveys a sensory immediacy that is stunning. The reader will feel like he/she actually walked the fields of Gettysburg and experienced the tastes, smells, and hellish images of that battle's aftermath.4. The book has a quality shared by all good literature -- it is "soul enlarging." You know a bit more about what it is to be human after you read it. I highly recommend this book.

[bettyjo_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An interview with this marvelous author can be heard on thebookreport.net. Go to the website and you can listen to his thoughts on Coal Black Horse.