Customer Reviews

If Wishes Were Horses: A Novel

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If Wishes Were Horses is an absolutely beautiful story of difficult, sometimes tragic, relationships -- and the grace that can come from them. The central character copes with unspeakable loss, yet her toughness and street smarts are not what allows her to triumph in the end, as is so often the case in a coming of age novel; instead, the author deftly and magically creates a young woman whose sensitivity, intelligence, and generosity of spirit win us over. Merry Whiteford does not stick to cliches and worn notions about good parenting and healthy human development--she is willing to explore the gray areas of relationships that make life rich, complex, and real. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the lessons within it.

I am on a high that is a blend of many deep emotions having just finished Merry Whiteford's third book, IF WISHES WERE HORSES.
I.W.W.H. is a smasher: difficult to put down for a start and plain impossible for the last two thirds. Terrific foundations are laid and then built on until a new structure, solid, original, and satisfying. The more specific Mildred and Star and Pig become the more their essences twang and resonate with my own. They are wonderful creations. Mildred is supreme, one of the finest pieces of sculpture created by pen that I have come across.
I was charmed by the sure yet so delicate artistry in the crescendoing creation of Mildred until I no longer wished her to walk into the room; she arrived here, vividly present. Star's coming to see Mildred as exactly who she is, - and who Mildred is, is plenty, and indeed enough - saves Star and allows her to grow up. By transcending Mildred's self deceptions Star becomes herself and being now separate from Mildred it is easy to love her.
Thank you, Ms Whiteford. NEXT PLEASE!

This book is a very good read. I am looking forward to the
next chapter in Star's life. Highly recommended!

Merry Whiteford has a marvelous ear for the language. This book is riveting, sensitive, sad, funny, inspiring.

What a fabulous writer.

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.

If Wishes Were Horses is about a teen-age girl, but it is a novel for everyone. The struggles are common human problems, but they are addressed with uncommon insight and care. The story is narrated by Star, a sixteen year girl living in a foster home with her brother and two other teenage boys. Star's mother is a prostitute, an alcoholic and an ex-con. She visits her children in foster care occasionally, and Star visits her mother in flashbacks. These visits reveal the embarrassment and abuse Star has suffered through her mother's neglect. They are more then sufficient to justify Star's total rejection of her mother, but this is not where the story goes. Star is resolute in her efforts to maintain her affection for her mother, and her efforts are rendered credible by Star's narrative. Star shows us how she sees her mother and other people in her life. We are spared pseudo-psychological analyses; instead we read of what Star sees in the people around her--their acts, their gestures, their comments. In these descriptions the affections of people who have been hit hard by life or lost their grip on life peek through. Such affection could be easily overlooked but is not. Star sees the love in her mother, and, through her poetic gifts she allows us to see it too. Star's ability to see those around her with generosity and honesty is at the heart of the story, and at the heart of the reader's admiration for her.
The reader, I think, will come to admire Star but will not see her as too good to be true. The plot is built around her slightly outlaw life with the other foster children and her unwanted pregnancy. Her efforts to solve the problems created by the pregnancy drive the plot and keep one wondering how she will resolve the situation. Her attempts at resolution lead to more problems that a less naive person might well have avoided. Star's gift is to see the capacity for love and affection in the midst of weakness and tragedy, and she applies that gift to herself as well.
Merry Whiteford has written an excellent novel. Star and her mother are characters who will linger with you. I find myself returning to the closing scenes of the novel with a fondness for mother and daughter and for what they can still mean to each other.

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!

Can a growing girl be more of a parent to her child-like mom than her mom is to her?

Is abortion sometimes a reasonable answer to teen pregnancy?

Do parental alcoholism, immorality, neglect, and borderline insanity necessarily result in a permanently damaged child?

Can a child, raised in an extreme emotional, physical and moral environment, form positive loving bonds with anyone?

Is escape from an unbearable present into an artistic and intellectual safe haven necessarily more redemptive than escape into drugs, alcohol, and socially destructive behaviors?

These and other disturbing social questions are gently and thoroughly explored in this masterfully crafted stealth social commentary wrapped in a surprisingly deceptive coming of age novel. In fact, a major reviewer suggests that it might be a YA choice: and so it might, but if only that, it will be to the detriment of all readers.

Ms. Whiteford's impeccably translucent prose her discerning eye, and her philosopher's love of exploring large questions as simply as possible make this a book whose truths will be mined through many readings, the grateful reader gaining insight with each one.

As Spinoza reminds us, 'All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.' This must have been a very difficult book to bring into being as it is indeed excellent and the ability to tell such a tale with such simplicity is truly rare.

Brava

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.

Like Merry Whiteford's book, "Dog People" this is a story about survival. A sad story of hope. A funny story about the awful lives of some young people who have been dealt extremely difficult cards.

The writing is deft and sure. Merry Whiteford has a beautiful way with words - a writer's writer as well as a writer to greatly please readers.

She greatly pleases me.

This is MUST READ book for anyone who enjoys really good writing.