The Glass Castle

One of the best memoirs I've ever read, stayed with me years after I had read it.

I’ve had a hard time reading “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. Walls describes the horrors (and a few good times, few and far between) of her childhood and adolescence.

While I kept wishing someone had intervened, I still felt thoroughly disengaged from the memoir. Walls describes everything without allowing any emotions to shine through. “Glass Castle” reads like it has been written by a detached observer. It’s a sterile, antiseptic report, which is undoubtedly well-written but, to me, not very interesting.

Only during the very first chapter are there any meaningful emotional components and in her acknowledgements, Walls states being “grateful [...] to my father, Rex S. Walls, for dreaming all those big dreams”. These are the dreams of a man who repeatedly tried to sell his own daughter to strangers to rape her. Moreover, he goes on to victim-blame her.

Walls is also grateful to her mother “for believing in art and truth” - a truth her mother gaslit her children away from, and a truth that includes possession of land worth a million that’s being kept in the family for no reason at all while the kids literally starve, freeze, and suffer from neglect, among other hardships.

Don’t get me wrong: Walls, just like anyone else, is, of course, welcome to feel and think any way she likes. Nevertheless, what precedent does that set for other parents like hers?

In different ways, I have my own childhood traumas caused by my father (and was blamed for them by my mother). I breathe more freely since his death in August 2024. Hadn’t it been for the misplaced piety of others, I would have had him dumped into my mother’s grave, alone with an undertaker.

Three stars out of five for the effort.

Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam

Interesting story. But when it comes to writing, all I can say is that journalists should just stick with reporting news. (The author being journalist explains the writing of the book.)

A well-written memoir and a story worth telling. I struggled to enjoy the book as much as I felt it deserved, especially for the first 100 pages or so, where I wished Walls had constructed the book more as a novel and less as a memoir (although it certainly is closer to a novel than most memoirs).

Heartbreaking, twisted, and horrifying, but hopeful, inspiring, and optimistic all at once
This book was so much more than I expected coming in.
It was my grandma's favorite book, so I wasn't expecting much, but this book opened my heart and made me look at my life from a different perspective.
You begin looking at Jeannette's life with wonder and a little bit of jealousy, wishing you were as adventurous and experienced as she was as a young child. But as the story moves on and becomes darker and darker as Jeannette's parents become less and less stable and the children grow more and more mature and independent, you're shellshocked by the harsh realities they had to endure.
I often found myself forgetting this was a true story, because how could someone really endure this much?
Near the end of the book, the perseverance of the Walls children and the hope they hold constant for a better life than their parents had is more than inspiring, and challenges you to find a more creative way to overcome any challenges you face in life.

It is hard to imagine growing up like Jeannette and her siblings did. I come from a “traditional” family background with 2 working parents who would sacrifice anything for their children, something I and my husband do for our own children. The perseverance it would take to overcome that background seems insurmountable to me. I would definitely recommend this memoir, just be prepared for an emotional ride.

This book was a really strong relating of a difficult childhood, and the way Walls told the stories was vivid and riveting. However, I felt that there was a lot of storytelling and less “memoir” type content, and I would have loved more present day insights or reflections of feelings.

Goddamnit I'm a sucker for memoirs

Tara Westover's “Educated” meets J.D. Vance's “Hillbilly Elegy”. I actually quite enjoyed it, although I was expecting that it would make me sick to read about another fucked up life because of idiot parents. It's a story about how someone's beliefs makes them stand out and also, despite the cost of their beliefs, they're willing to keep them until they die.

read for school. the pace was really slow for me but it was good nonetheless.

What a compelling memoir! I listened to the audio version read by the author and it was engrossing. It gave me the same vibes as “Educated” by Tara Westover.

