The Glass Castle (Book Review)

I spent this morning curled on my bed, finishing reading Jeannette Wall’s “The Glass Castle”.  I giggled.  I cried.  I held my breath.  I related, and I wept.   This book gripped me in so many ways, as I related to Jeannette’s absolute constant fight to survive through her childhood.  I felt a sigh when I finished it, not sure what to do with the emotions this book inspired in me.

When the book opens, you see Jeannette sitting in a cab in New York City on her way to a posh part when suddenly she spots her homeless mother rooting through a trash can.   As your attention is already consumed, Jeannette then takes you to the beginning, in Battle Mountain, Nevada where her alcoholic father and eccentric artist mother teach them to be non-conformist individuals who live off whatever they can.   You will follow the Walls family to Arizona, then across the country where they finally settle in Welch, WV, in the heart of the Appalachian coal industry where poverty was prevalent.

Jeannette’s story telling will take you on the emotional ride of your life.  You will have moments of anger at her father and mother as the children dig secretly through school trash cans for food, paint their legs with multi colored pens to blend the holes in their pants, sleep on beds made of rope and cardboard and hold their shoes together with safety pins.  You will fall in love with her Dad when he takes each child outside at Christmastime to let them claim a star of their own.  You will become oddly attached to her endearing mother in a love/hate relationship at her honesty and lack of concern. All the while, Dad Walls, spends his life dedicated to building them the dream home they could only imagine, The Glass Castle, which he has already drawn plans for.

This book is a must read for anyone.   It is riveting, moving, and awe inspiring.   I’ve linked you below if you want to pick up a cheap copy from Amazon.  My friends, it’s worth the buy.  What a fantastic book indeed!