Book Review: The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. It starts when she is three years old. Her first memory is bring thrown form the car when her father makes a tight turn. She rolls for a while and stops when she hits train tracks by the road. The worst part is it takes her parents a while to notice she isn't there, once trying to walk to town she gives up and walks back to where she was left, waiting for her parents to get back. No apology later, they're continuing on their drive. I hated Rex Walls from that moment on. A real hate that grew stronger with every page.

Jeannette's family moves from town to town very often. The children rarely go to school and "learn" from library books and the ramblings of her father. They are also on the run because he is on to so many conspiracies that the mob is after him. Let's just say it's really only bankers who want them. Money is never around and there are multiple opportunities for the parent's to change that. They never do take these chances and the children suffer greatly. Continue my hate for Rex Walls.

I really love Jeannette. We may not have ever met, but you cannot read into the personal life of someone as much as I did her and not feel a connection. If I had been through even half of what she did I would never have the guts to write it all out. What I love most about her is how she rose up out of her crap of a childhood and made an amazing life for herself. Her parents never did anything to try to help her, and as time went on they actually did what they could to stand in the way of their children. My hatred continues to grow for her father all the up till *spoiler alert* he dies. Whatever, people die, especially as they grow older. But I really don't want to look into the reasons why I cried as hard as I did when it happened. Seriously, it was hard to read through my puffy, crying eyes.

After all this crap, decades of everything terrible you can ever imagine happening to one family, I'm glad with how it "ended". There's a special, tender moment when Jeanette and her husband are driving some of the family to a Thanksgiving celebration. Even though she doesn't say what her husband is saying as they drive, she explains how much she loves him and how happy she is.

This book will anger and annoy you, but I bet you won't be able to put it down. And then you will love her like I do. If I ever meet Jeannette Walls I will thank her, tell her she's awesome, and then awkwardly hug her. It will be weird. But I'll take a picture and post a blog about it!