Check out our Most Anticipated Books for 2025

BookBrowse Reviews Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Beyond the book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

Half Broke Horses

A True-Life Novel

by Jeannette Walls
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Oct 6, 2009, 288 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Sep 2010, 288 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

Reviews

BookBrowse:


A novel from the author of The Glass Castle, based on her irresistible and eccentric grandmother's hard life in the American West

Jeannette Walls has the blessed curse of a debut smash-hit. With her memoir The Glass Castle selling more than 2.5 million copies, the heat must have been on while working through Half Broke Horses: a True-Life Novel. Well, fear not. Hearing her readers cry for more family lore, Walls returns with the irresistible tale of grandmother Lily Casey Smith.

Born in a dugout on hard country, Lily Casey might as well have popped out with her sleeves rolled up and her boots on. High Lonesome, as the area of Texas was known, wasn't a "place for the soft of head or the weak of heart," and maintaining the Casey homestead took about all the energy a person could muster, let alone a young girl. While her mom worked hard at being a lady, it was up to little Lily to keep the place from falling apart. Poor enough for wax paper windows, Lily developed a no-nonsense, eccentric practicality to keep things ticking, setting the pace for the rest of her life.

Following her own sage advice, Lily plays the hand she's been dealt with a straight-forward finesse we just don't see in this day and age. Relying on her smarts and hard work ethic, she makes her way by horseback and rail from big-city Chicago to little Coconino County to wherever the winds settle her. But the West was in her blood, and like her father said back when she first left home, "She'll be back. She'll miss ranch life. She's got horse blood in her veins."

A constant battle against the elements, a rancher's life wasn't an easy one. You read the skies and took what you could get. In good years the earth dished out rewards while the bad ones left you trying to shape up your rock-hard lumps. Yet Lily Casey Smith kept it all in check. Like some sort of Zen cowgirl, she handled life with a rough equanimity that managed to snag the respect of just about everybody she met.

Upon the birth of her daughter Rosemary, Lily becomes right reflective as she shares her thoughts: "I named the baby Rosemary. Roses were my favorite flower, Mary was a good Catholic girl's name, and Rosemary was a darned useful herb. I was hoping the kid would have a practical side. Most babies looked to me like monkeys or Buddhas, but Rosemary was a beautiful thing."

The story of Lily Casey Smith's life holds the potential to be a half broke tale in its own right; a hundred side-stories to her one. However, granddaughter Jeannette knows just when to pull in the reins. Under her canny authorship, Ms. Walls keeps Lily's colorful life story from running wild, deftly picking and choosing from a bounty of choice tales.

Simply put, this novel is a whole lot of fun. With a voice so clear and consistent, you happily find yourself giving in and reading with a cowpoke's twang. Even if you've never had an interest in the Old West and think it's for the birds, prepare to think again. Half Broke Horses is a laugh-out-loud lesson on learning to fall, a story about the human spirit, the courage of adventure, and the choices we make. Jeannette Walls is a true credit to the teachings of Lily Casey Smith: Half Broke Horses stands on sturdy legs of its own.

Reviewed by Megan Shaffer

This review first ran in the October 21, 2009 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Beyond the Book:
  S&H Green Stamps

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Half Broke Horses, try these:

  • Finding Dorothy jacket

    Finding Dorothy

    by Elizabeth Letts

    Published 2019

    About This book

    More by this author

    This richly imagined novel tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud.

  • The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek jacket

    The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

    by Kim Michele Richardson

    Published 2019

    About This book

    More by this author

    Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman's belief that books can carry us anywhere―even back home.

We have 10 read-alikes for Half Broke Horses, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Jeannette Walls
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Absolution
    Absolution
    by Jeff VanderMeer
    Ten years ago, the literary landscape was changed forever when Jeff VanderMeer became the "King of ...
  • Book Jacket: The Message
    The Message
    by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    It does not surprise me that Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Message is one of the most important books I've ...
  • Book Jacket
    The House of Doors
    by Tan Twan Eng
    Every July, I take on the overly ambitious goal of reading all of the novels chosen as longlist ...
  • Book Jacket: The Puzzle Box
    The Puzzle Box
    by Danielle Trussoni
    During the tumultuous last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, a 17-year-old emperor known as Meiji ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

X M T S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.