The Glass Castle

Paperback, 288 pages

English language

Published Jan. 8, 2006 by Scribner.

ISBN:
978-0-7432-4754-2
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4 stars (63 reviews)

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing -- a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.

28 editions

Review of 'The Glass Castle' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The Glass Castle is an entertaining and somewhat disturbing memoir about really bad parenting. What's interesting is that while the parents are objectively terrible, Walls portrays her childhood as a rather heroic and engaging adventure. It's not that she doesn't acknowledge that parents that barely feed their children are bad parents, but the book still shows the ways in which she had freedom and learned remarkable self reliance. I was far more coddled as a child, and I'd say I am far more fearful as an adult. (May or may not indicate causality.)

Should the kids all have been taken away by social workers? Probably. And yet, they seem to have turned out pretty well, at least according to the book.

Anyway, if you ever complain about your childhood this is a handy reality check. If it's worse than Walls' was, you've definitely got the right to complain!

Very entertaining …

Review of 'The Glass Castle' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Nature vs. nurture. It's a long-standing debate. I personally think nurture has a more to do with how you turn out as a person, but Jeannette Walls might have just proved me wrong.

This is the story of growing up with two parents who, to put it nicely, both have issues. My armchair psychiatrist degree says they both just might be mentally ill. Definitely co-dependent. And really bad parents. Jeannette and her siblings grow up roaming from place to place as her parents run from people of the real and imaginary sort. They are poor, and hungry, and really don't seem to realize how crazy their upbringing truly is. I can't believe no one stepped in and helped these kids, but I'm sure there are families right now who have it just as bad or worse and are under the radar like them.

This book made me mad. And sad. …

Review of 'The Glass Castle' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I had problems with this book, as I kept wanting to throttle the parents. But after I decided to view it as fiction I was able to appreciate the writing. I liked that her descriptions of her memories as a small child actually were child-like, and not colored by her later feelings as she grew disenchanted with her parents.

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Subjects

  • Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities
  • Women
  • Personal Memoirs
  • Childhood Memoir
  • Alcohol Abuse
  • Family Development
  • United States
  • Biography & Autobiography
  • Biography / Autobiography
  • Literary
  • Biography/Autobiography
  • Children of alcoholics
  • Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs
  • Problem families
  • Welch
  • West Virginia
  • Biography
  • Case studies