Review The Glass Castle: A Memoir

The Glass Castle: A Memoir Best Review

This book is my favorite book by far. I was able to relate to Jeannette's story countless times and the emotion it drew out of me was immeasurable. There were a few sentences about her father near the end that gripped me and had me literally bawling (which doesn't normally happen to me). This is the story of a family's undying love for each other, despite all their struggles and "different" way of life. No matter how awful things were or how awful they may have been to each other, they were still a family and had hopes for better things. Harsh reality is put in your face constantly throughout this book, so if you can't handle that, don't read it! I just finished Half Broke Horses, Jeannette's second book, and I have no choice but to reread The Glass Castle now to watch this beautiful story unfold once again.

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The Glass Castle: A Memoir Overview

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.

Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.

What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story. A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor.

The Glass Castle: A Memoir Specifications

Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover. --Brangien Davis

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Customer Reviews

Interesting Read - Nash Black - Jamestown, KY
Jeanette Walls, THE GLASS CASTLE is a well written autobiography of a dysfunctional family who managed to stay together as a unit.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS



Interesting and Fantastic from Page 1 - luvsagoodbook -
If you love a book that is great from page 1 then get this book! Amazing story that I caught myself gasping at from start to finish.



Great Weekend Read - A. McGrean -
This book is easy to read, steady paced, and extremely fascinating.

You will quickly become interested in the life of this eclectic family and you will finish the book wanting to know more. You will rejoice for their victories, cry for their sorrows, and disappointment with their shortcomings.

Read with an open mind and as if you are listening to a friend; this is an honest memoir, not a true-to-life novel so character, plot, and development criticism is not appreciated.

I have recommended it to two friends; they have each recommended it to two friends and so the cycle continues.

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 26, 2010 17:00:06

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