Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

First line: "Those old cows knew trouble was coming before we did."

A few years ago I read and enjoyed Jeannette Walls' childhood memoir, The Glass Castle, so when I saw that she had written a novel of her grandmother's childhood, I was intrigued. Last week I read it. I liked it, but not as much as The Glass Castle. I'm not sure if it was because it was less horrifying or if it was because the authorial voice seemed less real. After reading the book I was not surprised to learn that Walls had tried to write it initially in the third person. It felt like a story someone told about somebody else, and that's what it is.

Raised in west Texas and the New Mexico desert, Lily Casey Smith, Walls' grandmother, was a strong, spirited woman. She suffered a lot of setbacks in life (a theme throughout the book), but never let them get her down--the story of her first husband is a good example. Ultimately she ends up remarrying and working with her husband on a ranch in Arizona, having more setbacks, and settling in a remote town in Arizona.

The book dragged for me a little in the middle and picked up a bit with the appearance of Rosemary, Walls's mother who played such a large role in The Glass Castle. I felt like major episodes in history like the Great Depression and WWII were largely glossed over. Perhaps because they were no match for Lily Smith and her spunkiness?

Anyway for me the book was entertaining and worth reading, but was helped by my prior knowledge of the family from the previous book. I got The Glass Castle from the library again the other day and reread parts of it. It's funny to see Lily Smith getting in yelling matches with Rex Walls, but it feels like a disconnect almost. A little more yelling before the wedding might have been good.

Four stars.