The Glass Castle

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A tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that, despite its profound flaws, gave the author the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn t stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an excitement addict Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town and the family Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape He drank He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots Now she tells her own story. Read The Glass Castle – kino-fada.fr My sister saw The Glass Castle on my coffee table and said, Oh, I read that It s kind ofthen she paused and we both were awkwardly silent for a minute Well, I was going to say, it s kind of like us, a little bit, but not Yeah, I said I wasn t going to say it because not all of it Yeah, not all of it We didn t talk about it again When I first saw this book, I think I died a little inside because of the cover I didn t hate The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood like My sister saw The Glass Castle on my coffee table and said, Oh, I read that It s kind ofthen she paused and we both were awkwardly silent for a minute ...Now I get why people like this memoir so much.Though it is a memoir and a true story, both the writing style and the way Walls reminisces about her childhood make it seem likeof a fairy tale My favourite non fiction books are those that don t lose the compelling flow of a good fiction book that still pull you into another world and life, dragging you along for the ride This is one of those.I especially liked reading about Walls complex and conflicting thoughts about her parents and ch Now I get why people like this memoir so much.Though it is a memoir and a true story, both the writing style and the way Walls reminisces about her childhood make it seem likeof a fairy tale My favourite non fiction books are those that don t lose the compelling flow of a good fiction book that still pull you into another world and life, dragging you along for the ride This is one of those.I especially liked reading about Walls complex and conflicting thoughts about her parents and childhood When she s writ...Another Update I just saw the movie I liked it Woody Harrelson Brie Larsonand Naomi Watts were all great I thought they got the important duel emotions just right On one end the parents did not protect their kids appropriately at all lots of crazy dangerous chaos On the other end there was no question the parents loved wholeheartedly their children AND there were some great gifts they ga...I guess I have a somewhat different frame of reference than several of the reviewers here I can relate to many of the lessons she learned, and as such, I never had an issue believing her These things can and do happen The system fails children, and addicts whether they re addicted to alcohol or excitement will seek their fix above all else As long as the addiction is in the picture, the person just doesn t exist Children in alcoholic families eventually become aware of this, and the soone I guess I have a somewhat different frame of reference than several of the reviewers here I can relate to many of the lessons she learned, and as such, I never had an issue believing her These things can and do happen The system fails children, and addicts whether they re addicted to alcohol or excitement will seek their fix above all else As long as the addiction is in the picture, the person just doesn t exist Children in alcoholic families eventually become aware of this, and the sooner they get it the better for them In the book, this is nowhereclearly evidenced than in the case of Walls youngest sister, who spent the least amount of time in the presence of her parents dysfunction, and yet was finally the most crippled ...The Glass Castle is a memoir written by gossip columnist Jeanette Walls, which details her unconventional childhood growing up with an alcoholic father and a mother who seems to be mentally ill Walls begins the book by explaining what has prompted her to write about her family after she has made it and become a successful writer living in New York, she comes across her mother picking trash out of a dumpster and, in shame, slinks down in her taxi seat and pretends not to see or know her La The Glass Castle is a memoir written by gossip columnist Jeanette Walls, which details her unconventional childhood growing up with an alcoholic father and a mother who seems to be mentally ill Walls begins the book by explaining what has prompted her to write about her family after she has made it and become a successful writer living in New York, she comes across her mother...4.5 5This was really good Difficult to read at times, but a marvellous book.Who here has seen the show Shameless I am thinking of the American version, but I know there is a British one, too, that it is based on To me, that show could have been inspired by this memoir Frank Gallagher and Rex Walls are the same guy I enjoyed all the vignettes from Jeannette Walls life She did a great job throwing them all together to create a story even without a specific plot I am not sure that any of the stories lastedthan a few pages, but each one of them was interesting Who here has seen the show Shameless I am thinking of the American version, but I know there is a British one, too, that it is based on To me, that show could have been inspired by this memoir Frank Gallagher and Rex Walls are the same guy I enjoyed all the vignettes from Jeannette Walls life She did a great job throwing them all together to create a story even without a specific plot I am not sure that any of the stories lastedthan a few pages, but each one of them was interesting and important in its own way.I listened to the book and it was great because it was was read by the author I think that this is how all audio memoirs should be Also, I thought it was interesting that although some of the stories made me w...The warning is this If you are going to become parents you must simply forego being bohemian Otherwise your children might grow up to be super successful you will end up eating trash off dark alleywaysPeculiar upbringings are what memoirs are made of We saw this in the Frank McCourt gray sad Angela s Ashes , evenso in any of the Augusten Burroughs books mainly Running with Scissors When memoirs are like this, invigoratingly Roald Dahlesque in painting pictures The warning is this If you are going to become parents you must simply forego being bohemian Otherwise your children might grow up to be super successful you will end up eating trash off dark alleywaysPeculiar upbringings are what memoirs are made of We saw this in the Frank McCourt gray sad Angela s Ashes , evenso in any of the Augusten Burroughs books mainly Running with Scissors When memoirs are like this, invigoratingly Roald Dahlesque in painting pictures of past predicaments and obviously the survival of the protagonist, the reader reads on No matter how bad you have it, someone somewhere sometime probably had it worse.The Walls children 3 of the 4, at least become inspired by their nomadic parents, wanting to be so unlike their progenitors that they turn their lives around Here is testament of someone living way under the poverty level in modern times getting out alive a smarter woman for it That she appreciates it and maintains a s...What I loved about this book is this it presents her parents, with all their faults, and the poor mentality, at its worst, without anger, exasperation, or even really any judgment, just with the quirky love we all view our own childhoods If she had been bitter in her description it would not have been believable, but instead it was tinged with forgiveness making me respect her for not only surviving such a strange childhood to become a successful, even functioning, adult but for being able to What I loved about this book is this it presents her parents, with all their faults, and the poor mentality, at its worst, without anger, exasperation, or even really any judgment, just with the quirky love we all view our own childhoods If she had been bitter in her description it would not have been believable, but instead it was tinged with forgiveness making me respect her for not only surviving such a strange childhood to become a successful, even functioning, adult but for being able to view her past with impartiality What was thought provoking for me was the idea that if you think you re a victim you are and if you don t you re not As appalling as her mother s reaction was to her troubles, it s true We do overprotect our children at the price of their own growth sometimes And in this society we are on the jumpy side when it comes to m...This book really made me angry why can people who have absolutely no business having kids be able to have four Let me backtrackIn the beginning, the Walls family is always on the run The father is an alcoholic, who is intelligent, but believes everything upon everything is a conspiracy He can t get a job because of the mafia, the government, the gestapoThe mother has a teaching degree, but chooses to be an artist The family is barely able to scrape by the father spends any money they This book really made me angry why can people who have absolutely no business having kids be able to have four Let me backtrackIn the beginning, the Walls family is always on the run The father is an alcoholic, who is intelligent, but believes everything upon everything is a conspiracy He can t get a job because of the mafia, the government, the gestapoThe mother has a teaching degree, but chooses to be an artist The family is barely able to scrape by the father spends any money they have on alcohol, the kids barely eat, and all this time, the mother sits around, doing not...

The Glass Castle
  • English
  • 23 September 2018
  • Paperback
  • 288 pages
  • 074324754X
  • Jeannette Walls
  • The Glass Castle