This book is exactly what it promised to be: a fictionalized memoir, based on the author's oral family history. It follows the author's grandmother's life story, which was a somewhat adventurous one. The story, like all good family histories, has the unmistakable elements of the tall tale (or as my own dad puts it, "telling lies") where the truth has been either stretched or embroidered to fill in the gaps or make boring stuff more interesting, or to interpret events as Fate/God's Will. 

The problem for me was that, at the 50% mark (~4 hours of listening), this story wasn't all that interesting, even with all the stretching and embroidering. I could have finished, barely paying attention as I listened while doing housework, etc., but life is just too short and I've got 45 other audiobooks on my acquired-TBR shelf to listen to. 

So, DNF at 50%. YMMV.

This audiobook was borrowed from my local public library. It was read by the author, whose obviously amateur performance was still pretty good, and gave the narrative the ring of authenticity.  

From Goodreads: Lily Casey Smith, this novel's feisty Texas protagonist, is a frontier teacher, a rancher, a rodeo rider, a poker player, and bootlegger. In Half Broke Horses, she survives droughts, tornados, floods, poverty, and whatever else fate can throw against her. 

Based on author Jeannette Walls's grandmother, Lily is a plausible character because she has a voice that synchronizes with her history. 

This novel lives up to the still gathering acclaim for Walls's novel The Glass Castle.

Although I had read, and loved The Glass Castle, I didn't know what to expect with Half Broke Horses. It is classified as both a historical novel and a biography so I just could not be sure what to expect. Would it flow smoothly like a novel? Would it be filled with dates and names and lose it's emotional connection? 

Thankfully it read like a first person narrative and although Jennette Walls was a young child when her grandmother passed away, Half Broke Horses was written as though Jennette Walls had known her grandmother very well or her grandmother had been the one telling her grandchild her life story. 

Lily is a fantastic protagonist. She is feisty, funny, take no prisoners type who you cam't help but feel in awe over. I didn't expect to be able to relate to her as her life is far removed from any life I could image for myself...but she had the same independent spirit my own grandmother had and once I recognized that...I fell head over heels in love.

I definitely recommend this book, whether you like books about the west, historical fiction, a good memoir....or just a story of a strong, kick ass woman this book is definitely worth a read. Plus it's under 300 pages so a perfect weekend getaway book.

I love Jeanette Walls. She is a beautiful author that deserves the respect of the entire literary world. If you haven't read one of these books, be kind to yourself. These books will change your life. They definitely changed mine.

i'm honestly surprised i haven't finished this book yet. it's so darned engrossing and impossible to put down that i find myself zooming through it when i'd rather take it slowly. in that way, this "true life novel" is much like its heroine: it has a mind of its own, and damn anybody who tries to get in its way.

What an amazing life Lily Casey lived.  The novel hooked me from page one with Jeannette’s storytelling of Lily’s life growing up in west Texas.  Lily is Jeannette’s grandmother and through a variety of resources, Jeanette’s gives this special tribute to her grandmother by writing a book about this remarkable woman.  Lily had a fire within her and great outlook on life which kept her going, moving herself forward, always trying to stay afloat. Being a female in the early 1900’s, Lily already had some restrictions set upon her. She was to be a lady, act like a lady and do woman’s responsibilities around the house when she reached a proper age.  But being a Casey, there were other restrictions she was not allowed to do.  As Lily matured, she became more determined in what she set her sights on even if it was not within her reach.  At school the nuns had told her “when God closes a window, he opens a door, and it was up to us to find it” and Lily was always trying to open doors.  As time passed in this book, the life she led was an endless journey of adventures and travels.  She met lots of fascinating people, went to lots of interesting places and her stories filled the book.  It’s a trip back through time and it is worth every penny.

My second novel by Jeannette and I love the way she makes you feel while you are reading her novels.  You feel a part of the story, a deep connection with the characters without a lot of emotions written in by the author.  The author is straight to the point in her style, not wordy and drawn out.  I loved all the individuals in this story even Ted (I know), as Ted helped shaped Lily and made her the amazing person she was.  I really hated for the story to end but she lived a full life and had so much to look back on and reflect upon.  A great, fantastic read.

“The way Mom saw it, women should let menfolk do all the work because it made them feel more manly. That motion made sense if you had a strong man willing to step up and get things done, and only if you had a strong man willing to step up and get things done, and between Dad’s gimp, Buster’s elaborate excuses, and Apache’s tendency to disappear, it was often up to me to keep the place from falling apart.”