Half Broke Horses: A True Life Novel by Jeanette Walls
Reviewed by BridgetRatings
Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content
LANGUAGE
VIOLENCE
SEXUAL CONTENT
ADULT THEMES
Ratings Explanation
Language: A smattering of damn and hell throughout.
Violence: Lily is thrown many times while breaking horses. She is also hit by a car while crossing the street in Chicago. Minnie, a roommate, is killed while on the job at the bottling plant when her long tresses are caught in the massive grinding gears. Her body is severely mangled. Lily pistol whips Ted Conover and breaks a glass door upon exiting his office. Sexual Content: There is an allusion to Lily’s wedding night with Ted Conover. Rosemary swims in her underwear with Fidel Hana and a group of Indian boys at Havasupai Falls. Rex pats Rosemary on the rump, like he owns her.
Adult Themes: Helena commits suicide by hanging herself from the rafters in the one room school house. Lily sells bootleg booze to make ends meet.
Summary
This is the story of Lily Casey Smith, Jeanette Wall’s grandmother. Jeanette’s mother, Rosemary, often told Jeanette she was just like her grandmother. Lily’s story is written in an authentic first-person voice.
Lily Casey Smith is a strong, resourceful, and bright young woman who grew up breaking horses in New Mexico. Lily has the opportunity to attend boarding school. She finds attaining an education is much easier and more rewarding than life on the ranch. Unfortunately, Lily’s father gambles her tuition money away, and she is forced to return home to help run the ranch. Lily ascertains that she has few career choices as a female in the 1940’s. She chooses to be a teacher, and must earn her education. Lily has the opportunity to substitute teach, without a teaching certificate. She is thrilled; at age fifteen years old, she rides her horse five hundred miles, alone, to Northern Arizona to teach in a one room school house. She is ultimately fired at the end of World War II, because she lacks her teaching certificate and qualified teachers are returning home from the war seeking positions. Lily then seeks adventure in the big city of Chicago. Her dear friend and roommate is killed. Lily marries a smooth talking, traveling salesman, only to find that he already has a wife and family. She is hit by a car. Lily heads back to Arizona to teach and races horses on the weekends to earn extra money. Lily learns to drive a car and fly a plane. Her younger sister, Helen, finds herself in a precarious position as a pregnant young woman in Hollywood. She travels to Lily’s one room school house to avoid the shame of traveling home to her parents in New Mexico. Overwhelmed with her predicament, she commits suicide. Lily grapples with her sister’s death. She marries Jim Smith, a descendant of Mormon Polygamists. Lily and Jim raise two children and Lily earns her degree. Lily and Jim run a vast ranch in Arizona. Lily survives many challenges throughout her life and masters the art of grace. She witnesses her daughter’s poor decision to marry a volatile man. She inevitably experiences the pain and consequences associated with parenting.
I loved this book! I adore strong heroines who confront challenges. Lily doesn’t make any excuses, she continues to progress in spite of serious set backs. This book is a must read!
©2009 The Literate Mother