I'll probably be blamed for being too much of a realist and pessimistic but Walls life journey is not unique. Too many kids grow up in poverty, have mentally unwell parents, and experience abuse before they are even teenagers. Especially in America, from the North to the South, East and West, majority of our population struggle and those struggles are passed down onto kids. But where this memoir differs from the same story we all know is Walls writing talent and the tone established within the pages. It is a feat to successfully immerse readers into the same terror you felt without overdoing it with just anger or sadness. It is a strong and beautiful memoir.

Interesting how I reacted o this book... After the first 10-15% of the book, I was ready to abandon it. I found it tedious, repeating the same concept again and again with just different words and different examples. I powered through the slog mostly out of curiosity, given the great reviews and finally got to the good part. The tone of the author is perfect, judgement is restrained and there's no self indulgence, and that made the read in the end quite compelling. Probably, as a fiction, it would be a 3 stars, but as a memoir. I think it brings something important in an elegant way, so it gets an extra star from me.

My wife choose this book for her book club, I begrudgingly read it because it seemed like a quick read. The more I read the more hooked I got. The movie makes this story out to be a relationship between a father and daughter but I felt that the central themes were more about overcoming adversity and seeing the good in the most bleakest situations.

I can see why this book is on so many favorites lists here on Goodreads! I really enjoyed this. Walls illustrates and expands her childhood world so broadly and fantastically that it indeed felt like fantasy. She wove the story of her childhood and adolescence like an adventure, when in reality it was stitched together with all the horrors of life–poverty, abuse, and unhealthy relationships. At times this book was very frustrating to read–not because of the writing style, but because of how horrific and sad the story was when it could have been anything else. Walls' parents were the most frustrating, yet fascinating, part of the story. They were larger-than-life in their selfish yet childlike and adventurous ways. They painted their experiences like a fairytale they were living in every moment, from petting a live cheetah to sitting hungry in a damp and freezing shack. Perhaps this is how they coped with the lives they led–making it a living story in the present. This is pretty much required reading for memoir lovers.

Made me rethink what my life is like and my privileges.

This book was at times difficult to read but always moving. I laughed and cried and found myself thinking about my own childhood with frequency. I had heard so many great things about the book and it lived up to every expectation and then some. If you have experience with an addict, this book might be hard to get through, but there are so many glimmers of hope and optimism to be found.

This book made me angry. I do think that it was well written, and as I come from a family that was pretty poor when I was younger (not as bad as them of course) I did not feel like it was made up. I could very easily believe that everything that happened would happen with an alcoholic parent and another who clearly had some kind of mental illness.

It made me angrier and angrier as I read all of the things that kept happening. How the parents kept destroying every chance and opportunity they had. The ending made me downright furious.

I have to say that I sat down and actually read the book when I heard that the movie was coming out soon. I also found the ending to be believable (the fact that she forgave her parents) due to the fact that they basically ruined relationships for this girl. She clearly did not get what it was like to be loved and settled down with the first man who took care of her and gave her a comfortable life, later getting divorced.

As much as I really wanted to find out what happens at the end, I still felt like I didn't care much about the other children. I kept forgetting about the youngest girl altogether.

The part about Ox the piggy bank was very predictable and I was just counting down the pages until the dad stole the money to buy himself some booze. I felt that part might have been dragged out a little bit as we all (I think) knew what was coming.

Oh wow, I have so many feelings about this book. This was my first time reading The Glass Castle. In all honesty, I didn't even realize it was a memoir until I sat down with it and really took a look at the blurb on the back. I've been hearing about this book for ages and the fact that it's getting a movie finally pushed me to read it NOW. So when I saw a used copy for sale at a bookstore recently, I couldn't help but pick it up.

The Glass Castle is a memoir by Jeannette Walls that focuses mainly on her relationships with her family. Jeannette had an atypical upbringing; her father was a manic alcoholic and her mother spent most of her time daydreaming instead of parenting. Jeannette and her siblings had to raise each other and often had to go without food and proper shelter.

