The Glass Castle: A Memoir

published	2006 by Scribner
first published	2005
binding	Paperback
isbn	074324754X (isbn13: 9780743247542)
pages	304
description	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 tow...more [close] 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
date added	12-08-06 edit book

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | more...

discuss this book

topics	replies	last activity
The Glass Castle	8	02/09/2008 06:26AM
Glass Castle	54	4 hours, 6 min ago
great book	9	01/11/2008 08:06AM

new topic | see all topics »

groups with this book

view all groups »

friend reviews (0)

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 23651)

Tracy rated it:

01/21/08

bookshelves: read-and-liked-it

Read in May, 2007

recommended to Tracy by: my mom
recommends it for: general audience

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Book Review: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls proves in her astounding memoir that bad parenting and abject poverty do not necessarily condemn children to a dismal future of the same. In "The Glass Castle" published in 2005 by Scribner, Walls reveals the intimate details of her upbringing within a dysfunctional yet loving family.

"The Glass Castle" immediately grips you with an opening scene in which Walls, as an adult in New York City, sees from the...more

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

1 comments

Marika rated it:

03/29/08

Read in March, 2008

This New York Times bestseller is an exquisitely written memoir. Jeannette Walls tells the story of growing up with free-spirited, irresponsible parents who lived life as an adventure and avoided obligation and domesticity. Jeannette's alcoholic father was strikingly intelligent and charming while simultaneously frightening in his carelessness. He rarely held down a job and squandered any money the family found to support his alcohol addiction. Her mother, an avid reader and dedicated artist, wa...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

lkt rated it:

05/29/07

Read in July, 2006

From my Amazon.com review:

"Sometimes people get the lives they want..."

A stunning memoir, hard to put down. Walls is superb with details, a true genius. She is a fine example of a self-made, successful person. But throughout most of the book, I was so angry with the parents, her mother in particular:

When the kids had nothing to eat, she hid a king-sized Hershey bar in her bed for herself. She had an excuse for her behavior, whining that she's a "sugar...more From my Amazon.com review:

"Sometimes people get the lives they want..."

A stunning memoir, hard to put down. Walls is superb with details, a true genius. She is a fine example of a self-made, successful person. But throughout most of the book, I was so angry with the parents, her mother in particular:

When the kids had nothing to eat, she hid a king-sized Hershey bar in her bed for herself. She had an excuse for her behavior, whining that she's a "sugar addict." (And later, she refuses to get a job (or keep one, when she gets them) because she's an "excitement addict." Really, it seems like she's rather immature and lazy. How exciting is it to sleep all day or have tantrums about blaming her children for her failures as an artist?)

When Brian and Jeannette found the diamond ring, they could have used it to buy necessities like food and clothes, but their mother needed it for her precious self-esteem. She really lacks motivation to get up and do something about their deplorable living conditions, but is too selfish to do so.

When Uncle Stanley groped Jeannette, he mother didn't seem too concerned and actually felt sorry for the uncle, believing him to be lonely!

She refuses Welfare, despite the fact that her pride is harming her children, a form of child abuse and negligence. They are living in squalor but it's supposed to be an "adventure." The house is filthy with the mold, trash, mushrooms growing in the corners, and the lack of heat and indoor plumbing. It is not an acceptable environment and I'm surprised the gov't man didn't come back. If you really love your children, you should provide for them, even if you hate charity. Instead, she spends most of her time feeling sorry for herself, if she isn't pursuing her true calling as an artist.

And when she doesn't go back to one of her teaching jobs, she reasons, "It's time I did something for myself..It's time I started living my life for me...Why do I have to earn the money? You [Jeannette] have a job." It just made me so angry to hear her talk that way to her own daughter. She has no sense of responsibility. "I've got more important things to do," she also said.

For all her artistic ideals, she is whiny, pathetic, seems to care more about strangers and stray animals than her children. And it was ridiculous how she didn't want to kill the flies and cockroaches, and felt sorry for the big rat in the sugar bowl. She is encouraging the unhealthy conditions by keeping pests alive, so it seems that while she doesn't want to deprive insects and animals of food ("they need to eat too"), it's ok if her children starve.

