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The Glass Castle: A Memoir | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeannette Walls
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1119 reviews
Sales Rank: 164
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 074324754X
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.82092
EAN: 9780743247542
ASIN: 074324754X
Publication Date: January 9, 2006
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Amazon.com Review
Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover. --Brangien Davis
Product Description
Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home. What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms. For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story. A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor. TO INQUIRE ABOUT SCHEDULING JEANNETTE WALLS FOR SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS PLEASE CONTACT: Keppler Speakers
Dustin L. Jones
Associate, College & University Division
703.516.4000 (P)
703.516.4819 (F)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1114 more reviews...
 Adults as Children and Children as Adults October 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This memoir got book deals for several dozen marginal writers with bad childhoods, but those books have been awful compared to this one. Jeannette Walls has enough experience as a writer to tell a story. We have the typical bad dad -- the Angela's Ashes model where he may be a drunk and a gambler who doesn't take care of his family, but when he shows up, he's a Peter Pan figure who makes everything so much fun and magical for the children, they can't help but love him anyway. At first, the reader sort of loves him, too, but then the irresponsibility escalates.
Unfortunately, he is married to and having children with a self-centered artist (and she's not particularly a good artist, you can see her work on YouTube; she's ordinary)who is mentally unhinged. Most of the time she is oblivious to the terrible way the family lives, and when she is aware of it, she just cries and retreats into herself. She raises her children like animals, pretty much leaving them to fend for themselves, and she doesn't seem to connect to them like the father does, who is no more than a child himself. At least she doesn't drink. And she encourages everyone to read and treats the babies like fellow adults, so they mature quickly.
The way the children cope is almost miraculous. I'm not saying it isn't true. I guess under such dire circumstances, even small children can bring a creative survival instinct to the table.
I suppose out of respect for their privacy, Jeannette Walls is less detailed about how her siblings manage after they all leave home at such an early age. I'm thinking they must have arrived in New York City as teens sometime in the 1980s. Is it really this easy to get jobs and find affordable places to live in NYC? Now I feel really bad that I never tried it.
Walls also doesn't give any more detail about the mother's real estate holdings which provide a shocking conclusion to the book. It's hard to believe she never called to find out what they were really worth, and it's shocking they haven't forced the mother to sell them off. Maybe they're waiting for her to die. And if they're not worth much, it would negate the ending of the book, which is more dramatic with the possibility that all this time, the children were suffering and yet the mother had valuable property. (But if she had sold it, she and her husband would have blown all the money, even a sensational amount, in record time anyway, on foolish things. They were more childlike than the children.)
BRILLIANT! October 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I applaud all the five star reviews who actually "GOT IT", in stark contrast to the negative ones who were obviously too short-sighted and couldn't see the forest for the trees. The author's depth of character is to be admired for her insight and compassion to see the redeeming qualities in her parents. In spite of the parent's chosen path in life, obviously not to cherish a shallow life full of "fancy things",the parents instilled in the children independant thought, principles, values, pride, self-sufficiency, self-worth, and how to love. A good many of the wealthiest children in the world are sadly lacking in all these qualities. BRILLIANTLY DONE BY AN OBVIOUS BRILLIANT, SPECIAL HUMAN BEING!! BRAVO!!!
food for thoughts on food October 6, 2008
an unexpected page turner for me. the glass castle caught me off guard in its honesty and reawakened my understanding of another world that lies beyond all the comforts of home. touching, that the author writes without judgment or resentment even though the story inspired both emotions in this reader.
Such shocking behavior, it's almost unbelievable September 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Glass Castle was so good that I couldn't put it down.
I am a mother of two children and would do anything to keep them healthy and safe. It's shocking to me that some people who choose to have kids are incapable of taking care of themselves, let alone their children.
It's a must read, difficult at times due to the abuse. We read it for our book club and it was a big hit.
Glass Castle September 30, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Great narrator, fascinating story. A dysfunctional family at it's most bizarre and creative - had some very touching moments and some moments that make you angry. A fresh perspective on life, read by a terrific narrator.
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