Wild Ride Home: Love, Loss, and a Little White Horse, a Family Memoir

by Christine Hemp

An amazingly joyous memoir told with humor and brilliant irony that illuminates the beauty of the absurdity that is life.

Christine Hemp's debut work of nonfiction, Wild Ride Home, is a brilliant memoir, looping themes of finding love and losing love, of going away and coming home, of the wretched course of Alzheimer's, of cancer, of lost pregnancies, of fly fishing and horsemanship, of second chances, and, ultimately, of the triumph of love and family--all told within the framework of the training of a little white horse named Buddy. 

Wild Ride Home invites the reader into the close Hemp family, which believes beauty and humor outshine the most devastating circumstances. Such optimism is challenged when the author suffers a series of blows: a dangerous fiancé, her mother’s dementia, unexpected death and illness. Buddy, a feisty, unforgettable little Arabian horse with his own history to overcome, offers her a chance to look back on her own life and learn to trust again, not only others, but more importantly, herself. Hemp skillfully guides us through a memoir that is, despite devastating loss, above all, an ode to joy.  

Genres: Memoir, Biography, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published February 4, 2020

About the author

CHRISTINE HEMP has been called a "poetry adventurer." She has aired her essays and poems on National Public Radio's Morning Edition; she has sent a poem of hers into space on a NASA mission to monitor the birth of stars; and her program Connecting Chord, has united cops and youth offenders--in Britain and the U.S.-- through poetry. Her memoir Wild Ride Home will be released in February, 2020. She has been appointed to the Speakers Bureau for Humanities Washington for her talk "From Homer to #hashtags: Our Changing Language." She's received, among other honors, a Harvard University Extension Conway Award for Teaching Writing, a Washington State Artist Trust Fellowship for Literature, and an Iowa Review award for literary nonfiction. She currently teaches at the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival and lives on Washington's Olympic Peninsula with two horses, two cats, and one husband.
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Reviews

[Erica Bauermeister · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's honest and brave and lyrical. Hemp takes her growing relationship with her horse and interweaves those moments with her past in a meditation on relationships, growth, challenges, and love. Hemp is a poet, and the words themselves are beautiful. Brava.

[Sonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am really feeling the need to share true moments of GRACE when I find it these days. A few weeks ago, I shared the essay that was printed in The NY Times from my friend Christine Hemp’s new book (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/we...) that truly touched me, and many of you wrote back your thanks.

In Christine’s beautiful writing, you come away with what it means to collect yourself along the way in life, through a strong core of values, support, humor and consistency of love that will get you through anything. I just finished her book this afternoon, and it was one of those rare books that you hug to your chest and soak in all the good that you just experienced. And her writing....Ann Patchett, Anne Tyler, Maya Angelou, Terry Tempest Williams and all the divas will admire her beautiful language combined with a lively sense of energy and air between her words that brings you along for the ride. You will too.

While this isn’t necessarily just for “horse” people...if you know any, please share this with your herd...I know they will appreciate it.

[Anna Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written memoir of love, loss, the meaning of home and how a spirited little horse with his own issues, teaches the author to persevere and trust her heart again. A fascinating, poetic story, one that becomes even more relevant and inspirational during these times where home is everything.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, absolutely loved this book!
Read it in two days!

[Kelley Lennon · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone is looking for a great book to read, here's an excellent one. I loved it, couldn't put it down, and I was sad when I was done...to the point of needing to read it again. It's beautifully-written by a beautiful soul. It's strong and hopeful and real. I loved this book.

[Eric K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was knocked out by the beauty of Christine Hemp’s descriptive writing about the natural world. Streams, mountains, birds and, of course, horses, come alive with startling clarity. Hemp writes not only with skill but with the easy familiarity of a true lover and aficionado of the physical worlds in which she dwells, in her case both New Mexico and the Pacific Northwest. Just beautiful.

Because Hemp’s focus is both outward and inward, her narrative achieves a fine balance when describing her life’s considerable challenges. She writes about a failed romance with Trey (that bum) several miscarriages, her parents' deaths and her own battle with cancer, with skill and grace, without self-pity or, really, pity of any sort. Hemp provides just the luminous facts of a life lived and infused with a great deal of love, which she finds at last with both a two-legged and a four-legged soul mate: her husband, a bow-maker, and Buddy, the white Arabian who helps the author heal even as she helps to heal Buddy. This memoir is not just the Wild Ride Home the title promises, but a very satisfying and uplifting one.

[Ronald Geigle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life begins to get a tad wobbly as one approaches middle age. Damages have begun to accumulate. Youthful dreams have begun to darken. But in Christine Hemp’s hands, the challenges and defeats -- and the pain they bring -- do not dim dreams. In fact, they may deepen them, even cast them in more lasting hues.

In her book, Wild Ride Home: Love, Loss, and a Little White Horse, a Family Memoir she has captured the texture of life’s middle years. She chronicles the aging and then passing of her parents, her personal battle with breast cancer, and the ups-and-downs of building her own family. And she does so with optimism intact, as if pulled along by the wonder of life itself.