And no, I'm not forgetting the father. I must admit that I had a soft spot for him, despite his alcoholism. He at least attempted to be a father, showing love to Jeannette and making her feel special,educating her on many subjects. I got teary when reading about how he read the same books on Jeannette's college reading lists so he could help her with any questions. He was more interested in her life than her mother was. But I was disgusted with Rex when he let the man at the bar take her upstairs. Definitely not a saint, but much more likeable than the mom in my view.

I really admired Jeannette in the poli-sci class, when the prof is talking about the causes of homelessness. It cannot always be blamed on drugs and SS cuts - there is a degree of personal responsibilty, as I alluded to in the title of this review. As Jeannette said, "If people worked hard and compromised...they could make ends meet." It angered the prof but I was proud of her. I wish she had told the truth about her background though.

Yes, I'm hard on the parents, but they make me admire the author even more, for breaking free from the traps of her parents' self-made poverty. She never gave up, and I know that if I'd been in her shoes, I wouldn't have made it. ...less

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

2 comments

Tim rated it:

06/22/07

Read in April, 2007

Let me go on record by saying that I’m slightly annoyed by memoirs. It’s not that I dislike biography — in fact I enjoy a good autobiographical yarn — it’s that the book industry did us all a disservice back in the 90’s when they decided that everything from gardening books to cookbooks to political commentary would be better presented if they were somehow crafted into memoir-like tales that gave the reader an idea of why the author is writing about a particular subject.

Having sa...more Let me go on record by saying that I’m slightly annoyed by memoirs. It’s not that I dislike biography — in fact I enjoy a good autobiographical yarn — it’s that the book industry did us all a disservice back in the 90’s when they decided that everything from gardening books to cookbooks to political commentary would be better presented if they were somehow crafted into memoir-like tales that gave the reader an idea of why the author is writing about a particular subject.

Having said that, you may imagine that I didn’t particularly enjoy reading Jeanette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle for our most recent book club selection. You would be correct. Oddly enough, it didn’t have anything to do with its memoir format, as I knew going in it was going to be a memoir, but had everything to do with me simply not believing it.

The novel (ostensibly) tells the story of a young girl growing up in a family that not only defines dysfunctional, but could quite possibly add another chapter to the DSM-V. Walls’ father suffers from alcoholism (and quite possibly manic-depression), her mother suffers from low self-esteem (or some similar “enabling” personality trait), while the kids suffer from poverty, pyromania, dissociative disorder, and in the case of the youngest child, possibly Pentecostalism.

Walls spends the bulk of the book talking about her family’s migratory ways and her father’s lack of steady employment, pushing them all into a life of gypsy romanticism. I say romanticism because Walls continually portrays the family as having a certain charm that makes you want to keep reading, even though such a situation should strike fear and revulsion in anyone’s heart.

For whatever reason, I found myself completely unconvinced. The fact that Walls, who spent most of her childhood bouncing from school system to school system and eventually dropped out to move to New York, wound up in an Ivy League college without any real explanation, seemed not only vague but put the final nail in the coffin of my disbelief.

Granted, I’ll be the first to cop to that old adage: it takes a bullshitter to know a bullshitter. But even the mildest of cynics would likely leave this book wondering why the author spent so much time talking about her struggles as a child, only to reveal her sudden success without so much as a chapter to discuss the work it took to get where she is now.

For me, that’s the problem with this book. Why write a memoir if you’re only going to retell a difficult childhood? The reason memoirs caught on in the first place is because the Oprah-induced “self help” generation love reading books about how people overcome obstacles in order to make something of their life. ...less

Like this review? yes (14 people liked it)

5 comments

Rachel rated it:

01/31/08

"I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster."

Okay, this may be a long one...I knew nothing of this book outside of the title sounding familiar when I picked it up to listen to during data entry. And it took one sentence...only one sentence to know that this was a different kind of book...and to know I wouldn't be able to stop listening to it until the end. Think back to how many books ...more "I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster."

