The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls had the type of childhood that "isn't supposed to happen" in America. Her parents were not the Cleavers. Her father was an alcoholic and a dreamer. Her mother was an artist. Their notion of child care was a very hands-off style. When Jeannette was three she was hospitalized for severe burns when her dress caught on fire while she was making her own meal. She nonchalantly told an appalled nurse she always cooked her own hot dogs. Within days of her release from the hospital she was making her own meals again. At three, though, at least her parents were still bringing food in the house. In junior high and high school she and her sisters and brothers were eating out of garbage cans.

By the time Jeannette was ten Rex and Rose Marie Walls had moved numerous times. She remembers more than one middle of the night move when they suddenly left everything behind and started again. Rex was a dreamer, charismatic, and couldn't keep a job, usually by choice. Rose Marie had a teaching degree but hated teaching. She spent all her time painting. The four children went along wherever their parents went. They took care of themselves and each other while their parents followed their own dreams. After they spiraled down in the home inherited from Jeannette's grandmother, the Walls family moved from Phoenix to West Virginia. They stayed with Rex's parents for a while, then moved to the shack high up the side of the mountain. There was no indoor plumbing or heat. The electricity was usually turned off. As they turned 17, the children left their parents and moved to New York City. After the youngest joined her older siblings, the parents couldn't stand living away from their children. They also moved to New York City, finally ending up as homeless and squatters. They wouldn't accept anything from their children even when the children were in a position to give help.

Jeannette tells her childhood story in a voice that chronicles their lives. She doesn't use a judgmental tone nor a self-pitying tone. Despite the neglect she says her family loves each other to this day. It is the matter-of-fact tone of this book that makes it so powerful. Jeannette Walls says she wrote this book to finally tell their story. This book is written in a basic, easy-to-read tone that can be read fairly quickly. That doesn't lesson its impact. When we discussed this book at my book club we tore the parents apart with our criticism. But Jeannette doesn't do that. She tells her story from her memories and perspective. Jeannette and her siblings are survivors.

In her acknowledgements Jeannette says her husband helped "pull" this story out. In this, she has given the reader a powerful memoir that is disturbing the whole way through.

Hungry Hill by Carole Gaunt O'Malley