The Glass Castle (By Jeannette Walls)

curledup.com 2005-book reveiw

The Glass Castle is another entry in the long line of memoirs of horrendous childhoods that have cropped up over the last few years. But what’s refreshing is that Jeanette Walls doesn’t come across as a bitter whiner. She is quite forgiving of what she refers to as her parents' "non-conformity". The book grabs you immediately from the first sentence and never lets go.
“I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster. It was just after dark. A blustery March wind whipped the steam coming out of the manholes, and people hurried along the sidewalks with their collars turned up. I was stuck in traffic two blocks from the party where I was heading. Mom stood fifteen feet away. She had tied rags around her shoulders to keep out the spring chill and was picking through the trash. It had been months since I laid eyes on Mom, and when she looked up, I was overcome with panic that she’d see me and call out my name. I slid down in the seat and asked the driver to turn around and take me home to Park Avenue.”
From here on, the story is one dysfunctional family rollercoaster ride. Jeanette tells her courageous tale of growing up with an alcoholic father who had grandiose, Ralph Kramdenesque schemes to find gold (and building her a glass castle, thus the title of the book) and her mother’s backwards methodology on almost every aspect of their lives. Everything - and I mean everything - could be twisted and contorted into something positive if seen through the distorted prism of Jeanette’s parents' eyes. Some parts of this will push you to the breaking point, making you want to shake some common sense into them. In other places, you can see that even though they were in desperate need of a psychiatric evaluation, they loved their kids.
But love is not enough. Just when things started to get semi-normal - dad getting a job or mom getting a job and the household having some sort of stability and food to eat - the family would be uprooted and take off to a new town or state (the skedaddle as her dad liked to put it). And through these misadventures of criss-crossing the country and popping up in new towns, Jeanette had to deal with the pedophilic tendencies of certain family members and homeless people, going hungry, not bathing, bullies, picking food out of the garbage, multiple fires, and on and on and on. Its absolutely heartbreaking at times, especially a particular twist concerning “Oz” the piggy bank. And though you could see it coming a mile away, fully expecting it to happen, when it does, it still feels like a kick to the gut.
But through all this strife, Jeannette eventually finds herself when she lands a spot working for the school newspaper. She and her sister hatch a plan and stick to it, eventually leading them out of the hardships and into more productive lives. Definitely one of those read-in-one-sitting type books. Just remember to call your parents, or even better yet, go see them and give them a big fat hug when you’re done.

Sometimes it is a good thing to follow the footsteps of your parents. In this case, if they would have done that then Jeanette Walls would be living on the street. She is one of thoes people who was able to start there own life and become successful without help from her parents. When she was little, she had a terrible childhood. her dad was always drunk and neither of her parents could hold onto a job. They would end up moving from town to town because her father would do something to get himself in trouble. As this reveiw has pointed out, when they were constantly moving towns, they were able to see there futures. They saw all of these people on the streets searching for food, wearing old clothes and sleeping their. What I found remarkable was that Jeanette was able to turn her life around. Her partents after all of this wanted to live on the street and didn't want to have to be responsible for anything anymore. Jeanette didn't want to live like this though so she followed a path and got herself a career. She had a home, food and clothes while her parents didn't have any of this. Would she help them though? Through all of there travelling, Jeannette had to give up a lot of the things that she loved. Her dad made her throw there cat out side the car so he could hopefully find a new home. That can be a tough situation and a lot of times not forgiven. What the reveiw points out and what i have seen was that when Jeannette settled on her own, all of her past regrets were behind her. She felt ashamed and sorry for her parents. The example that the reveiw points out was when she was all dressed up and ready to go somewhere for work and she sees her mom in the street. She wanted to duck down so her mom wouldn't say hi to her. At this point she was very ashamed to have people know that was her mom because there Jeannete was in the taxi dressed up while her mom is in torn clothes on the streets. She wasn't alwaays ahamed though. sometimes she would take her mother out to lunch to treat her for real food. Her mom would normally put it in her bag and save it for later. Jeannette keeps a line of feelings between her parents which is understandable. It is surprising that she even bothered to help them at all. The fact that she did though, just proves that there is goodness and hope inside everyone and knowone can influence you to think that there never can be because if you look down deep enough, it can be found.