Glass Castle, The
Walls, JeannetteWhile Walls was living on Park Avenue covering the Academy Awards and attending black-tie parties at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, her parents were squatting in an abandoned building on the Lower East Side. An unsentimental memoir by Walls whose parents' ideals and non-conformity were both their curse and their salvation. The family lived a nomadic lifestyle, moving among Southwest desert towns, and camping in the mountains. Her father was charismatic and brilliant; her mother creative, but unable to stand the responsibility of providing for her family. Engaging and quirky.
Comments from Groups
A very thought provoking read. Everyone enjoyed this story of endurance and determination. Taumaranui 005Enjoyed the story, incredible, but such dysfunctional parents. Dunedin 080ALL of our members loved this book. It made us cry, rage, laugh and wonder. It enriched our understanding of life's great tapestry. An incredible book! Nelson 044The book lived up to expectations both `tragic and comic`. A fantastic start to the book when Jeanette described seeing her mother. Most enjoyed the read with great discussion! Christchurch 268Everyone loved the book, extremely interesting & enlightening! There was a lot of discussion. It also involved many emotions-anger at parents behaviour, frustration because the situation didn't change, sadness for children & amazement that the author overcame her deprived background! Christchurch 298Gripping and heart wrenching story. The language made it very easy to read but the topic was very hard going at times-especially for us Mums! New Plymouth 014Loved the book. Amazing how they survived!! Everyone extremely frustrated with her mother! The father was quite hopeless too. Too think the mother had all that land & they were starving! Winton 002
Pages
341
341
Year
2005
2005
Reviews
30-06-2025
A book of hardship and endurance. Strong relationships and belief in each other. Amazing resilience from children.
25-06-2025
A challenging read for the content, but it is well-written and a fascinating look into a family life that is unconventional and, in most respects, neglectful. Her parents clearly suffer mental health issues but the author makes no judgement, as there is clearly love and acceptance between them all. A positive read overall.
30-04-2025
Interesting read, but what terrible parents - so selfish!
14-03-2025
Everyone loved this read. It was emotional and heart wrenching at times but a really great insight into the struggles of poverty, mental illness and addiction.
14-02-2025
Within our 4/5, there were extremes of opinion. Some being horrified at the behaviour of the parents, and the family dysfunction, and others taking the behaviour as a positive because of the love the children had for their parents. We considered it well-written, although a difficult read, trying to get through the book without the frustration and anger at the selfishness of the parents overwhelming the completion of the story.
14-06-2024
Our first unanimous 5 star read (from all 9 members of our book club). A moving read, incredibly hard to put down.
18-01-2024
Our group had a lot of discussion around the lifestyle choice of parents, mental health, addiction, and the lack of responsibility towards parenting. Most of us found it a heart wrenching read.
06-11-2023
Great read. Well discussed.
09-08-2023
Great Book Club read with lots of discussion in and around love, parenting, alcoholism, child abuse, poverty ..... The movie is worth watching as well, which we did as a club after reading the book.
01-12-2021
Loved this book!
31-10-2018
Our group agreed that it's an excellently written book. We all enjoyed reading it, while being horrified at the irresponsible way the parents acted. The book prompted in-depth discussion about child rearing, mental health/illness, addictions and lots more. Highly recommended.
31-10-2018
This was not a literary masterpiece, but a straightforward style of writing with some irony - quick and easy to read. A glimpse into an alternative way of life which lead to plenty of discussion. Most of us thoroughly enjoyed it - one found the descriptions of their life too awful, another too gloomy.
29-10-2018
We loved this book - for its sadness, for its delight, for its style. Responses from the group include - shock, amazement, anger, disbelief and many more. It was the sort of book that had to be entered right into and read fast, to match its easy writing style. Two people spoke of their anger. Most of us found a YouTube link of a lecture given by Jeannette Walls most enlightening. We all wanted to find out what happened to Jeannette and her siblings after the 'Glass Castle' time frame.
29-10-2018
Fantastic book!
29-10-2018
Hard to believe that this is based on someone's own life experience! Generated lots of good discussion.
29-10-2018
We thought this was one of the better books that we have had for a long time, and were glad that somebody chose it. We couldn't work out why people would choose to live like that, especially when the mother had money. Through it all the children did all right, and certainly learnt survival skills etc. We would recommend it to other groups.
29-10-2018
Excellent book - we all loved it.
29-10-2018
Every member of our group found this book an extremely interesting read. It raised a number of questions concerning child neglect/abuse, and how some individuals are able to overcome adversity while others don't do as well. Great read!
29-10-2018
Our group really enjoyed this account of growing up with very eccentric parenting. We were not sure when this took place, and were interested in how they managed to stay under the radar of any social services or other agencies - if indeed there were any. We would be interested to read a sequel if the author writes one.
29-10-2018
A must read. An amazing rise above adversity. It makes you realise how we judge others without fully understanding their circumstances. The book is told in a way that drew you in - amazing stories of hardship but told with humour and without malice. Every single person found this book challenging but a great read. Would highly recommend!
29-10-2018
This memoir is astonishing - it generated loads of discussion in our group.
18-06-2018
Very good read, good coming-of-age story. We all enjoyed this read about some very resilient and determined kids, who really stuck together and supported each other. Great snapshot of how very poor some parts of America are.