From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
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
i'm not sure why, but i don't think i'd recommend this book. the story was captivating, and the author had a hard life of abuse and neglect, but i just never felt all that attached to any characters. i liked hearing about what life was like in their town in West Virginia, to understand why her dad may have developed some of his traits. I would have liked to know more about the childhood of her mom, but I guess it is a memoir, so she can only tell us what she knows. anyway, i don't think it is a
...more
what a life of skedaddling! my heart ached for the kids every time i turned the pages.
I flipped through this at the bookstore and didn't really like it, so I don't know why I checked it out to read... I still didn't like it much - I just wanted to know what happened to Walls and her family, but didn't enjoy reading it. And so I didn't so much end up "reading" it as just skimming it and reading the end.
...more
listened to the audiobook, read by the author. this was for book club and I'm so glad I read it. Walls is an incredible storyteller.
...more
A must read. This book was the most captivating thing I've read in YEARS. I couldn't put it down. Check it out.
...more
Jul 05, 2011
Ali
marked it as to-read
Dec 25, 2011
erin
marked it as to-read
Nov 07, 2013
Grace
marked it as to-read
Jul 04, 2015
Holly
marked it as to-read
Dec 02, 2018
Cortney
marked it as to-read