Jeannette perfectly conveys the intricacies of the difficult relationships we sometimes have with the people we love. In many ways, Jeannette's father reminded me of my own and reading her story hit harder to home than I expected it would. While there are countless differences between her experience and mine, I can relate to some of the things she has dealt with and I can understand loving someone in spite of things that could be seen as unforgivable by others.

While I deeply appreciated the story, the writing itself fell flat for me at times. Jeannette is descriptive and often paints a full picture of the scenes in her life, but at the same time she feels somewhat removed. Her story is told matter-of-factly, often with little emotion. While this is commendable in some ways, it also made it hard for me to really get into the story at some points. Although I may have struggled for a bit, I did find myself quickly devouring the last third of the book.

Overall, Jeannette presents a fascinating, well-written story that I would recommend to all.

Read more reviews like this on my blog.

I loved how even though there were many hardships in this family's life, there were also times of happiness and joy. I loved that the kids stuck together against the hardships of life and their parents.

This book may have been difficult to read at times, but I can most certainly appreciate the author's willingness to present her life story in such an honest way - highs, and lows, and everything in-between. It is hard to imagine myself in her shoes, growing up in the environment she did, and yet this was her reality. There are children who grew up in homes full of abuse, neglect, and disappointment, are growing up in these homes, and will be as long as we are living this side of heaven. All the same, the author does not ask the reader for pity and often reminds you of the love she had for her father, regardless of all the ways he hurt and failed her throughout the entirety of her life. It is always so interesting to learn the back stories of people who you would never guess have the upbringing and childhood experiences they did, and this is one such example. I would recommend this book but would say this is not the book to read if you're expecting puppies and rainbows or are looking for a mindless, feel-good read.

The unbelievable living conditions this family went through is enough to grip any reader. Anyone who thinks “I had pretty crazy parents” has nothing on Jeannette Walls.
But what really makes this story unique is the perspective Walls writes from. She recreates her memories and feels them as she experienced them at the time, rather than reflecting back on them with her current perspective. The result is that you begin by seeing her father as a genius and a hero and her mother as brilliant and creative, and as she grows, she begins to portray the good with the bad. Writing this way, the reader can understand why she seems to hold an unwavering loyalty to her parents in spite of the obvious neglect and mistreatment she suffered.
The book is packed with symbolism and complex relationships, and though it may not be a factual autobiography so much as a story based on her actual childhood, it excellently portrays her emotions toward a family which put her through horrific experiences while showing her unconditional love. It's a true must-read.

Wow! I don't know what to say about this book. I don't want to judge the choices Jeanette's fairly educated parents made in life – I was just happy to read about how she and her siblings persevered and made it through the other side fairly intact. Jeanette and her siblings were forced to grow up fast way too young. What these kids did to pull themselves out of poverty is beyond words –I'm not sure I could've done what they did had I been in their position. But no matter how the parents are perceived by the reader, one will note that they made it so that the family would remain a family no matter what, and for that, I do admire them.

HMMM it's so hard to talk about the book without talking about Walls's childhood? It's... impressively weird and cringe-inducing. It's impressive how Walls is able to document an arguably abusive childhood while still expressing some level of empathy and even admiration for her parents. I was furious reading about Jeannette's mother hiding chocolate while her children went hungry, but I also felt for her mother when she cried to her children that they always forgive their father for his drinking, and they should forgive her for her weakness as well. I also thought her framing device, of starting off with Jeannette seeing her homeless mother and not doing anything for her, was great. It starts her off as a somewhat less-than-sympathetic narrator, but by the time you get to the end and see more of the Wallses... it's understandable.Overall, I didn't enjoy this as much as I enjoyed [b:Half Broke Horses 6366437 Half Broke Horses Jeannette Walls http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348507420s/6366437.jpg 6553801], but I admired it and appreciated it.

This book is one of a kind, it was one of the first true stories I've ever read.
I loved it, and am looking forward to the movie.