The Glass Castle
by Jeannette Walls
reviewed by Emma Condit
A true story, the compelling novel The Glass Castle recounts the crazy childhood of narrator Jeannette Walls. Raised in a deeply dysfunctional family, Walls was forced to grow up very quickly and take on many of adult responsibilities. Jeannette and her three siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen, were raised by Rose Mary and Rex Walls. Rose Mary Walls did not want the responsibility of being a mother, and instead spent her time painting and promoting positivity. Rex Walls, an alcoholic, inspired his children yet often disappointed them.
Rose Mary’s positive outlook on life, which she took to the extreme, had a negative effect on her family because she never saw anything as a problem. Although the family spent years living as nomads in extreme poverty, often going without food, the reader discovers that Rose Mary was in fact quite wealthy and could have provided a stable life for her children, but chose not to. Her parenting style encouraged independence because she felt that “it was good for kids to do what they wanted because they learned a lot from their mistakes." When the Wells family moved to Welch, Rose Mary got a job as a teacher; however, on multiple occasions, she pretended to be sick and refused to go to school, and Jeannette, Brian, and Lori took on the role of parents and insisted that she be responsible and go to work. Despite her positive outlook on life, Rose Mary Walls did not set a satisfactory example for her children to follow.
Rex Walls encouraged his children to take risks and have fun. His general approach to parenting was “If you don’t want to sink, you better figure out to swim” (Walls 66). He forced his children to be extremely self-reliant. Rex Walls captivated his children from a young age by promising to build them a castle made out of glass. This idea excited and intrigued Jeannette, so she admired her father, despite the fact that he constantly let her down. Rex Walls often stole the hard earned money of his wife and children to buy liquor, and he frequently disappeared for days at a time. The Walls children seldom stood up to their father because they knew that there was no point in doing so, but the children still wished he would behave like a normal father. This is evident when Jeannette tells the reader, “I looked at Dad for what felt like a very long moment. Then I blurted out, ‘And why don’t you act like a dad?’” Rex Walls believed in his children but rarely followed through with his promises.
I found The Glass Castle truly fascinating because it vividly described a incredibly unstable childhood that I cannot imagine living. I am growing up in a nice house, I never go to bed hungry, I go to a very good school, and I have dependable, mentally stable parents. I was shocked to see how parents who claim to love their children can neglect them so much and repeatedly let them down. The fact that The Glass Castle is such a personal story made it all the more interesting to read. The book intrigues the reader because not only does it tell a true story, but because the author’s childhood did not derail her entire life. The Glass Castle is a very inspiring story about living a childhood full of obstacles, but still finding success.
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.
The Glass Castle
by Jeanette Walls
reviewed by Melanie Corral
The Glass Castle, a heart wrenching memoir written by Jeanette Walls, reveals her many struggles growing up with a poor family in America. Narrated by Jeanette, the story tells about how both her and her brother Brian lived and grew up with dysfunctional parents who battled alcoholism and poverty. Their parents, Rex and Mary Rose, constantly move their family around in search for a better life, but somehow always backfiring horribly. Throughout this superbly written book, readers witness how Jeanette and Brian must grow up and mature too quickly in order to survive in the world. The two must behave strongly and make some truly onerous decisions hoping to impact their lives for the better. With a mournful yet uplifting ending, readers learn that taking responsibility for your own life is the key to living a happy one. Unlike many other coming of age stories, The Glass Castle is more realistic in the sense of the concrete problems these young people must go through. The most impressive part of this memoir is how Walls does not blame her parents in her writing for everything she had to go through. The light-toned writing prevails over the dark subject matter making this an enjoyable and not depressing read. This book is highly recommended for readers who enjoy stories of maturity and young people taking charge of their lives for the better. Wall’s writing style particularly appeals to readers who are attracted to hardcore stories written in a light hearted manner. Through this story, readers experience the struggle these relatable kids must go through while at the same time wanting to play around and live happy lives. This is a wonderful read that will affect many people for a long time, reminding to them to appreciate their families and to be kind always.
The Glass Castle
by Jeannette Walls
reviewed by Julia Powers
The memoir The Glass Castle follows the struggles of young Jeannette Walls, our author. She grew up in a life of poverty; from running out of hospitals without paying the bill to living in a leaking shack in Welch, West Virginia, without plumbing or electricity. Although this life doesn’t offer our main character much, she grows in unexpected ways throughout the novel. She and her other siblings eventually escape destitution but her parents are forever trapped in it. In the first couple of pages, Jeannette is riding in a cab in New York City “wondering if she was overdressed for the evening” (Walls 3). She glances out the window to see her mother on the street, rummaging through the trash, probably looking for something to eat.
Jeannette Walls was raised a tough and independent little girl from birth. We follow her from the age of three where she is making herself a hotdog in her favorite pink dress. Soon enough the flames that were boiling water, jump onto the cotton fibers, scarring the whole side of Jeannette’s body. She is rushed to the hospital, and a few weeks later her father, Rex Walls, scrambles out of the hospital with his favorite daughter in his arms, skipping the bill and forcing the family to move out of town once again. They travelled from a small town to the desert, to her mom’s house in Phoenix, and then to Welch with other places along their journey as well. Several events in The Glass Castle show how Jeannette was forced to grow up too quickly. In a desert town she was molested by the neighborhood pervert and for her tenth birthday all she asked for was that her father stop drinking. As they moved to Welch, and as Jeannette progressed through high school, she itched to get away from her family. Her older sister, Lori had gone to New York after her high school graduation and Jeannette soon decided she would move in with Lori after her own graduation. The struggle of having an alcoholic father who couldn’t hold a job and a nearly deranged mother helped to shape Jeannette into what she would later become.
The Glass Castle is a novel about unfinished plans for a better life. Jeannette’s parents sketched out all sorts of blueprints in each of the towns they lived in hoping for a better life. A glass castle was what Jeannette and her dad wanted to build when she was young. But throughout these failed ideas, Jeannette drew up her own dream of how she wanted her future to be. It would be the opposite of how her parents lived and the biggest difference between Jeannette’s dreams and those of her parents is that they came true. When things got tough she didn’t simply up and leave like her parents did. She put effort both in her life and in her future, and remembering the past, she continues to drive forward in that cab in New York City.