Okay, this may be a long one...I knew nothing of this book outside of the title sounding familiar when I picked it up to listen to during data entry. And it took one sentence...only one sentence to know that this was a different kind of book...and to know I wouldn't be able to stop listening to it until the end. Think back to how many books you can say that about.

Because I don't think I could describe the story any better...borrowed from a review on Amazon...."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)."

I think this was an amazing book but I'll be honest and say that about halfway through I really started to get mad. Like I said, I didn't know anything about this book so didn't know it was a memoir. About the time the family gets to West Virginia (where I grew up), was when I started to wonder what exactly was happening. Either this author read every book about WV they could and just threw in the absolute worst stereotypes they could find...and if so, this was making me mad. OR. I started hearing real names and places, real situations and so I grabbed the jacket cover and found out that all this really did happen to this woman. And the anger melted and the fascination and let's face it, horror, came back.

I was looking at reviews and then I was looking at some questions for the reader and one in particular just struck me because it was something i was thinking about the entire way through the book. How long does it take you to come to the conclusion that the parents are 'bad'--or do you? And why this thought crossed my mind was that through the very beginning portion of the book, though on occasion, I had to cock my head and say 'seriously?' to something insane the parents did, I was actually pretty impressed with some of their philosophies. Then you progress to the middle section of the book and it's reversed...you wonder how a child could survive being brought up with these parents, but on occasion, they'd do something actually fairly interesting again and I'd cock my head and say 'really?', before I'd go back to wondering where the hell child welfare was in all this. You can't forget that these kids had to rummage through garbage because of some incredibly selfish things that the parents did and that apparently attempted sexual molestation is simply a 'perception'. But I also couldn't forget that some of the things they tried to teach their kids (dangers of being materialistic for example), are pretty valuable lessons. Just this dichotomy itself is why I say READ IT. And don't just read it...THINK ABOUT IT....less

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

1 comments

Stacey rated it:

03/20/08

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: memoir-enthusiasts, people who think they have it bad.

This is the first memoir I've read in a long time and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. The author (Jeannette Walls) tells the story of her upbringing, beginning at the age of three and continuing until she's an adult. Her family (2 parents and 4 children) begin moving from state to state as soon as the father has stirred up enough trouble or incurred enough debt to have to flee. Their living conditions seem to grow worse and worse throughout the story. The father (Rex) is an alcohol...more This is the first memoir I've read in a long time and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. The author (Jeannette Walls) tells the story of her upbringing, beginning at the age of three and continuing until she's an adult. Her family (2 parents and 4 children) begin moving from state to state as soon as the father has stirred up enough trouble or incurred enough debt to have to flee. Their living conditions seem to grow worse and worse throughout the story. The father (Rex) is an alcoholic who is also in his own way lovable and intelligent, while being destructive and aloof. He's the character you don't want to like but end up feeling tenderly towards despite yourself. The mother (Rose Mary) is possibly mentally ill (though to my disappointment, her motivations for doing or NOT doing things is never fully fleshed out) and doesn't feel the need to provide for her children in any way. They go hungry. They are scavengers. Both parents turn a blind eye to sexual advances made towards at least 2 of the children by extended family members.

This was a good book, but it was maddening. I almost want to say the events seem so bad as to be unbelieveable, but both parents seemed realistically flawed (for use of the nicest phrase) enough to remind me of familiar characteristics driven to an extreme and making this book what it was. I had the hardest time coping with Rose Mary. Two of the kids found a diamond ring which they gave to their mother, excited because they thought this meant they'd have enough money to have food that week. Instead, Rose Mary kept it because she thought wearing it would, "help (her) self-esteem". I have a hard time understanding a mother who thinks her own self-esteem is more important than providing her children with a meal. I have a hard time understanding a mother who would rather have her children go hungry than go on welfare. She also was depicted in a scene hiding and eating a chocolate bar while her children went hungry. This made me twitchy throughout the book and I personally found it hard to understand how they could love such a person.

Both parents, in spite of everything, still come through as loving the children in their own (selfish and sometimes skewed) ways. The volatile relationship between Rex and Rose Mary serves as a very obvious picture of Rex's instability and Rose Mary's unrealistic optimism and narcissism. They're painted as intelligent, creative, almost bohemian characters who would have a lot to offer any children if they were mentally able to provide the essentials like food and shelter.

