The Glass Castle
Book Review

The Glass Castle BOOK SYNOPSIS

A woman's recollection of her life with alcoholic parents. Jeannette Walls was shuttled around from place to place, wherever her parents felt like they could go and freeload and possibly get some fast money. Her longest stint was in West Virginia with her father's parents who were extremely awful and abusive people. The family lived most of their lives in absolute squalor. This is a story of survival and triumph from extreme poverty.

QUEENIE D SAYS

I have to start off by saying that I find Jeannette Walls to be a remarkable person to have overcome such a horrific childhood. Most of us cannot possibly imagine what it was like to endure the circumstances she did, and if we came even a little close, probably didn't turn out to be half the person she has become!

That said, I have to be honest. I was not thrilled with this book because it didn't seem real to me. If it were a fiction I'd probably give it a higher rating. But as a nonfiction memoir I found it somewhat hard to believe. Granted, I can't imagine what her life was like anymore than what she revealed, but it seems to me that it would be impossible for someone to turn out so "normal" with such a dysfunctional background. And if she's not so "normal" then I wanted her to say so. It was like all of sudden she got out of West Virginia, moved to New York and had this fantastic life and her past had just erased. Since the rest of The Glass Castle was so real, I wanted her to continue with that style of writing. She sort of skipped over all her years right out of West Virginia - glossed them over so to speak. I definitely found the youngest sister to be more of a true product of her upbringing. Again, I think it's 110% awesome that Ms. Walls was able to overcome her situation, I just wanted to hear a little more about how - realistically - she was able to do that.

I guess the argument is that she was able to always keep hope as a child and was always reaching for the stars. She believed in her father and really loved her family. She was the one in the family to love them for who they were and just try to figure out a way to make her life better no matter what. That, in itself, is a very unique trait. More power to her for being able to rise above so well.

The Glass Castle book conversation was suprisingly good at my book club meeting. Again I assumed everybody would feel the same as me and was totally shocked to find out they didn't! I guess you know what they say about assuming…

If you disagree with The Glass Castle Book Review, submit your comments and I'll post them!

The Glass Castle Book DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Did Rex Walls seem like Jeannette's hero? Does he deserve this title?
2. Is it believable that Jeannette turned out so "normal" after coming from such a dysfunctional family?
3. Who was worse - the mother or the father? Why?

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