The Glass Castle (Scribner) by Jeannette Walls is an extraordinary book about a dysfunctional yet captivating family. Captivating because despite the flaws these parents have, they have managed to raise children with spunk, imagination, and determination. This memoir, The Glass Castle, is named after the home Jeannette Walls’ father promised to build for his family.
Rex and Rose Mary Walls have four children. Life in the beginning was fun–Jeannette who narrates this memoir, loves living in the Southwest and living a fun, nomadic life. Rex is a brilliant man and teaches his children physics, geology, and from him they learn to embrace life and to use their imagination. Rex’s drinking problem accelerates as the story progresses, but from their father the children learn many of life’s truths.
Rose Mary prefers to spend her time painting and writing. She resents having to cook a meal or do housework when she could be spending time at her easel. Her children cook for themselves, when there’s food on hand. Meals could be nothing but popcorn three days in a row. Jeannette learns early in life that “to do the skedaddle” means when the family can’t pay their bills, they move on.
Rex’s drinking affects his earning power and the family moves to a West Virginia mining town where his mother lives. The mother takes the family in for a short while, but that doesn’t work out and they soon move to a dilapidated house in the hills. Rex still has grandiose plans of becoming rich, but the reality is that the kids have to fend for themselves to get their basic needs. Jeannette describes spending her lunch hour in the restroom, going through garbage bins to eat what other children have thrown away. In the winters, their rickety house is freezing cold with no fuel to burn. Keeping warm is a daily challenge with shoes held together by strings, thin, inadequate clothing, and thrift store coats with no buttons. Kids at school mock and tease them and the Walls have few friends, but the siblings are fiercely protective of each other.
Still the children excel at school, are in the top of their reading groups, and Jeannette’s work on the school paper is exemplary. Rose Mary has a teaching degree, but doesn’t have the heart to work full time and makes a mess of grading papers and keeping her students in line. To keep a paycheck coming in, the kids chip in and help their mother grade papers. But there comes a time Rose Mary refuses to go to school to teach; she wants to attend to her own needs to paint and write.
The Walls story is remarkable in that Jeannette has the determination to become successful on her own terms, yet still holds unconditional love for her parents. The Glass Castleis a tribute to love, fierce determination and triumph.
6 comments:
Wow, Mary, reading your review made me jump. I finally started my own memoir (with my children's encouragement). I hadn't thought I could stand doing it because of memories of my also dysfunctional family. Once I started pulling out the words from the tangle, however, I discovered something strange happening, a feeling perhaps akin to forgiveness. What made me jump were certain similarities between Jeannette Walls' life and mine: a father's alcohol addiction, a teacher-writer mother (in my case, me), living in the Southwest and West Virginia, poverty. I really want to read her book now (and plan to do so) to see how she handles point of view and how she integrates what's going on in the world as she grows up. Thanks for sharing this fine review.
I loved this book too. It's so remarkable that Jeannette Walls survived her childhood and wrote so movingly about it.
I read this book, too, and found it poignant, funny, sad, and often wince-producing when it came close to memories of either my childhood or parenthood.
This was an incredible story! Very well done.
The Glass Castle is one of my favorite books. I find it so amazing that some grow strong out of the rubble of their childhood and others crumble. Good review.
Great! sounds interesting. .need to have a copy of this book.=D
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