Half Broke Horses, Jeannette Walls

Half Broke Horses is an easy-to-read, fun adventure of Lily Casey Smith and her family, Big Jim (husband), Rosemary, and Little Jim, from Lily's perspective as a ranchhand/manager and teacher in Arizona before WW2.

Half Broke Horses is a quick-paced rendition of some fun, funny, unfortunate, and sad tales that Lily and her family experience in the desert.

What I appreciate most about this is how the author, Lily Casey Smith's granddaughter, Jeannette Walls' lets Lily come through the pages in her voice, in her stories, and in her ways. There is no overt covering up, sugar-coating, or PC-ing the terminology or events. This was Lily's story, told in Lily's voice, in Lily's time. Something that we all need to keep in mind when reading books written from different eras - their version of what is proper is not necessarily ours, but doesn't make them necessarily wrong.

A very well-done book.