Even when we do not actively participate in our destiny, we are still on a chosen path. Life has a way of making decisions for us.
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In Diana Estill’s women’s fiction title When Horses Had Wings, lead character Renee Goodchild understands the important lesson of gaining control of one’s life more than most. Her unplanned teenage pregnancy prompts a premature wedding to her high school boyfriend, and now Renee must submit to the responsibility of adulthood without the benefit of actually being an adult.
Set in 1970’s rural Texas, the author manages to convey the impoverished lives of the town’s inhabitants in a way that allows the readers to nearly feel their hopelessness first hand. Simply getting a job and permission from her young husband to drive are big dreams for the undereducated, pregnant Renee. However, through the joys of motherhood and the difficulties of an unhappy marriage, or perhaps because of these things, Renee is able to find the courage to change her life.
For those who like character driven stories, When Horses Had Wings may certainly prove to be worth reading. A good quality of this book is that no one character is all good or all bad. They are just people who are products of their environment. In moments in this story even Kenny, Renee’s abusive husband, escapes the all consuming villain label. While Granny, Renee’s next door neighbor, provides an especially entertaining and necessary element in Renee’s journey. Granny has the type of wisdom, honesty and orneriness that only experience can cultivate and only time can perfect.
Another positive factor of the novel is that taken as a whole, it has a good message, especially for women. Through Renee’s interactions with other women, including her mother, she learns a thing or two about relationships. She realizes that if she chooses to do nothing about her unhappy life, she will remain unhappy. When discussing the limitations Kenny imposes on Renee, Granny tells her, “‘Anybody that don’t drive gets driven….Let somebody else drive you, you never know where you’ll end up.'”
Good advice, Granny. We should all think about that one.
The Women's Fiction Club selections are books that vary in genre but still have one guiding principle - they all feature women! The discussions are great because the women in the novels do not fit into one category and the books are not any one formula. Just like in life, the women we read about are good, bad, smart and well...not so smart, too.
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