She reaches her insights helped, in part, by working with a beautiful, spirited little horse named Buddy. Mistreated in his youth, Buddy misbehaves at times and might even be dangerous. But he can be warm and loving as well. Ms. Hemp interweaves her efforts to understand and reach Buddy with stories of her own life, marked by trials and errors, loss, but also by resolve and perseverance. Ultimately, by accepting Buddy for who he is, warts and all, she grows a special language with him:

“My relationship with Buddy has opened a window to a deeper perception of the world. Maybe this is actually what we’re called upon to do in this little life: find home in the most elemental place possible, our own skin.”

This is a lovely book. Worth every bit of five stars.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A poet’s memoir, of experiences lost and found. The author’s relationships mirror the relationship she builds with a horse named Buddy. From a traumatizing romantic relationship to the loss of her parents to her own cancer diagnosis and treatment, the arc of this story is of letting go to be able to move forward.

The beautifully captured moments, within a tight compositional structure where the growing relationship with the horse serves as the back-translation for her life experiences, are hallmarks of a poet’s discipline and taming of language.

The thing that makes prose different from poetry, though, is the narrative cadence and pacing, the way the writer puts the reader in the driver’s seat. That never happens with this memoir; one is kept removed from the action, always an observer. For, I guess, this is a memoir, and this author has a firm grip on the reins and doesn’t hand them over to the reader.

In short, well done, but in the end, the poet remains a poet.

[Polly Merritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't judge a book by its cover....but what a cover! Both the title --- three powerful four-letter words-- and the illustration make us sit right up in our saddles and head out for an adventure. Written by one woman who is, in the present, learning from an expert how to work with and understand her gem of a horse, it is also truly a "family memoir" because she has been through the highs and the lows of love and loss and everything and everyone who mattered has brought her here. Here is a book that shows the sweep of life and sings out what is most precious and why. Whether you're a rider or not, you will find plenty here to hold you spellbound.

[Maureen Stanton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely and tender memoir that explores so many rites of passage, but mostly about continuous cycles of loss and moving forward with hope. It's part of what might be a mini sub-genre of memoir about animals/wildlife as lessons for the human spirit; in this case, the throughline is about the author's love of horses, and understanding the psychology (if that's the right word) of horses. It's similar to "H is for Hawk" and "The Philosopher and the Wolf," both which I enjoyed not just for the personal story but for understanding animal-human relationships that I otherwise will never experience.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touching, heartfelt memoir

I am not a person who gravitates to memoirs when looking for my next book to read. I picked this up several months ago because the author is a person I knew over 40 years ago when we were in the same sorority as undergraduates, and several of our mutual friends and acquaintances were doing the same. What a rich life she has led, on virtually every level. I found her descriptions of the tragedies she has endured juxtaposed with her developing relationship with Buddy infused with hope, and mindful of the times in her life that were filled with joy. I highly recommend this for anyone to read.

[Nora Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from cover to cover. As a lifelong horse lover myself, this memoir of Christine's incredible life journey captured me from beginning to end. She seamlessly provided such a lovely flow of past to more present experiences in the book that it was always clear to me of what was happening in the story. I especially appreciated the obvious connection she has had with horses throughout her life and how equines can be teachers to us if we are open to how they can guide us. I highly recommend this memoir to others for an enjoyable and memorable reading experience.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild Ride Home, a memoir by Christine Hemp, is a poignant journey through her life juxtaposed against the training of her horse, Buddy. Her resilience, compassion and joy in life shine through. Even though she meets heartbreak and challenge, the braided story of her personal experiences and her relationship with Buddy, make for compelling reading. Hemp is also a well known poet and a musician, which has clearly influenced the beauty and cadence of her writing. This is a book to savor on many levels.

[Candace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hated the writing style. It was rife with short anecdotes that never seemed to go anywhere, and typical cliche 3 adjective descriptions of people and events. As soon as anything appears to get interesting, she jumps to the next story with no deeper analysis of the event or experience. I love horses and generally love reading everything horse related but her stereotypical, cliche descriptions of the horses are so cheesy and overused that it makes me cringe - everything from the white horse galloping wild and free to Arabian horses being raised in Bedouin tents drinking camels milk. 🙄

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautifully written. I fell in love with the author, her family and her horse, Buddy. Christine is a gifted story teller and I felt like I was living through her struggles, her pain and her joys. I didn't want it to end. This was an inspiring book and my life is richer for having read it. I'm grateful that she shared her journey.

[Vicki Holmsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is WOW

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Brings up a lot of questions to ponder about life and love and other things. Profound, thoughtful and hopeful.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mostly about life....and oh yeah, there's a horse in it. But still, mostly about life. Great book.

[Sj · Rating 3 out of 5]

woman learning to really communicate with her horse and with others.

[Kelsey Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.35

[Bill Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well written and very readable memoir. I enjoyed the events as described. I didn't care
for all the woo: horsey woo, religious woo, and New Age woo.

