The Glass Castle: A Memoir

I’ve wanted to read this memoir for a few years, putting it on my wish list, and every so often trying to remember to buy it: then my friend sent me a copy—someone who knows my crazy dysfunctional family history—and I finally got to spend a few days reading about the Walls’ kids, who had survived way worse stuff than I could imagine. As her story unfolded the words to a Kelly Clarkson song “Whatever doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger” played like a soundtrack in my mind. I found myself simultaneously getting angry, crying and laughing with every turn of the page: sometimes throwing down the book fuming “these parents make me so mad!” But I couldn’t wait to find out how Jeannette and her siblings made it through each show more heart-wrenching trauma. The end was worth the ride. The Glass Castle left me with so many questions and what ifs’, that days later I still ruminate on it amazed again that any of us from these types of families survived our childhoods.

This memoir is worth the hype. I hope you’ll read it, but be warned because of the lack of parental care and neglect; the kids were easy targets for perverts and bullies. 5 stars. show less

I’ve had a hard time reading “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. Walls describes the horrors (and a few good times, few and far between) of her childhood and adolescence.

While I kept wishing someone had intervened, I still felt thoroughly disengaged from the memoir. Walls describes everything without allowing any emotions to shine through. “Glass Castle” reads like it has been written by a detached observer. It’s a sterile, antiseptic report, which is undoubtedly well-written but, to me, not very interesting.

Only during the very first chapter are there any meaningful emotional components and in her acknowledgements, Walls states being “grateful [...] to my father, Rex S. Walls, for dreaming all those big dreams”. show more These are the dreams of a man who repeatedly tried to sell his own daughter to strangers to rape her. Moreover, he goes on to victim-blame her.

Walls is also grateful to her mother “for believing in art and truth” - a truth her mother gaslit her children away from, and a truth that includes possession of land worth a million that’s being kept in the family for no reason at all while the kids literally starve, freeze, and suffer from neglect, among other hardships.

Don’t get me wrong: Walls, just like anyone else, is, of course, welcome to feel and think any way she likes. Nevertheless, what precedent does that set for other parents like hers?

In different ways, I have my own childhood traumas caused by my father (and was blamed for them by my mother). I breathe more freely since his death in August 2024. Hadn’t it been for the misplaced piety of others, I would have had him dumped into my mother’s grave, alone with an undertaker.

Three stars out of five for the effort.

Blog | Goodreads | Hardcover | Facebook | Twitter | Mastodon | Instagram | Threads | StoryGraph | LibraryThing | Medium | Matrix | Tumblr

Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam show less

The Glass Castle is a powerful memoir that captures the chaos and resilience of Jeannette Walls’ unconventional childhood. Her storytelling is raw and unsentimental, balancing pain with compassion — especially toward her deeply flawed but fascinating parents.

The pacing drags a bit in the middle, but the emotional depth more than makes up for it. It’s a story about survival, self-determination, and the complicated love we have for family.

“One benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by.”

I actually had a hard time with this book, since Walls does little to redeem anyone except herself and her sister even at the very end. While I cannot and would not question the execrable circumstances of her youth and young adulthood, I couldn't help feeling a little frustrated by the broad brushstrokes with which she painted Welch, West Virginia: as brutal and insensitive as she found the community to be, she returned the favor by condemning the many and canonizing the few people who had the foresight to identify her (Walls's) talents and abilities and subsequently push her to leave the mountains behind. I remember being startled by a line toward the end of the novel in which she identifies as a West Virginian -- it felt as though she show more spent so much the book stubbornly rejecting the state-as-identity that to suddenly appropriate it when offered an accolade ("'You West Virginia girls are pretty strong'" [246:]) seemed disingenuous.

As I say, I am not rejecting Walls's representation of her upbringing. No one can ever judge the depth or the impact of trauma on any human being, let alone the impact of trauma on children and teenagers. I just wish that some of her adult equanimity had extended to bless West Virginia the place, rather than stopping short at her misguided parents. show less

My future sister in law described this book as "scarring" and my future mother in law described it as "AMAZING" and continuously insisted I read it. They were, in fact, both right!

The thing about The Glass Castle that is most disturbing is that it's a memoir, and thus, true. The events that happen are not the worst things that could possibly happen to a person, but they are decidedly unpleasant and traumatizing to read about because they ACTUALLY HAPPENED to some poor kids!

The most chilling aspect of the story, in my opinion, is that the narrator describes the things happening around her as if they are completely natural or even occasionally fun and adventurous. It isn't until she sees more of the world that she goes "...oh god, how show more have I survived?"

I don't even know what else to say about this book, other than READ IT if you want to feel privileged and naive. There is so much more to American society than many are aware of (myself included). show less

Wow. I guess this memoir says something for the human spirit that 3 (and maybe 4?) out of the 4 children in a hideously poor, alcoholic, _extremely_ dysfunctional family can grow up to have successful families & adulthoods. I want to be enthused about this, but I just found it almost too over-the-top in the ongoing abuse these children endured. Good for the author that she survived and is thriving, and can still see the good in her parents, but her lack of _any_ bitterness struck me as unrealistic. Is Walls simply showing one facet to her story (the same facet that sells books, as in the notoriously abominable "A Child called It"?), or am I simply too cynical? I hope for the latter, for the author's sake. I know this book is beloved, show more and it was a compelling read. But I was left feeling unsatisfied at the end. show less

Originally posted at http://mydustyshelves.blogspot.com/

With this memoir, Jeannette Walls has invited us into her fascinating childhood, growing up in a family with creative, brilliant, yet dysfunctional parents. The book opens with her memory of her dress catching on fire as she stood at the stove cooking hotdogs because her mother was too busy working on a painting to prepare lunch. The shocking fact is that Jeannette was three years old at the time. The scars from this accident remain with her today. Time after time, I was amazed at the strength and spirit of this little girl and her three siblings as they were carted from place to place, often with no belongings and little to eat.

Her mother was self- absorbed and free-spirited. Her show more father was an alcoholic. When there was money, it often went towards his drinking. One experience the author recounts affected me deeply.

“One evening when Dad was away and we had nothing to eat and we were all sitting around the living room trying not to think of food, Mom kept disappearing under the blanket on the sofa bed. At one point Brian looked over.
‘Are you chewing something?’ he asked.
‘My teeth hurt,” Mom said, but she was getting all shifty-eyed, glancing around the room and avoiding our stares. ‘It’s my bad gums. I’m working my jaw to increase the circulation.’
Brian yanked the covers back. Lying on the mattress next to Mom was one of those huge family-sized Hershey chocolate bars, the shiny silver wrapper pulled back and torn away. She’d already eaten half of it.”

The idea that a mother would starve her children while feeding herself is disturbing, as are many other experiences the author recalls. What is amazing, though, is the resilience of these children. As they grew up, they became quite resourceful, scavenging for food, saving money, and keeping each other safe. That is why I enjoyed this book so much. It was inspiring to read a true story of how a person can pull themselves out of deplorable circumstances and achieve contentment and success. show less