The Glass Castle in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Mar 26, 2008 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: memoir-and-autobiographical-essays, appalachia

An oddly emotionless retelling of the author's childhood spent mostly in poverty. The writing was good enough to keep me wanting to read what happened next, but yet the strange lack of emotion made it feel more like a long list of misery rather than a memoir. The awfulness of it was almost unbelievable; every time something the tiniest bit good happened, either her father or her mother would manage to ruin it. Her mother also seems to have an odd lack of emotion - she views death as a curiosity ...more

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Nov 12, 2009 Lydia Presley rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, memoirs

When I read Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" I remember thinking that something like that could never happen over here. People just.. couldn't let it happen. Since then I've read a great many books and seen a lot more then I had in my fairly sheltered life at that time, but this book really brings it home.

Despite the bleak and despairing story, Jeannette Walls manages to infuse the memoir with some humor and even had me smiling and shaking my head at times. I don't doubt at all that her parents ...more

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Oct 23, 2007 martha rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, year-2008, memoiry

The good: this was a fast, easy read, morbidly interesting. The tone wasn't self-pitying.

The bad: While I was glad it wasn't self-pitying, I *really* wish there'd been some more adult assessment of the situation, especially her mother's obvious mental illness, and the repercussions of such a horrific childhood on the author and her siblings/how they dealt with transitioning to a more normal adult life and so on. ...more

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Apr 10, 2009 Rae rated it liked it

Shelves: bio-memoir

I didn't want to put this memoir down. I kept thinking to myself "You've got to be kidding me!" or "What next?" or "This just can't be true!" Perhaps it is. Perhaps it isn't. Who knows. But it makes for one amazing read.

Achtung! Offensive language abounds. ...more

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Nov 15, 2007 Ann rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir

Jeannette Walls, along with her brother and two sisters, was raised by parents who could never get their acts together. Her dad was an alcoholic with grandiose plans to strike gold in the desert and to build a "glass castle" where the family would live. He couldn't hold a job down, but could hustle people for their money when times were tight. Her mother, Rose Mary, was educated as a teacher but refused to work so that she could pursue her artistic endeavors. As a consequence, the children often ...more

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Jun 10, 2011 Heather rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: bookclub-book

I already hate this book and I don't even know if I am 20 pages into it. Since I am not going to be able to go to the book club meeting about it, I don't know if I want to waste my time reading all of it.

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I can't do it. I would rather spend what little time I have to read, reading something I actually enjoy. ...more

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