All of that said, Jeannette Walls didn't write this with a "woe is me" tone, which was impressive. The story wouldn't have been readable had she done that. It just stayed descriptive. Throughout her narrative, she managed to still come through loving her parents and being especially fond of her father. The thing I liked most about The Glass Castle was that her transition from innocent child who trusted her parents unconditionally to an intelligent teenager who saw how selfish her parents were and how dire their lives were was subtle. In some books, that kind of revelation takes place in one or a few pages page, which for me feels contrived.

I have a hard time rating this book for several reasons: my disapproval of the parents, the straight-forward writing style which in any other book might have felt lacking or overly-simplified, and the quick summation of things at the end. Overall, I'd say it's a good read if you want something that isn't challenging and will undoubtedly make you feel like you've had a decent life.
...less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Liz rated it:

01/03/08

Read in December, 2007

recommended to Liz by: Melissa

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Here are my responses to a Book Club discussion about this book:

Though The Glass Castle is brimming with unforgettable stories; which scenes were the most memorable for you? Which were the most shocking, the most inspiring, the funniest?
• I loved the story of her dad giving them stars for Christmas. At this point, the book is still beginning and the childhood still seems hopeful. They are poor, but there is hope for a better future. I loved how her mom and dad had such a different outloo...more Here are my responses to a Book Club discussion about this book:

Though The Glass Castle is brimming with unforgettable stories; which scenes were the most memorable for you? Which were the most shocking, the most inspiring, the funniest?
• I loved the story of her dad giving them stars for Christmas. At this point, the book is still beginning and the childhood still seems hopeful. They are poor, but there is hope for a better future. I loved how her mom and dad had such a different outlook on things. The star is just one example of that.
• The most shocking scene for me was probably when the grandmother violated Brian. I didn’t see that coming at all, and when Jeannette asked her siblings about her grandmother doing that to their father I think it was a significant moment in her life when her sister replied “You can’t think about things like that, they’ll drive you crazy.” Think about it – when was there another time Jeannette writes about her assumptions? She stopped thinking about things that made her crazy. Anyway, all that time her dad was refusing to move back home, never once did I consider that his parent’s weren’t great people. But when you think that their mom’s mom was a great woman… I guess it makes sense for us to wonder about her dad’s parents. Anyway, that was the most shocking for me.

What kind of man was Rex Walls? What were his strengths and weaknesses, his flaws and contradictions?
• His biggest weakness was his pride. He was too prideful to work for other men, to start from the bottom and work his way up. He was too prideful to admit defeat when he couldn’t provide for his family. I think it was his pride that set the stage for his children’s childhood.
• At the same time, I think his biggest strength what his unconditional love for his children. I was surprised when he didn’t want to protect Jeannette after the bar incident, and I hated the learning-to-swim scene, but in a weird way… the man loved his kids. It’s too bad that love wasn’t enough in this situation, you know?

What kind of woman was Rose Mary Walls? What did you think about her description of herself as an “excitement addict? (p. 93)"
• I think she was selfish and immature (re: the crying fits in FRONT of the children). I have to admit – I admired her for never leaving Rex. Actually, that’s something I have thought about significantly since I finished the book. She never considered the thought of leaving her husband. I know that can be a good and a bad thing, obviously (had she left, her children may have had a better childhood), but I do really admire that she didn’t even consider it. That’s just a rarity these days. Anyway, I still think she was very selfish and it was hard to even sense that she cared about her children. Jeannette didn’t write much about her mom consoling or comforting her and I think that’s a mother’s job.

