Name: The Glass Castle
Rating: 4.278979907264297 (647 reviews)
ISBN: 9781632450685

Walls Jeannette

While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

A Memoir

The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls

Now a major motion picture starring Brie Larson, Naomi Watts and Woody Harrelson. This is a startling memoir of a successful journalist's journey from the deserted and dusty mining towns of the American Southwest, to an antique filled apartment on Park Avenue. Jeanette Walls narrates her nomadic and adventurous childhood with her dreaming, 'brilliant' but alcoholic parents. At the age of seventeen she escapes on a Greyhound bus to New York with her older sister; her younger siblings follow later. After pursuing the education and civilisation her parents sought to escape, Jeanette eventually succeeds in her quest for the 'mundane, middle class existence' she had always craved. In her apartment, overlooked by 'a portrait of someone else's ancestor' she recounts poignant remembered images of star watching with her father, juxtaposed with recollections of irregular meals, accidents and police-car chases and reveals her complex feelings of shame, guilt, pity and pride toward her parents.

Honest stories told with an unexpected sense of humour

Cassandra Tang

Now a major motion picture from Lionsgate starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts. MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST The perennially bestselling, extraordinary, one-of-a-kind, “nothing short of spectacular” (Entertainment Weekly) memoir from one of the world’s most gifted storytellers. The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing—a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.

Madilyn Taylor

Everyone has a choice to become the person they want to be. Your past makes no difference. Beautiful story of strength.

Sasha

The Glass Castle is a heart-rending memoir with as much gravitas as the ancient classics. Jeannette captures the essence of childhood memory perfectly; unsentimental, forgiving and metered by raw, unconditional love. 

daphne

An unbelievable story, an even more unbelievable memoir.

Kaitlyn Wendler

Yeung Man Lung

Bridget Garland

Anum Memon

This book tells us if you wait and work hard, you will get what you want in life. I thought this book was enlightening. I loved the writing style and just Jeannette Walls' remarkable story.

An emotional read that left me bawling. The depictions of the mom and dad hit home hard. Their different parenting styles had differing effects on each of their kids. This is an unforgettable memoir that tugs at the heartstrings. It is a story of hope, forgiveness, and the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

Maya Ryvlin

so good but also so heartbreaking. made me feel so many emotions. we are all a product of the way we grow up, whether we decide to be nothing like our parents or exactly like them, no matter what we learn from our childhood we are shaped by it. 

darby

Jeannette Walls tells the story about her childhood. She talks about living like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Retreating to the dismal West Virginia mining town--and the family-- her father, 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.

Jeannette Ordas

An amazing memoir about growing up in a disfunctional household with very little structure and with parents who were wacky, inspirational, crazy and probably abusive. Jeannette writes about her life with love and loyalty and I loved every single word.

Trish

More coherent review to come tomorrow but my immediate thoughts after finishing this book:

wow, that was one exciting ride. there truly wasn't a dull moment in that whole account. the writing was mature, elegant, and transparent. I liked that, despite this being a memoir, there were very few sentences that began with "I think" or "I felt" type sentiments. all Jeannette did was describe her childhood and the hurdles that made her who she is today. it gives the reader a chance to feel uncomfortable, appalled, sentimental, or disgusted without Walls's perspective/bias clouding their vision. 

so, that being said, is this the most interesting memoir I've read? Yes, probably. Did I particularly like it? No, not always. While I will always acknowledge talented writing and artistic storytelling, Jeannette Walls's memoir crossed a line of reality that made me incredibly uncomfortable. I saw parallels between this book and the fictional novel by Betty smith, a tree grows in Brooklyn, early on. But Walls's life may be a little too harrowing and vivid for my liking. Like many, I read to escape my life and bury myself in the drama and problems of another person. This was a little too much though. I'm so so so thrilled for Jeanette's happily ever after but I can see why she would evade questions about her family or childhood at a black tie event or formal dinner - it's just awkward and uncomfortable. Not because I'm judging her for having such a background, but because it is literally IMPOSSIBLE not to judge her parents. I mean, WTF. It amazes me that people like that exist. Selfish, ignorant, careless PARENTS who are blessed with not one or two but even FOUR children and can't be bothered to really love them the way they want and need to be loved. It just blows my mind. And this is just me ranting away at midnight as I just finished this book but I'm just frustrated and confused and also strangely happy for them (esp Brian!!) all at the same time. maybe I just need to sleep on it. so goodnight for now.

also I just want to add that this is a book that is so easy to read and fast paced - but at the same time, the subject matter is heavy and I found myself wanting and needing to take breaks bc i was feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. it only took me 2 days to read this memoir that's under 300 pages but I swear I felt like I had been reading it for at least a week.

Fran Lewis

Like Room, a child doesn't know what is wrong with a situation if they don't have knowledge of anything else.

Alex Ker

The Glass Castle is a tale of hardship, self-sufficiency, and resilience that is deeply moving. At points, the prose became repetitive since Walls' matter-of-fact style simply lays out the plot without much commentary, opinion, or explanation common to memoirs. However, Walls is able to draw just enough engaging insights and create strong emotions before my attention tapered off. And perhaps the narration of such disturbing and harrowing memories requires a degree of rigidity and objectiveness to be fully potent. The complex dynamics within the family, especially between parents and children, both stirred frustrations and empathy throughout my reading. I sometimes questioned the non-fiction nature of the book--some details seemed too wild to be true. But ultimately, this is a non-sympathy-seeking and honest telling about the Great American dream, adapting to change, and the intricacies of human relationships.

The Glass Castle A Memoir

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