Remember My Beauties
Fiction
Switchgrass Books
April 18, 2016
194
NetGalley
Imagine a hawk’s view of the magnificent bluegrass pastures of Kentucky horse country. Circle around the remnants of a breeding farm, four beautiful horses grazing just beyond the paddock. Inside the ramshackle house, a family is falling apart.
Hack, the patriarch breeder and trainer, is aged and blind, and his wife, Louetta, is confined by rheumatoid arthritis. Their daughter, Jewel, struggles to care for them and the horses while dealing with her own home and job—not to mention her lackluster second husband, Eddie, and Carley, her drug-addicted daughter. Many days, Jewel is only sure she loves the horses. But she holds it all together. Until her brother, Cal, shows up again. Jewel already has reason to hate Cal, and when he meets up with Carley, he throws the family into crisis—and gives Jewel reason to pick up a gun.
Every family has heartbreaks, failures, a black sheep or two. And some families end in tatters. But some stumble on the secret of survival: if the leader breaks down, others step up and step in. In this lyrical novel, when the inept, the addict, and the ex-con join to weave the family story back together, either the barn will burn to the ground or something bigger than any of them will emerge, shining with hope. Remember My Beauties grows large and wide as it reveals what may save us.
My review:
A story about a broken family, only visible once you peek inside their seemingly idyllic home and horse farm. The title refers to the term the father/grandfather uses to refer to his beloved horses, who are caught in the cross-fire when there is great upheaval within the home when the "prodigal" son returns. There are some lovely passages within the book that are told from one of the horse's point of view, and I thought this was a very unique aspect to the story. Lots of issues tackled within this short novel including, drug abuse, elder care, substance abuse relapse and rehab, blackmail, and lies (for the better or the worse). I did like the contrast between the messed up people, and how they all became calm and almost a different personality around the horses. On the whole, this book was good, but while it had a satisfying ending, you wonder how long things could stay calm, because there was just so much wrong with this family. It almost got to be too much.
A lovely portrayal of hoses (if you are a horse lover), but the overwhelming dysfunction of not just a few, but all of the characters, made this a good read, but not great.
This one looks very different but interesting. I haven't seen it before, but you always bring so many books to my attention that make me want to add them to my shelves. I don't mind a "good not great" kind of book because at least something in it worked.
This one is for Kathy@Kathy Reads Fiction: I'm very grateful for your interest and to Donna for bringing the novel to your attention! You might enjoy checking my website to see the blood trailer (yesterday's blog post has it, and so does the "Beauties" page). Also Goodreads has a whole number of advance reviews. Thanks so much, and I'd love to receive any comments or read your review.
Lynne (www.LynneHugo.com)
And to Donna--thank you so much for choosing to read and review Remember My Beauties! I'm glad you liked it and found aspects of it to recommend to your readers.
Lynne