Half Broke Horses

A very interesting story of a very interesting and at times, harsh life. Well written and easy to read. It is mainly the story of the struggle of one woman to overcome adversity. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is a highly evocative account of a woman living in the Southwest States in the 1930s, describing the harsh conditions she encountered in her family life, and after breaking free and struggling to make a life for herself with scant resources. It is written in an understated and calm manner, which bring the dramatic events, which overtake her into even sharper focus. Knowing this region well, I was impressed by the depiction of landscape and climate and their inevitable and often doom-laden influence on the lives of the characters. Altogether an excellent read!

I just loved this book, almost as much as I loved The glass castle. The story is quite bleak, however -- I can't believe what people had to go through to barely make a living in the "old" days. Absolutely worth a read -- read this first, then The glass castle, and you'll have food for thought for weeks!

A true story of the author's childhood living in caravans all over the country. She brings to life her wacky family, and writes with excellent skill and humor. So many adventures! I read this book in one sitting! Buy it now.

I found the book well written but the character becomes quite unpleasant, I presume as a result of her harsh upbringing. Some people develop wisdom on the back of that.

Brilliant book! I enjoyed this book form beginning to end. It reads more of a story than a memoir, kept me interested all the way through. It was a shame it had to end. I would definitely recommend reading this book

Well written and interesting book about the history of America in that era. Really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anybody. Good book for a Book Club to discuss. I read The Glass House, before I read this book and Jeanette Walls had a hard upbringing, she has done extreamly well for herself in adversity. Brilliant.

I already was a fan of Jeannette Walls after reading The Glass Castle: A Memoir and now that I finished Half Broke Horses I will absolutely keep myself informed on yet more that she hopefully will write. This book is again about her own familyhistory; this time her grandmother. A very strongwilled character; who you will come to love, or at least admire. I already gave a couple of The Glass Castle books as a present hereabout in Holland, and will happily go on doing that with this Half Broke Horses one as well!

This book brings to life the extraordinary Lily Casey, born in 1901. Witten as a novel, the story is told through Lily Casey`s voice, giving shape to her character. An independent and resilient woman, her amazing real-life adventures provide a view into the era that eclipse any history book. The novel begins with the inspiring episode of an 11 year-old Lily using her wits during a flash flood at her childhood home in West Texas, saving herself and her young brother and sister. She began a teaching career at the age of 15, riding her horse Patches on a lone journey 500 miles through New Mexico and Arizona to her first post in a one-room schoolhouse, where she taught during the day and slept on the floor at night. Continuing through to her later years, this is a rich story, amazing, sometimes heartbreaking, and altogether a wonderful read.

A true story of the American west, the hardships and work ethic so dear to many Americans yet without much of the clichés.

Für die Schule und dennoch interessant und spannend.

"Those old cows knew trouble was coming before we did." So begins the story of Lily Casey Smith, in Jeannette Walls's magnificent, true-life novel based on her no-nonsense, resourceful, hard working, and spectacularly compelling grandmother. By age six, Lily was helping her father break horses. At fifteen, she left home to teach in a frontier town -- riding five hundred miles on her pony, all alone, to get to her job. She learned to drive a car ("I loved cars even more than I loved horses. They didn't need to be fed if they weren't working, and they didn't leave big piles of manure all over the place") and fly a plane, and, with her husband, ran a vast ranch in Arizona. She raised two children, one of whom is Jeannette's memorable mother, Rosemary Smith Walls, unforgettably portrayed in Glass Castle . From the very first page of Half Broke Horses , I was hooked. Lily Casey's first person narrative brought me right into the midst of her world: a world that started in West Texas, but would lead her to numerous places, from Arizona to Chicago and back to Arizona, with a few jogs along the way. Through her eyes I saw the gorgeous, yet sometimes brutal Southwest, from a new perspective. I could admire her energy as she trained those "half broke horses" that occasionally came along. And her determination to earn her education in spite of the odds against her. Some might describe her as stubborn, while others can see that she had the stamina necessary for the life she had chosen. A life thrust upon her by birth and family, but one to which she returned after deciding that "city life" was not for her. Her persistence in showing her children the life lessons she wanted them to learn had the opposite effect on her daughter Rosemary (the author's mother). Rosemary preferred living life for the moment, since the future was not something one could count on. I liked this excerpt that shows us the companionship between Lily and her husband Jim, and their philosophy, too, as they watch their daughter after her wedding to Rex Walls: "Jim put his arm around me and we watched them take off up the street, heading out into open country like a couple of half-broke horses." The author describes that she gleaned the facts of the story from those she interviewed, but that she recalls her grandmother's distinctive voice: a wonderful detail she has brought to the reader as she tells the story. A story that I won't forget...and to which I offer five stars.

Al igual que los otros dos libros de la autora, este tampoco me ha defraudado. Merece la pena, lectura fácil