The most extraordinary thing about The Glass Castle is that despite everything, Jeannette Walls refuses to condemn her parents. Were you able to be equally nonjudgmental?
• I think so, actually. Jeannette did a good job of helping us feel the love her dad had for her, and the protectiveness her brother had over his sisters. However, I am not a mom and I had a very good childhood, so maybe I am able to be nonjudgmental because the only thing I know of this terrible childhood is what I have read. I didn’t really feel the cold nights and the empty stomachs and the classmates beating Jeannette up. I don’t even think I can really imagine how all of that really was – on her level at least....less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Marcie rated it:

01/12/08

recommended to Marcie by: Cheryl

Once I let my frustration with the parents' neglect go, I actually enjoyed this book. Because of her matter-of-fact, non-whining writing, I enjoyed reading this book the entire time and actually put off other things so I could read more. As a disclaimer to my following comments, I am in no way condoning all of their parenting style and I also acknowledge they did not provide for their children like a parent should, but I have to say that I learned quite a bit from her parents! The positive th...more Once I let my frustration with the parents' neglect go, I actually enjoyed this book. Because of her matter-of-fact, non-whining writing, I enjoyed reading this book the entire time and actually put off other things so I could read more. As a disclaimer to my following comments, I am in no way condoning all of their parenting style and I also acknowledge they did not provide for their children like a parent should, but I have to say that I learned quite a bit from her parents! The positive things from this book stuck with me, not the negative ones, so that is what my comments will be about.
The description of her growing up years gave me ideas and motivation of how to be passionate about hobbies and life in general. Her parents taught me how to make learning fun and to see the potential in people and situations (i.e."this house needs fixing, but it has good bones"). I went away from this book with a desire to have more vigor and creativity in life and to pass that on to my children (i.e. the mom bought tons of shoes from thrift stores and played classical/jazz/country/etc. music and they danced around having a ball while learning all about different genres of music).
I also feel that we've become too much of "helicopter" parents -- hovering over our children making sure we direct every thought and action they have. We see this as helping, but I think it is actually detrimental to their own learning and growth. We are seeing the effects of dependent, inexperienced college-aged kids (this was most notable in southern CA). I think many of life's lessons could and should be learned at home, which means a loosening of the reins so that mistakes are still made while we are around to help as parents. Granted, in the book, her parents take this self-learning to an extreme, but I still learned from it. My perception is that (the US) society labels you as a "bad parent" if your child is allowed to 1)fall off a slide at the playground, 2)go without their snack one day at school if they forgot it(vs. you bringing it to them), 3) sort out a (non-physical) fight they got in with a friend without a parent getting involved, etc.
I also found it amusing that she had such hard time accepting that her mom wanted to be homeless. I can understand how she'd still be embarrased or get tired of having to explain to people, but I agreed with her mom when she said that her daughter had the problem with esteem because she still worried about what other people thought.
Anyway, it got me thinking so much about what's most important in life and how important love is (I never once doubted her parents love for her and she gave the impression that she never did either) that I highly recommend it! I had a couple friends that didn't like it, mostly because they couldn't get past things like her digging in trash cans at school because she was so hungry('People like that shouldn't be allowed to have kids' they said). But it was all the other things I learned (naming a star for your birthday) that makes me want to read it again....less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Sondra Santos rated it:

09/13/07

Read in August, 2007

Somehow the narrator steps outside of her unusual and unimaginable life and speaks about her experiences as if she was referring to someone else. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a memoir and not a work of fiction and that these were situations that were not created but recalled, and with such vivid details.

There are four children in the Walls' family, all of whom turned out quite differently and whose experiences brought them to different places in their lives. Unfortunately, we...more Somehow the narrator steps outside of her unusual and unimaginable life and speaks about her experiences as if she was referring to someone else. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a memoir and not a work of fiction and that these were situations that were not created but recalled, and with such vivid details.

There are four children in the Walls' family, all of whom turned out quite differently and whose experiences brought them to different places in their lives. Unfortunately, we only get to hear the perspective of one of them here and it is quite unlikely that the other three grown children remember the events the same way.

Since I studied psychology in college, I was intrigued by the notion that despite their upbringing, these children, with the exception of one who we hear little about as an adult, turn out as normally functioning members of our society. Educated, too.

It is quite apparent after reading this story that one does not need money or a plethora of material things to "make it" in the world. In fact, perhaps quite the opposite is true. Would the Walls' children learn the lessons they did if it weren't for their parents showing them and teaching them (without trying) that hard work and responsibility bring you certain advantages in life? After all, these children had to scrounge for their own food and learned to survive without their parents and in fact, spent many days and nights, most likely, worrying about them and taking care of them, both physically and emotionally.

