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The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls

Start date: February 1, 2025

Finish date: February 28, 2025

Discussion: February 2025

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February 2025

Pride and Prejudice
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last updated Feb 01, 2025 06:31PM

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
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What Members Thought

Oct 03, 2023 Robin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

this is a memoir from the author and was a book club pick. it is my second read of hers. i got through this book a little bit quicker than hang the moon so maybe i liked it better though i can't say i loved it either. there were times it didn't fully hold my interest and i wanted to do something else aside from read. maybe it is because it is hard to read about people struggling with hardships, especially when there wasn't really any reason for them to be in the first place.

the author's family this is a memoir from the author and was a book club pick. it is my second read of hers. i got through this book a little bit quicker than hang the moon so maybe i liked it better though i can't say i loved it either. there were times it didn't fully hold my interest and i wanted to do something else aside from read. maybe it is because it is hard to read about people struggling with hardships, especially when there wasn't really any reason for them to be in the first place.

the author's family spent a lot of her childhood moving around and were always extremely poor. her parents were free spirits with neither really wanting to work a conventional job or be responsible for providing for their family. her dad was a drunk that probably couldn't keep a job because he went through so many and spent a majority of his time at bars either 'inventing' ways to get rich or hustling people for money. her mom wanted to spend all of her time trying to be an artist and didn't really want to raise her kids or teach or sell off her land or possessions that she inherited because she would rather starve and be homeless than sell off material things to survive. she and her siblings often had to fend for themselves since their parents barely took care of them, though when they were around, they did act like they loved them, and tried to be a normal family.

i cannot fathom behaving like her parents did for even just myself let alone if you have a family and children to support and take care of. though her parents seemed to be in love and love their kids, they also loved themselves a little bit more at times, and i found them to be so frustrating throughout a majority of the book. when you have a family and children to raise, you need to grow up a little bit, take responsibility, and realize that everything isn't always about you. it is a wonder that she actually became a successful author and that most of her siblings also thrived, which i give each of them credit for, given the circumstances they were raised in. i guess part of the story is that money doesn't always buy happiness and you can be happy and successful even with very little, but it still doesn't take away from the struggles they had to overcome to get there that were not even logical. overall, it was decent for a memoir, but definitely prefer other types of genres so i will be looking for to starting a thriller for my next book. ...more

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