The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.25 You Save: $10.75 (72%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.13 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Book Review: great
Summary: 5 Stars
this book was really good, and either so well told or so different from my own experience that it's hard to beleive as truth... but i got it in the biography section of the bookstore and it does say memoir right on the front, so i guess it must be so.
i really enjoyed the author's writing style. i read a bit of the introduction and bought it, she's a good storyteller. it's like she paints a coat of glaring reality.. or some such thing that makes the story so palpable, over the plot (which is fascinating enough on its own.
i thought this book did a great job of outlining the positives and negatives about people and situations. the parents were very interesting. they were learned people, more so than the average joe, and they taught their kids so many things and really stimulated them intellectually. they were inventive and artistic and let their kids be who they wanted to be and discover the world at their own pace. however, they were far from perfect. the mother had a very laiser faire attitude about raising the kids, though this could just be my personal bias as i was raised in a more stuctured household. when the kids are struggling with problems or when something isn't going right, she doesn't get too involved in their lives and either focuses on herself or brushes whatever it is off telling them to be stronger. so while her artistic hairbrainedness is wonderful and fun, it also backfires a bit. and i also didn't enjoy her relationship with her husband who lorded over her.
the husband was interesting because he was such a creative, inventive guy. when he put his mind to something he got a solution to whatever it was that fixed the problem (though to be fair kids can be easily pleased, especially without any prior world views to taint the perspectives their parents throw at them) and he was so intelligent and cared so much for his kids, but he was a drunk and used his intelligence poorly in inappropriate settings and he was somewhat pigheaded. also, despite this intelligence he and his family coast along the bottom half of the economic scale.
i think they were both wonderful characters and would have loved to meet them in real life. i love their view on the world, if not so much the negative exectutions, and think they're both really metaphorical characters and really display how something can have both a good and bad side well. i think the mother says at one point -life has both tragedy and comedy, you should focus more on the comedy than the tragedy- or something like that. there's a good and bad to everything... though at some point this philosophy could lead to intentional blindness to certain aspects of a situation.
Book Review: Utterly Engaging!
Summary: 5 Stars
A memoir that reads like a novel, this story deserves it's time on the best seller lists. I read this one on vacation and was totally absorbed the entire time reading it.
The story begins with an adult Jeannette spying her mother rummaging through the trash on the streets of NYC. Ashamed of her parents' homelessness and more ashamed of her reaction to them- the rest of The Glass Castle sensitively details her life with engaging tales of all she endured while growing up with all too fallible parents.
Born to an alcoholic father and flighty, artistic mother, Jeannette never seemed able to lay down roots- mostly because her eccentric parents couldn't hold down jobs. From living in the desert to a series of places no more than hovels, the Walls often found themselves doing the "skeedadle", as her father put it, to beat the bill collectors. They also had little time to receive a "proper" education, much to Jeannette's dismay.
Although her parents were definitely flawed, each had a brilliance all their own which they imparted to their children. Partly because of this, but more likely because of their own determination, Jeannette and her siblings managed to become productive, and for three of them, successful members of society.
The Glass Castle, a reference to her father's pipe dream of one day building a glass castle for his family to live in, is an insightful tale of a young girl who navigates the land mines her parents seemingly blithely place before her to grow up to be a surprisingly unencumbered woman who takes charge of her life in ways her parents never could.
A real page turner and an easy read that will stay with you long after you read it!
Book Review: Great book
Summary: 5 Stars
Awesome book that I just couldn't put down. Jeanette has one of the most interesting stories I think I've read and it was said so tastefully. I believe if I had the same background as her, when I wrote my own story into a book I do not think I would be nearly as tasteful as she was about it. It was impressive what the family went through and how they continued to stick together. I never realized people could actually live like this and become someone who was so successful later on in life. Reading just the story as a story you would think that she would never amount to anything. Impressive, definitely recommend.Book Review: A Rare Look Inside Homelessness in the US
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a fascinating account of a homeless family in the USA. Although there are many people who live in such circumstances, it is unusual that someone from this background has the education and ability to accurately describe it. Walls does so in a way that is neither judgmental nor maudlin, just profoundly enlightening.
Book Review: A Look Into A Dysfunctional Family
Summary: 4 Stars
I cannot say I enjoyed or liked this book, but I did find it fascinating in the same way that one cannot look away from a train wreck. So many in our society today like to state they are in dysfunctional family relationships - well, this was/is a truly dysfunctional family relationship!
The actions of the parents did make me angry, yes. But so did the inaction of those around this family - other family members, neighbors, school teachers, health workers. So many individuals could have intervened and chose to sit back and do....nothing. Yes, this is a story of survival, and whether the child are better for their experience is something a reader will have to determine for themselves. However, for me, the larger testament is to society for ultimately failing at all levels.
This is obviously not a book to be enjoyed - at least I hope not! But there can be lessons learned from this experience. What happened to this family continues today. Will people choose to ignore what is under their noses and allow children to be raised as these were in this book? Or will they take a stand for the children?
This book and the story of this family gives much for us all to think about.