These children saw their neighbors and classmates in a much different light. While people looked to her with pity, Jeannette sees others much differently than they see themselves and is inspired and motivated by simply wanting more, wanting to have enough and not go hungry.

One could argue that these children were neglected and that it would've been better for them to be removed from their home as children and brought into houses with warm food, warm beds and warm and loving 'parents.' One could also argue that being taken away from the only home and the only family they know could've done more harm than good.

This is quite an interesting and thought-provoking book and one that will most likely become required reading as it focuses on survival and reveals how young people today no longer rely on their instincts. Their own survival skills are not tested since they are provided with every opportunity, and an overabundance of choices which could possibly take away the chances of their ability to "make it on their own" once they step into the real world....less

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

1 comments

Lisa rated it:

03/04/08

bookshelves: borrowed

Read in March, 2008

recommended to Lisa by: Ruth
recommends it for: people who think they grew up in crazy families, journalists

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I always seem to finish books late at night. If the book is good my heart is racing and my mind spinning with my thoughts about the book. This is usually the best time to write a review. But last night I was absurdley concerned with being responsible and not staying up later than 1 AM.

I guess my first thought about this book since I picking it up was, "And I thought my family was crazy." My family definitely had its share of skeletons, but it was nothing like this. At least my pare...more I always seem to finish books late at night. If the book is good my heart is racing and my mind spinning with my thoughts about the book. This is usually the best time to write a review. But last night I was absurdley concerned with being responsible and not staying up later than 1 AM.

I guess my first thought about this book since I picking it up was, "And I thought my family was crazy." My family definitely had its share of skeletons, but it was nothing like this. At least my parents made sure we were always well fed, clothed, housed, and schooled. This book makes what would be my memoir seem comparitively boring.

I really liked how the book was broken up into little snippets of memories that flowed together. It made it easy to stop if I needed to.

Walls was good at describing the situation in detail so I really got a good picture of what was going on. I felt engaged and drawn into her story the entire time. There were so many things that I could find myself relating to as crazy as it sounded.

It was interesting to see how, for the most part, the kids turned out fairly successful despite how they were raised, with the exception of Maureen. You don't really get a sense of how Maureen is doing at the end of the book, just that she plans to come visit according to the mom.

I knew that Walls was successful because I recognized her from TV news, but I really expected the rest of her family to just fall apart when I started reading.

As a journalist, I of course loved the the parts where she gets into journalism and reading about how the old presses were. I've heard these stories from old newsies in the past: about typsetting when the typsetter was broken, the huge gallies, literally cutting out mistakes and replacing them and then waxing over, etc. I definitely related to Walls when she becomes a reporter for the high school paper and starts going to all the events. She says something about how she never fit in at those events before, but now she had a reason to be there. Those are some of the exact feelings I had upon becoming a journalist. The thrill of being in the know, getting to be in a courtroom for an important case, and all that. Those are the things that drew me to the job. I'm glad Walls spent a good portion of the book discussing her profession and how she got into it.

I think a lot of people that write memoirs tend to just write about their past up to a certain point and not write much about what got them out or what their life is like now. This part is usually just glanced over in the last chapter of memoirs that I have read. So I'm glad that Walls didn't do that.

All in all I really liked this book because I could relate to her crazy family and her life as a journalist. ...less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Jennifer rated it:

10/29/07

bookshelves: memoir-autobiography-nonfiction

Read in August, 2006

recommends it for: anyone interested in memoir

When she was a child and a teenager, food often was scarce or nonexistent, and lunch, if she was lucky, sometimes came from classmates’ castoffs and scraps found in the school restroom garbage can. Now, she can afford to eat anything she wants anywhere she chooses.

Then, she survived with her three siblings, sleeping in cardboard boxes for beds in houses, shacks and even a railroad station often without electricity and sometimes without an indoor toilet or bathtub or heat. Now, as an adult ...more When she was a child and a teenager, food often was scarce or nonexistent, and lunch, if she was lucky, sometimes came from classmates’ castoffs and scraps found in the school restroom garbage can. Now, she can afford to eat anything she wants anywhere she chooses.

