The Glass Castle

Another winner! This is a difficult review to write only because I would love everyone to read it and I don't want to give too much of the story away here.

I love talking about this book with my friends that have already read it as it inspires us, shocks us and appalls us all. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is an amazing true story that beggars belief.

'This is a startling memoir of a successful journalist's journey from the deserted and dusty mining towns of the American Southwest, to an antique filled apartment on Park Avenue. Jeanette Walls narrates her nomadic and adventurous childhood with her dreaming, 'brilliant' but alcoholic parents. At the age of seventeen she escapes on a Greyhound bus to New York with her older sister; her younger siblings follow later. After pursuing the education and civilisation her parents sought to escape, Jeanette eventually succeeds in her quest for the 'mundane, middle class existence' she had always craved. In her apartment, overlooked by 'a portrait of someone else's ancestor' she recounts poignant remembered images of star watching with her father, juxtaposed with recollections of irregular meals, accidents and police-car chases and reveals her complex feelings of shame, guilt, pity and pride toward her parents.'


This book is not only an amazing story about how children survive adversity, poverty and neglect, it also made me think about issues I often consider with my own parenting style (or even the way our parents raised us). Do we 'helicopter parent' too much, do we give our children too much so they no longer need to strive to achieve more, do we simply have too much stuff?


I did find the beginning of the book a bit difficult as she rapidly went through some childhood memories without giving the reader a very clear picture of the family characters and a sense of continuity. I would have liked to know more about each of the family members and why they were that way, but as it is a true story and she is writing it from her own perspective, I guess its good that she isn't second guessing what goes on in everybody else's head.


This is a great book for book club discussions and as I've already recommended this book to several people, I won't go into any further detail. I strongly recommend you get a copy of this book and read it soon.