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The Glass Castle: A Memoir (Alex Awards (Awards))
by: Jeannette Walls

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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.82092
EAN: 9780743247535
ISBN: 0743247531
Label: Scribner
Manufacturer: Scribner
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: March 01, 2005
Publisher: Scribner
Sales Rank: 7845
Studio: Scribner

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Editorial Review:

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.

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

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Fascinating
This is a fantastic, engrossing memoir of homelessness, poverty, and success. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:

- Phenomenal
One word: PHENOMENAL! Reading this humorous, fast moving and yet heartbreaking book you can't help feeling it's got to be a great work of fiction when in reality it is a memoir of the author's childhood. A story set against the odds which could have read like a lot of negativity, but was told more like the adventure the parents of the author made it out to be. This books supports my theory of life which is no matter where or what you come from, you can get as far as you want in the good ol' U.S. of A. as long as you have the will, hardwork, and tenacity. Definitely a must read!

Rating:

- DIFFERENT BUT SO INTERESTING
I ENJOYED THIS BOOK VERY MUCH. IT MADE ME THINK AND REALIZE HOW LUCKY I WAS TO GROW UP THE WAY I DID. I REALLY CAN'T IMAGINE HAVING REALLY NO ONE TO DEPEND ON THE WAY THESE CHILDREN HAD NO ONE. COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS IS WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AFTER READING ABOUT THIS FAMILY

Rating:

- book review
Our book club read The Glass Castle- what a story- well written and difficult to put down.

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