Rating: 
Summary: A book that you won¿t soon forget
Review: It's 1974. In a used up town, near Nowhere, NY, sixteen-year-old Star Hennessey brings us along on a journey that isn't anywhere you want to go. She's living with yet another set of foster parents, with her brother and two other teenaged boys who are the end result of social services processes and society's failures. Star clings to what little childhood she had, while coming to understand that she is with child herself; a baby who is going to have a baby. Yet she is so grown up and mature when it comes to other things.
Her life has been one hell of a ride so far. Her mother, a prostitute, a drunk, wreaked havoc with the minds of her children, her occupational hazards. The "clients" she'd entertained didn't always ignore the fact that children were in the same apartment. Star found ways to deal with it. She entered a safe place in her mind. She wrote poems in her head, and hid within them. Now, after living in the House of Providence, an orphanage really, she ekes out an existence with foster parents. People who have nothing to offer; people who show no interest or love. It is better than Providence though, where the nuns slap your knuckles with rulers and punish you for thoughts you might someday chance to have. Providence: where another young girl's belly grew large with child and she was sent away to give birth, only to return and hang herself in the dormitory. And Star understands why. This isn't just a coming of age story. It is a slap across the face, grow up quick or be left behind story. It is a work of fiction but the people are so real that you might very well know some of them. Here is an example of such depth of knowledge of humanity; it is like looking in the mirror at a bruised and battered 16-year-old face. Look in the mirror. See the truth that is all around us. A young girl struggles to understand her own existence, she desperately tries to know who she is and why she is. She takes comfort in words and poetry and finds hope and purpose there. Merry Whiteford has opened doors we usually keep closed. She offers a look at what makes people tick, and a look at the deepest darkest secrets that are often shut tight in little glass jars and held tightly to our chests. She offers a reminder to hold on to our memories, even if they have become memories of what we wish had happened and not what really did. If Wishes Were Horses is a book that you won't soon forget, nor should you.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Writing
Review: Merry Whiteford has a marvelous ear for the language. This book is riveting, sensitive, sad, funny, inspiring. What a fabulous writer.
Rating:
Summary: Whiteford's finest work yet!
Review: Merry Whiteford has eclipsed all her fine work with this magnificently told tale of Star - a young woman plagued by misfortune with an uncanny clarity and capacity to look and see beyond - with remarkable understanding, a lack of critical judgement and ability to move through the world with a sense of purpose that cannot be derailed, despite wrenching circumstances. If you're tired of the *feel good* novel with trite, simplistic endings - this is the book for you and will undoubtedly leave the astute reader - like this one - hoping for more about Star. If Wishes Were Horses this writer would be rightfully acclaimed & celebrated for her exquisite talent and ability. Thank you, Merry Whiteford, for a wonderful novel and reading experience. This hungry reader wants more ...
Rating:
Summary: Another must-read from Whiteford
Review: Merry Whiteford is a born storyteller. Her characters are so richly drawn that they grab hold of you, pull you gladly into their world, and keep you caring for them long after you've finished the final page. Nowhere is this more evident than in If Wishes Were Horses. It's a compelling, poignant story of tragedy and redemption that solidifies Whiteford's place in the top echelon of fiction writers. I eagerly await her next novel!
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully rendered, starkly real
Review: Talented author Merry Whiteford explores the world of foster children in this tale of love, poverty and dreams, set in the mid-1960's and told by a young woman caught between the childhood she never really had and an adulthood she isn't at all prepared for. Christened Veda by an alcoholic mother obsessed with the Joan Crawford movie MILDRED PIERCE, she renames herself "Star" when she, her brother and two other boys are placed in foster care together. Prior to that, she lived for a time in a Catholic-run orphanage, where she witnessed the suicide of another child who was punished for being pregnant. When Star discovers herself in the same predicament, she is determined to obtain an abortion, if only she can find the needed cash. For Star has dreams. She is a poet, and her sights are set on something beyond the poverty and crime that surround her. After all, she notes, "Starting with almost nothing leaves almost everything open." In this beautifully rendered coming-of-age novel, Ms. Whiteford vividly portrays the sense of isolation, the knowledge of separateness not only understood but, to a degree, cultivated by a child from whom relationships are controlled by fiat. In Star Hennessey, with her yearning for a life where the creativity and the life of the mind is respected, she has created a young woman of almost militant optimism who has managed not to lose faith, either in herself or in the power of love, despite obstacles life has placed in her path. Ms. Whiteford understands as well the mixture of childish innocence and precocious maturity young people caught in the wheel of poverty and foster care acquire. IF WISHES WERE HORSES subtly studies the differences between cherishing dreams, as Star does, and nursing delusions as her mother, who insists her children call her "Mildred," clings to in the face of all common sense. Mildred has and does seek rescue, a helpless princess awaiting the arrival of her prince; while Star realizes the only one who can rescue her is herself. What is particularly powerful about this book is its underlying theme that small applications of kindness and generosity-not necessarily of money but of time and experience and attention-can produce quality fruit even in soil that seems blasted and infertile. IF WISHES WERE HORSES is a superbly constructed window into a Dickensian world most people will hopefully never see, and yet one that everyone should have at least a taste of.
Rating:
Summary: If Wishes Were Horses
Review: This book is a very good read. I am looking forward to the
next chapter in Star's life. Highly recommended!
| 
