Review of "Broken Rib Ranch, a memoir" by Timothy Parsel

When Timothy Parsel was in grade school, his English teacher tried to convince him to pursue a career in writing. And it's easy to see why, Parsel—whose day job is that of a professional truck driver—has a clear, confident writing style that is by turns humorous and sincere. He also never fails to entertain.


Broken Rib Ranch is a touching and informative memoir of his life married to a woman whose obsessive love of horses causes the couple's lives to increasingly revolve around the care and keeping of an ever growing herd on their eighty acre spread near the rural Michigan town of Charlevoix.


Experienced horse people and horse novice alike will recognize and revel in the many ups and downs of horse ownership and the trials of maintaining a large farm in a harsh climate. Who knew horses had personalities as varied and intricate as our own? Probably all "horse people," but it will be news to many others.


In many ways, however, Parsel's story is as much about his marriage as it is about raising horses. He details their courtship, which began at a local car dealership where he and his future wife were employed in their younger years. Parsel is a one-woman man, and it is always clear that, despite the good-natured ribbing his wife receives in the story's telling, he is devoted to her above all else, even when her herd of horses reaches unmanageable proportions. Another man might have called a divorce attorney as the amount of work involved in keeping seventeen horses gets out of hand, pushing him to the edge, but not Parsel. He is in for the long-haul, and it is enlightening to watch the dynamics of the couple's marriage in gear as they slowly bring the headcount down.


In the end, Broken Rib Ranch is an engaging portrait of two people in love. Stretched to the limits of their capabilities by the realities and day-to-day drudgery of raising horses, the couple's resilient bond is a testament to their powerful love, for each other and for their horses.



Review by John Casey
Published Freelance Writer, New York