Half Broke Horses

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Reading The Glass Castle left me wanting to better understand Jeanette's mother, hoping that if I could learn her background and upbringing I might be able to wrap my mind around her as a person.  I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt this way.  Half Broke Horses is Jeanette Walls' indirect way of letting readers understand her mother better - it details the life of her mother's mother Lily Casey Smith.  She experiences disappointments, great hardships, and heartbreaking tragedies.  Her spirit, however, is indomitable - the term TRUE GRIT comes to mind.

My question as to how Jeanette's mother was raised was partially, but not entirely, answered by reading this book.  It's primarily about Lily.

The story is interesting and the characters are strong, but I found the actual writing to be somewhat repetitive and uninteresting.  Jeanette Walls writes in the first person as her grandmother, trying to capture how she would tell the story if she were alive.  I feel she sacrifices poignancy and depth of feeling by writing it this way.

This book makes me want to pull on cowboy boots and go horseback riding, stand up and speak up for the beliefs and people I hold dear.  It also makes me thankful that I own a washing machine and that I can afford gasoline for my car and don't have to walk into truck stops carrying a hose and ask if anyone would mind me siphoning off a gallon or two from their trucks so I can make it to my dad before he dies.
Perspective.

View all my reviews