The Glass Castle: A Memoir (book)
THE BELOVED #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER—FROM THE AUTHOR OF HANG THE MOON
The 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.
The memoir was also made into a major motion picture from Lionsgate in 2017 starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts.
The 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.
The memoir was also made into a major motion picture from Lionsgate in 2017 starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts.
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Readers say *The Glass Castle* is a heartbreaking yet poignant memoir showcasing unimaginable hardship and enduring resilience. Many relate to its por...
I, unintentionally, read two books about the poverty in the Appalachia back to back.
So reading demon copperhead and knowing it was all
fiction based on real things that happened to people was tough but doable.
But reading this memoir made me want to cry.
It’s someone’s actual life with two irresponsible parents, and absolutely no stability in there entire childhood.
Selfish parents, an alcoholic father, and people who don’t want to better themselves even though they’re perfectly capable of doing it. Their kids going hungry every single night and scavenging for food.
Letting people take advantage of their kids, just being too lazy to break the cycle and the kids having to pay for it. BEING FULL ON capable of getting your children out of poverty and helping them become something but you just DON’T. I wanted to throw the book at the wall every time the mom argued something ridiculous about them being poor but happy so why change. The kids were NOT happy.
It’s a story of resilience and maybe if your parents didn’t better themselves, you don’t have to end up in the same cycle. The author proved that despite a childhood unimaginable, she broke the curse and made it.
So reading demon copperhead and knowing it was all
fiction based on real things that happened to people was tough but doable.
But reading this memoir made me want to cry.
It’s someone’s actual life with two irresponsible parents, and absolutely no stability in there entire childhood.
Selfish parents, an alcoholic father, and people who don’t want to better themselves even though they’re perfectly capable of doing it. Their kids going hungry every single night and scavenging for food.
Letting people take advantage of their kids, just being too lazy to break the cycle and the kids having to pay for it. BEING FULL ON capable of getting your children out of poverty and helping them become something but you just DON’T. I wanted to throw the book at the wall every time the mom argued something ridiculous about them being poor but happy so why change. The kids were NOT happy.
It’s a story of resilience and maybe if your parents didn’t better themselves, you don’t have to end up in the same cycle. The author proved that despite a childhood unimaginable, she broke the curse and made it.
Not 100% sure what i think of this book.
The life she had as a child seems unbelievable - not in a good way compared to our standard now days - but the way it is written, she makes it sounds like it's nothing, like she enjoyed it.
Do I think she did - maybe, to some extent , went she was young, when it all sounded like an adventure, when it was all she knew... until it wasn't anymore.
Did she love her parents? Surprisingly enough I believe so, did they deserve it, maybe not...
Definitely lot of unanswered questions from my perspective any way. And I wish the writing would have been a bit more 'black and white' (even if it would have been harder to read) in a way, but maybe it was done this way to let us make our own opinion of the story... who knows.
Jeannette Walls' parents loved their children, but were not particularly interested in parenting. The memoir covers Walls's unconventional upbringing and her complicated relationship with her parents who she loves, but understandably resents as well. Reminded me of Educated, but without the religious fundamentalism.
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