Thursday

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

Firstly I want to start by saying that I absolutely love and highly recommend Ms. Walls' The Glass Castle. I read this early last year and have loaned out my copy countless times - not to mention I even forced everyone at work to buy a copy for our book club, because yes, I was fascinated by this book and Ms. Walls' tale of coming-of-age, the skedaddle, home-made braces and the scrapes, bumps and bruises she went through to get there.

With that said, I could not wait to get my hands on Half Broke Horses. In this book we go further in time and are now reading about Ms. Walls' maternal grandmother, Lily Casey Smith. The story takes you through Lily's childhood in the early 20th century, all through the desert, living in ranches, teaching at one-room school houses, to the Great Depression and World War II.

Although I will admit to it not being as phenomenal as I found The Glass Castle to be, Half Broke Horses was still very entertaining. It's the type of story that grabs you and the next time you stop to look up you're done with the it...there was never a dull moment.

Lily Casey Smith was an amazing, courageous woman - I'm so glad that Ms. Walls was able to create such a beautiful tribute to her. She mentions at the end of the book that these are stories she remembers hearing from, or of her grandmother, while growing up. She was able to piece them together and fill-in (where needed) with her own ideas - thus the story is labeled fiction.

I absolutely loved how the ending tied in to what we already knew of the Ms. Walls and her eccentric family from The Glass Castle. This was just a fun, light read that I would recommend to anyone who's read The Glass Castle or is a fan of Jeannette Walls.

9 comments:

Tales of Whimsy said...

Great cover. Thank you for the review.

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

I, too, loved "The Glass Castle," so when you started out that way, I was afraid that this book was a disappointment.

So I was relieved to discover otherwise. It sounds as though they are both great reads, but different from one another.

Thanks so much for sharing.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I just finished this book and LOVED it also; great review.

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a lovely read. I haven't read anything by Jeannette Walls but your high praise of her work definitely makes me want to start!

Annell said...

I enjoyed The Glass Castle as well and have been thinking about Half Broke Horses. Hmmm, I think I'll go to the library tomorrow! Thanks for the review.

The1stdaughter said...

The saddest thing about this, is that my mom read it and said it almost perfectly described her childhood. She loved the book and I may have to give it a go just to see how my own mom grew up better. But I just can't imagine! I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing!

Beth F said...

I picked up an ARC for this at BEA. I really much get to it.

Darlene said...

Nice review. I've been going back and forth on whether to read this one but I probably will eventually. I really liked her first book.

kay - Infinite Shelf said...

I haven't read Walls yet, but this review really makes me want to. I'll have to get my hand on a copy of the Glass Castle soon! Great review :)

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