The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls | Book Review

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“You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.”

This memoir traces the author's unconventional and tumultuous childhood. The Walls family is marked by the eccentricities of Rex and Rose Mary Walls, the parents, who, despite their intelligence and creativity, struggle with poverty and unconventional parenting methods. The family's journey takes them to various locations, living in constant flux as they wrestle with the consequences of Rex's alcoholism and Rose Mary's commitment to her art. Jeannette, along with her siblings, faces adversity and challenges but holds on to a dream—the construction of a "glass castle," a symbol of hope and a better future.

I found this to be a compelling and heartbreaking read. Jeannette Walls writes with raw honesty as she paints a vivid picture of her unconventional upbringing. She does not shy away from presenting her parents as deeply flawed individuals. While she acknowledges their intelligence, creativity, and moments of genuine care for their children, she also exposes the darker side of her parents, which elicited a range of emotions from me. I felt so frustrated at her parents throughout this book, and it was not easy to read without feeling that way towards them. I felt angry and sad at how wilfully neglectful they were. I know the father had drinking issues, but there were moments in this book where his actions really broke my heart for his kids.

I found it really interesting and insightful to read about the author's thoughts on her parents and the way she grew up. She was able to write about everything in a reflective way that shows how much she loved her parents, despite all she's been through. Walls' portrayal of her parents, flawed yet undeniably human, made me feel all the emotions.

I didn't feel like I was reading a nonfiction book, and every time I remembered that this is a true story my heart hurt all over again.

Overall I think this is an emotional and beautifully written read and I look forward to watching the movie adaptation. I think persons who enjoy intimate and well-crafted memoirs will find this book captivating. Jeannette Walls provides a personal and honest account of her upbringing, which I think makes it a compelling choice for those who appreciate the genre.

QUOTES FROM THE GLASS CASTLE

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“Things usually work out in the end."

"What if they don't?"

"That just means you haven't come to the end yet.”

“You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.”

“One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.”

“One thing about whoring: It put a chicken on the table.”

“Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy. You should learn to enjoy the comic episodes a little more.”

“You didn't need a college degree to become one of the people who knew what was really going on. If you paid attention, you could pick things up on your own.”

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

“I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even the people who seemed to have it all had their secrets.”

“She had her addictions and one of them was reading.”

“Life's too short to care about what other people think. Besides, they should accept us for who we are”

“Those shining stars, he liked to point out, were one of the special treats for people like us who lived out in the wilderness. Rich city folks, he'd say, lived in fancy apartments, but their air was so polluted they couldn't even see the stars. We'd have to be out of our minds to want to trade places with any of them.”

“We laughed about all the kids who believed in the Santa Clause myth and got nothing but a bunch of cheap plastic toys. 'Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten,' Dad said, ' you'll still have your stars.”

“You can't cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is "If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim”

“Whoever coined the phrase 'a man's got to play the hand that was dealt him' was most certainly one piss-poor bluffer.”

“You're in a horse race but you're thinking like a sheep. Sheep don't win horse races.”