Ashley Hoopes's Reviews > The Glass Castle

This story of a family where mental illness and poverty shaped a little girl and her strength to overcome, was powerful. I read this book for a Social Work class, and the debate was whether there was indeed neglect and mental illness, or whether this was just the quirky way that this family chose to raise their children. Where this life was all this little girl knew, and her parents were doing what they knew from their past, it is written without the slightest shred of judgement or anger. It allows the reader to see the family from the innocent eyes of the child, and have sympathy for all the characters involved. It left a deep mark on me, and opened my eyes to the plight of families dealing with abuse and poverty. That many of the families who lived around this child, in this rural area of the country, had similar situations, speaks of the responsibility that we have as a nation, to care for the poor and weak that are our own. It is a disgrace that this happens every day in every state in large numbers and that we are able to turn a blind eye to it. Although it deals with weighty issues, it does so in a humorous and lighthearted way. I highly recommend this book.