Half Broke Horses-Jeannette Walls

Half Broke Horses, a True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls

Half Broke Horses opens to Lily Casey Smith and a horrifying flashflood ravaging their Texas homestead. At the age of ten she was resourceful enough to shimmy herself and her two younger siblings up a tree to wait out the flood. The story of Jeanette Wall's grandmother continues in this fashion; creative, heart wrenching and compelling stories passed down directly from Lily Smith and skillfully retold by Jeannette in this first person narrative.
The story takes the reader through the complete life of Lily Casey Smith, starting at childhood in the early 1900's, through marriage, jobs, starting a family and even the birth of her granddaughter. Each chapter brings entertaining stories that showcase Lily's hardened and adventurous spirit. We watch as she learns to break "half broke horses" at the age of six, rides 500 miles for her first teaching job at 15, moves to Chicago for some time, and then heads back to her home in the West. The reader is amazed to see her drive as she fights personal battles as well as her physical strength and determination as she learns to drive a car, and even fly a plane. We laugh as she fools the police to keep her part-time job selling bootlegged liquor from beneath her baby daughter's crib and impresses local ranchers with her horse skills.
Jeannette takes time to describe the western landscape with beautiful and honest details. The ranch's, deserts, and canyons come to life through vivid descriptions of Lily's adventures. A scene that particularly stuck with me was when Lily and her daughter Rosemary head down to the Havasupai canyon to interact with the Native tribe. After having been there, hearing the descriptions of the waterfalls and red rock walls before it turned into a campsite and tourist attraction was captivating. Here an emotional scene occurs that depicts Rosemary's wild, rebellious side and also shows one of the less attractive, yet honest, side of Lily.
While the book did a incredible job explaining the setting and the adventures that the main character went through, what was most amazing about the book is that way Jeannette was able to flawlessly become this character of her grandmother. After finishing her first memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette wanted to write another book, this time about her mother. However, her mother convinced her that the real story was to be found in the story of her mother, Jeanette's grandmother. So even though Lily Casey Smith died when Jeannette was only eight years old, through the many oral stories that she had heard, she began weaving stories into a full tale of her grandmother's life. Every piece was not there, so she took the liberty to fill in the gaps with her own details, but overall the novel gave a very true account of her grandmother's life. The way she was able to take on the strong character of her grandmother and change her voice so drastically from her own voice in The Glass Castle is truly a mark of a great writer.
I would recommend this book for anyone, especially those interested in the time period of the expansion and the frontier. Yet the book, called the "Little House on the Prairie for adults", is more interesting than just the events and time period. For anyone looking to get into the mind of one of the most interesting characters I have ever seen develop throughout the pages of a book, this novel is a must read.