The Opposition…

The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls

Discussion: 2007-Apr-May-Jun

Why we're reading this: April 10, 2007
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2007-Apr-May-Jun

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* June 2007
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 4 views

last updated Nov 25, 2010 10:22PM

* May 2007
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 4 views

last updated Nov 25, 2010 12:52AM

What Members Thought

Jul 25, 2010 Kathrina rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoirs-bios, keeping-up-with-the-joneses

There seems to be quite a bit of controversy concerning this title, so I will leave my opinion on the side lines: Walls is a talented writer with a novelistic style, and she's written a book that fits just perfect with the best-selling memoir package that Oprah-trained readers love to eat up. Walls writes what sells, and, as it happens, it's also quite good. I also believe she has ripped off the best-selling memoir formula directly from Mary Karr's Liar's Club. As for whether any of it is true o ...more

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Jan 24, 2011 Pang rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-club

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry as I was reading the story. In the end I laughed a little and cried a little, too.

Jeannette Walls told a story of her childhood, growing up with a dad (Rex), a mom (Rose Mary), an older sister (Lori), a younger brother (Brian) and a younger sister (Maureen). They lived pretty much like gypsies, roaming from one place to another if they weren't living in their car. When she was younger, life was one adventure after another. Dad was described as an entrepreneu I didn't know whether to laugh or cry as I was reading the story. In the end I laughed a little and cried a little, too.

Jeannette Walls told a story of her childhood, growing up with a dad (Rex), a mom (Rose Mary), an older sister (Lori), a younger brother (Brian) and a younger sister (Maureen). They lived pretty much like gypsies, roaming from one place to another if they weren't living in their car. When she was younger, life was one adventure after another. Dad was described as an entrepreneur, when in fact he was (in my eye) just full of ideas, but couldn't make them more than just ideas. Mom was a free-spirit woman who just wanted to paint and believe that she was an artist. Their lives started falling apart in Phoenix when Dad was becoming a raging alcoholic. They moved to Welch, WV, where Dad family was. Things got worse there. They were living in a shack with no working toilet. The kids bathed once a week, may be, and didn't get regular meals. Dad disappeared days at a time on his drinking binges. Mom refused to leave Dad, yet refused to take on a full-time job when she was clearly able to in order to feed her family. And when she did she became so unhappy that she expressed how unfair it was that she had to take care of four kids. They lived with garbage in their backyard, leaky ceilings, rotted floor, etc.

When Lori graduated from high school, she left Welch for NYC. Jeannette followed soon after. Then Brian and Maureen. Years later, Mom and Dad also made the move to NYC "to be family" again. They still insisted on living in the same manner as they did in Welch. Getting behind on bills and getting evicted. They were living on the streets for a long while until Dad found an abandoned building for them and a bunch of squatters to live in. The kids, on the other hand, were getting their lives together with exception to Maureen, who ended up leaving the family to be on her on in CA.

It just made me so angry reading about the living conditions they were growing up in. I was disgusted with the parents. How Dad refused to stop drinking and find a job to support his family, yet he got angry if someone would make him feel less than the head of the household. How Mom kept that two-carat diamond ring for herself instead of selling it to buy food for the family. And on and on. One thing was I didn't know who I was mad at more: the mom or the dad. Mom for her weakness to leave Dad and make things right for her kids. Or Dad's irresponsible as a parent. People tell me that having a child is a life-changing experience, that you would want to do everything in your power to keep that child safe and healthy. These people didn't do that. They kept right on living the way they wanted to live with no regards to how it might affect their children. Kids were forced to eat out from garbage, which the parents deemed to be acceptable. However, I also know, as Jeannette realized when her dad was dying that he loved her. "...[D]espite all the hell-raising and destruction and chaos he had created in our lives, I could not imagined what my life would be like--what the world would be like--without him in it. As awful as he could be, I always knew he loved me in a way no one else ever had (p. 279)."

I became very emotionally invested in her story... the story of the Walls. I couldn't help but think how wrong everything was going in her childhood. I know that people have their baggages and issues. Even as parents you certainly couldn't be perfect. Her story made me question my values and outlooks. Can their way be that bad? After all the kids turned out all right. What's more, they ended up with great stories to tell! ...more

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Apr 20, 2011 Courtney rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, memoirs

What is so good about this books is how the author and her siblings learned so much from their incredibly neglegent parents. It would be really easy to hate her parents, and at times I did, but there are very lovely times too.

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Oct 23, 2013 Eileen rated it liked it

Shelves: book-group, non-fiction

Memoir of a ridiculously tough childhood. Determination and resilience get the author through, somehow. Not sure I could have remotely handled all she did. Writing was a bit choppy at times.

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Aug 31, 2010 Barbara rated it really liked it

Shelves: autobio, dysfunctional-families

Ms. Walls described how poverty and alcoholism can devastate a family. On the positive side it is a testament to how resilient and determined people can be in spite of their childhoods.

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Aug 18, 2010 Amy Moon rated it it was amazing

What an amazing story. I really expect it to turn out that these kids did not have the childhood described here. How could they persevere those conditions and parents? It was a crazy life. SPOILER: And to finally find out what they did about their mother? I would not have been able to forgive either of them for what they had voluntarily put them through. My favorite line was Brian's at the end. "IT's really not that hard to put food on the table if that's what you want to do" or something to tha ...more

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