Publish Date: 1/9/06
Meeting Host: Sharon
Meeting Date: 2/21/09
Amazon.com Summary:
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
This was an amazing memoir. Jeannette Walls defied all steretypes of a child of neglect, dysfunction, and abuse to become a successful adult with little outside help. Her story is told in a matter-of-fact often humorous style completely devoid of self-pity. Everyone is our group found this book interesting and inspiring.
ReplyDeleteAt times, it was hard to believe that the things in this book actually happened. Every single thing that happened shocked me, yet it was still fun to read. It's amazing to think that people actually live this way. I loved the book and couldn't hardly put it down. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read.
ReplyDeleteMy fellow clubbers are right on point - the Walls Family lifestyle is appalling but seeks no pity. I found myself both loving and hating many of the characters. And often having to remind myself that the characters were/are real.
ReplyDelete