Tolog Review: The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle 
by Jeannette Walls
reviewed by Kathryn Gerhardt

The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls is a riveting story about the joys of her childhood and the challenges she had to face while growing up. Walls begins her story as a three year old cooking hot dogs. Her dress ends up catching fire and she gets taken to the hospital. When her family does not have the money to pay for her intensive burn care, her father, Rex Walls, steals her out of the hospital and back to the trailer. She lives with her mother, her older sister Lori and her younger brother Brian. Her mother is a free spirit, completely engrossed in her paintings and other artwork while her father is an irresponsible drunk always running from authorities. As a child, Walls believed her father was remarkable and the smartest man she knew. She was given knowledge at a very young age of survival in the desert or any unforgiving terrain. She told to be fearless and to stand up for what she believes in. She and her family moved around often to avoid being found by the government. Her father would spin wild tales about running to escape the FBI or the Mafia to make these long journeys more entertaining for his kids. He told stories about wrestling sharks and saving cities. To his children he was a god. Often the family did not have enough money for food or for a home. Her dad would pick up odd jobs everywhere they went and some nights they would sleep under the stars. 

Walls recounts her life with a sense of adventure. She memorializes the love and deep sadness of her family throughout her story. Her family always seems to make the best of a bad situation. One instance after accidentally sending a piano through their house and into the backyard, Jeanette’s optimistic mother remarks, “Most pianists never get the chance to play in the great out-of-doors. And now the whole neighborhood can enjoy the music too”(Walls 53). The Walls family is always positive through the bad times. The positivity is much needed because of the extreme poverty of the family. Rex Walls was fearless. He never cared what others thought of him. He decided to teach the children a lesson about big animals and they aren’t dangerous unless you are foolish around them. He brings the children to a zoo and is able to gain the trust of a cheetah. He stares it down and finally is able to pet it through the bars. Jeanette then sticks her hand through the bars and her hand is licked by the cheetah. A guard comes over and kicks them out as Jeanette states, “I could hear people whispering about the crazy drunk man and his dirty little urchin children, but who cared what they thought? None of them had ever had their hand licked by a cheetah” (Walls 109). Jeanette and her siblings are taught not to fear things bigger than you. The dangers of the world are only as dangerous as u make them out to be. Walls expresses feelings of a sort of loving sadness. She and her siblings did not have a normal childhood. They often went hungry and homeless. They knew never to make close friends because they would never stay in a place more than a few months. Most of all they knew their parents loved them. Later in the story, their father, Rex Walls begins to go on a downwards spiral of alcohol abuse and starts putting his family in dangerous situations. Money gets even tighter than before and survival starts becoming much harder. Will the children be able to escape this life? Read The Glass Castle to find out.