Book 2: Half Broke Horses

Now THIS is a memoir! Okay, it's not even really a memoir, but it's still a hell of a lot better memoir than Cleaving.

Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, tells her grandmother's story in Half Broke Horses. Because Walls could not absolutely verify all the facts, and because she wanted to tell the story in the first person, she calls it a novel rather than a memoir or biography.

Lily Casey Smith grew up as a rancher, teacher, and mother (she was Jeannette's mother's mother). In case you read The Glass Castle and wonder about how Jeannette's mother was raised, Lily had many, many regrets about how her daughter turned out and what a wild life she chose to live. Lily always tried to teach practical lessons, but her daughter rebelled and became as impractical a person as possible: a wandering artist with no interest in stability or predictability (like making sure there was always food for the kids to eat).

Just as in The Glass Castle, Walls tells the story in a straightforward manner, with no pity requested, no matter how bad things got. It's a really readable and intriguing story of a tough, resourceful, funny woman.

I can't help but compare it to Cleaving, since I just read that book, and since I still haven't fully digested that one. Walls tells her story in chronological order, without cliffhangers or other cheap tricks to keep readers interested. Julie Powell scrambles back and forth between present day and the past couple of years, and between her butchering apprenticeship and her relationships. She gives a little taste -- a teaser -- of what happened in her love life and then switches back to graphic descriptions of cutting up cows. Julie and Julia was also pretty scattered, chronologically and in terms of subject matter.

I would really like to read something by Powell that is only about ONE theme, without a heavy-handed metaphor woven throughout. Julie, if you're reading this, please write a travelogue in chronological order, with all your sarcasm and humor and self-deprecation, and don't compare traveling to marriage. Julie, you are great at telling stories, but not so great at telling two or three stories at the same time. And the best part about Cleaving was the descriptions of your Fear Factor-like travels. Thanks.