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The Glass Castle - A Memoir | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeanette Walls
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
Buy Used: $16.97
Used (2) from $16.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  1119 reviews
Sales Rank: 523190
Format: Import
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 1844081826
EAN: 9781844081820
ASIN: 1844081826
Publication Date: 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1114 more reviews...
 Adults as Children and Children as Adults October 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This memoir got book deals for several dozen marginal writers with bad childhoods, but those books have been awful compared to this one. Jeannette Walls has enough experience as a writer to tell a story. We have the typical bad dad -- the Angela's Ashes model where he may be a drunk and a gambler who doesn't take care of his family, but when he shows up, he's a Peter Pan figure who makes everything so much fun and magical for the children, they can't help but love him anyway. At first, the reader sort of loves him, too, but then the irresponsibility escalates.
Unfortunately, he is married to and having children with a self-centered artist (and she's not particularly a good artist, you can see her work on YouTube; she's ordinary)who is mentally unhinged. Most of the time she is oblivious to the terrible way the family lives, and when she is aware of it, she just cries and retreats into herself. She raises her children like animals, pretty much leaving them to fend for themselves, and she doesn't seem to connect to them like the father does, who is no more than a child himself. At least she doesn't drink. And she encourages everyone to read and treats the babies like fellow adults, so they mature quickly.
The way the children cope is almost miraculous. I'm not saying it isn't true. I guess under such dire circumstances, even small children can bring a creative survival instinct to the table.
I suppose out of respect for their privacy, Jeannette Walls is less detailed about how her siblings manage after they all leave home at such an early age. I'm thinking they must have arrived in New York City as teens sometime in the 1980s. Is it really this easy to get jobs and find affordable places to live in NYC? Now I feel really bad that I never tried it.
Walls also doesn't give any more detail about the mother's real estate holdings which provide a shocking conclusion to the book. It's hard to believe she never called to find out what they were really worth, and it's shocking they haven't forced the mother to sell them off. Maybe they're waiting for her to die. And if they're not worth much, it would negate the ending of the book, which is more dramatic with the possibility that all this time, the children were suffering and yet the mother had valuable property. (But if she had sold it, she and her husband would have blown all the money, even a sensational amount, in record time anyway, on foolish things. They were more childlike than the children.)
BRILLIANT! October 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I applaud all the five star reviews who actually "GOT IT", in stark contrast to the negative ones who were obviously too short-sighted and couldn't see the forest for the trees. The author's depth of character is to be admired for her insight and compassion to see the redeeming qualities in her parents. In spite of the parent's chosen path in life, obviously not to cherish a shallow life full of "fancy things",the parents instilled in the children independant thought, principles, values, pride, self-sufficiency, self-worth, and how to love. A good many of the wealthiest children in the world are sadly lacking in all these qualities. BRILLIANTLY DONE BY AN OBVIOUS BRILLIANT, SPECIAL HUMAN BEING!! BRAVO!!!
food for thoughts on food October 6, 2008
an unexpected page turner for me. the glass castle caught me off guard in its honesty and reawakened my understanding of another world that lies beyond all the comforts of home. touching, that the author writes without judgment or resentment even though the story inspired both emotions in this reader.
Such shocking behavior, it's almost unbelievable September 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Glass Castle was so good that I couldn't put it down.
I am a mother of two children and would do anything to keep them healthy and safe. It's shocking to me that some people who choose to have kids are incapable of taking care of themselves, let alone their children.
It's a must read, difficult at times due to the abuse. We read it for our book club and it was a big hit.
Glass Castle September 30, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Great narrator, fascinating story. A dysfunctional family at it's most bizarre and creative - had some very touching moments and some moments that make you angry. A fresh perspective on life, read by a terrific narrator.
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