Then, she survived with her three siblings, sleeping in cardboard boxes for beds in houses, shacks and even a railroad station often without electricity and sometimes without an indoor toilet or bathtub or heat. Now, as an adult she can say, though she’s too humble to brag, she’s lived in a Park Avenue apartment decorated with Persian rugs and framed Georgian maps and currently resides in a Virginia country house boasting wide-planked floorboards, big fireplaces and a swimming pool.

Then, in the schools of Welch, West Virginia, she was reviled as an outsider because she wasn’t from "around here," because her family was poor, and, ironically, because she was smart. Now, she’s revered as an insider who graduated from an Ivy League school and became a successful journalist, who has written for Esquire, USA Today and currently writes a gossip column for MSNBC.com .

In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls shares these and other stories about growing up with parents who were intellectually and artistically brilliant but unorthodox and even neglectful when it came to child rearing. Walls, whose book has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC’s The View and recently acclaimed by First Lady Laura Bush, is genuinely humble.

"I’m just a girl with a story who wants to share it," Walls remarked. She said she has two fond wishes about the book – that people who read the book and who might be poor might see that they are not that different than her and that others who read it might see that they are not that different than those who are poor. In fact, Walls received confirmation that her fondest wish has come true when an English teacher told her that after reading The Glass Castle, one of her underprivileged students proclaimed "this here is a fine, white trash book." Meant as a sincere compliment, the boy’s comment told his teacher and Walls that he related to Walls’ story of hardship, struggle and determination.

The Glass Castle is a moving story about how Walls ultimately breaks the cycle of poverty to become a successful writer and person through perseverance and sheer will, and some have even lauded it as a roadmap to forgiveness and reconciliation.

...less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Kate rated it:

08/31/07

bookshelves: nonfiction

Read in August, 2007

This book really made me angry--why can people who have absolutely no business having kids be able to have four?

Let me backtrack...

In the beginning, the Walls family is always on the run. The father is an alcoholic, who is intelligent, but believes everything upon everything is a conspiracy. He can't get a job because of the mafia, the government, the gestapo...The mother has a teaching degree, but chooses to be an artist. The family is barely able to scrape by; the father spends any ...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

1 comments

Kim rated it:

04/01/08

Read in April, 2008

recommended to Kim by: Valerie (thanks by the way)

Holy. Freakin'. Crap

I planned on writing some light hearted banter about how I would subject my ungrateful kids to this during family reading hour but after having such trouble stomaching what this woman went through, to do so would be completely unwarranted.

And they call this YA? What's happened in the last 25 years that made society believe that our kids could handle this? I just finished The Book Thief and had drawn a similar conclusion. What happened to the Judy Blumes and ...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

7 comments

Michele rated it:

06/26/07

Read in December, 2006

Like a Phoenix From the Ashes

I have no doubt as to why this book was recommended by to me, given my taste for well-written memoirs and my affinity for books like "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," by Betty Smith and "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt. This completing engrossing tale of Jeannette Walls and her rise from the ashes of an extremely difficult childhood is on a par with both Smith's classic, and McCourt's Pulitzer Prize winning efforts.

"The Glass Castle"...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

Jo Ann rated it:

10/13/07

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: gayle jacobsen

Very interesting.I really appreciated this book. Having my own family skeletons in the closet, it's refreshing to see someone come clean.

INTERVIEW W/JEANNETTE WALLS:
http://www.comedycentral.com/m...

REV...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Gbeab rated it:

11/02/07

Read in September, 2007

Well I was feeling American and "why-not'ish" to read Jeannette Walls' memoir in that I ordered it 'used' off E-bay and more I made sure I bought it used on E-bay from someone right around here. From there, the book arrives and there's one lame comment about a quarter way in (the page is marked with three question marks related to believability). The problem at the start is: Walls had the vocab and intellectual sensibilities of a woman in her thirties when just age 3. Believability is ...more