[Amy Spungen · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don’t have to love horses to find Christine Hemp’s recently published memoir, Wild Ride Home: Love, Loss, and a Little White Horse, fascinating. True, the story centers on Hemp’s Arabian gelding, Buddy, whom she encounters in middle age after a series of losses. But this is no sappy woman-loves-horses romance. Hemp is a masterful writer, as well as a renowned poet, and throughout more than 40 brief chapters she skillfully interweaves the story of her eventful, peripatetic past with an in-the-moment perspective of her quest to understand Buddy through the help of a skilled trainer. In doing the latter, Hemp enables readers to experience Buddy’s energy as he gallops past them in the training pen, long white mane and high-held tail streaming, or feel his warm breath after he walks forward, ears pricked, to snuff his nose into an outstretched hand.

Between people, relationships grow and sometimes fade. Occasionally, they combust. Couples celebrate pregnancies, and mourn when they end prematurely. Grown children watch their parents age and sicken, then die. Individually, people get sick—desperately sick. They are not new stories, but in Hemp’s vivid telling, these events in her life unfold with the force of gravity, pulling readers into the narrative.

As Hemp connects more closely with her “little spitfire” Arabian their relationship changes, becoming less fraught and more seamless. Her experience expands into a deepened perspective of her overall place in this world. “Time with Buddy showed a glimmer of what is possible not only with a horse, but with myself and other beings on this Earth,” she writes. It’s no exaggeration to say that what Hemp learns through her experience with her intelligent, mischievous horse connects her to the force of life itself. And her readers are fortunate indeed to come along on the ride.

[Mishele Maron · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first glance, you think you're going to be reading about a horse. There is a horse, and he's great, but this book subtly sucks you into what becomes a lyrical page-turner. I read this in one sitting, and then again, trying to figure out how Hemp covered so much ground so well. As Hemp works with her horse Buddy, she's deftly weaving in threads about family, illness, love, failed love, fertility, mortality, and as her childhood world comes crashing around her a new, more complex world/self emerges. Over time, you realize the work session with her horse are life sessions, her grasp at the beautiful and wild as she grapples with so much loss. Hemp's book is a tale about how to prevail when life hammer's you until an inch of your life.

Hemp's work falls into aligned with other poet-memoirists, like Mark Doty in FireBird, in that an expanded sensibility plus a grasp on language elevate the story. When a writer can write this well, they can convey subtle shifts in perspective that otherwise would sound overwrought. Her filtering lens is authentic in an uncommon and beautiful way. I loved this book.

[Sarah Stockton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild Ride Home is a lyrical, powerful, engrossing memoir about the clashes and confluences of a life steered both by the desire for personal, creative freedom and the courage to risk heartfelt commitment. It's a bumpy, even treacherous ride at times, but also magical. From the Southwest to the East coast and back to her roots in the Pacific Northwest, the author shows us a life grounded in the senses and reaching for the spirit. Beautiful.

[Meg Mahoney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild Ride Home is a book to savor. I took it slowly, story by story. Now I find myself mulling it over and dwelling in its world. Christine Hemp uses a positive, joyful approach to life to distill sorrows that tried to swallow her. She has a way with words and life that's addictive, perhaps contagious. I plan to read it again.

[Featherbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christine Hempquotes Linda Gregg's poem We Manage Most When We Manage Small in the beginning of Wild Ride Home: Love, Loss, and a Little White Horse, a Family Memoir: "This touching home goes far," an apt description of this affecting memoir. I was not immediately drawn to a memoir about a horse, but as soon as I started reading, her bonding with Buddy, the poetry of the narrator's prose (she is a published poet), the story tension, the Scottish fly fisherman in the Land of Enchantment, I was hooked. (sorry). Beautifully constructed, the short horse parts intertwine with the heartbreaks countered by her funny, upbeat family support and lively recollections of youth. Snippets of literature and art and medicine relieve the tension and life losses. Events touch each of us. Both key settings, the New Mexico small town and the Pacific Northwest are magical. I gobbled up the story in two days and never left the narrator's side even when I wasn't reading.

[Aida Alberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating glimpse into someone's life and how they gave and deal with the ordinary and the extraordinary. Prepare to be dazzled. Happy reading!

[Ian Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild Ride Home is an appropriate title for this poignant and funny memoir about one woman's and one family's compassionate resilience in the face of tragedy. Hemp's strong writing drives a narrative that is both compelling and entertaining as she navigates through the wild ride of her life to find home. Threaded through the story is her relationship with Buddy, an plucky Arabian horse with many lessons to teach. At the end of it all is the feeling that we have to embrace what joy comes our way, because we're all on a wild ride and it can all change in an instant.

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild Ride Home is a somber memoir, mostly about loss. Hemp Intersperses her chapters with her relationship with a horse named Buddy, with snippets of her own life. She endured failed relationships, miscarriages, her parents' challenging struggles with failing health, and her own health issues. Through it all, the message is perseverance. Every time life hurtled another problem Hemp withstood it, much like her patient lessons with Buddy. Inspiring, but a somber read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.