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Books : The Glass Castle: A Memoir
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Amazon.com's Price: $24.00 Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 6 to 11 days
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Binding: Library Binding
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.82092
EAN: 9781435271418
ISBN: 1435271416
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: May 09, 2008
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
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. A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor.
Amazon.com Review:
Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover. --Brangien Davis
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
This is a beautifully rendered, poignant account of a totally dysfunctional family. It is little wonder that this book won numerous awards and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. I simply could not put this book down, as the author had me transfixed with her story of growing up in such an unusual family.
Born to highly intelligent, creative parents who marched to the beat of a different drum, the author and her siblings had a difficult childhood. With a dreamer of a father ... Read More
Rating:  -
The children in this story are amazing people. This story solidifies the fact that 'some people are not meant to have children'. I loved that the hardships that the children had to overcome DID NOT break their spirit for a better life. It made me appreciate the little things!
Rating:  -
After reading so many positive reviews for this book, I was deeply disappointed by the content and writing style. The four-word sentences and atrocious punctuation were torture for me. The author may have wanted the memoir to be from a child's perspective but the childish writing style was simply too much to bear. And this from a professional writer? Easily eighty percent of the commas could have been deleted from this book with only beneficial results.
Also I found the book to be completely ... Read More
Rating: -
Walls writes with a keen eye and a warm heart, I could not put this book down. Easily on my top 10 list, I plan to give this book to those readers on my Christmas list. Highly recommended!!
Rating: -
This tear jerking tale was one that brought tears to my eyes.The fact that the tale is true is just as amazing as Janette Walls herself.Many people go through times in their lives where they need courage, and if they are lucky they find it. Janette Walls had a childhood and adult life that have both called for an abundance of courage. Infact it seams that was the one constant in her life, she is a person of amazing strength in both living her life and telling this humbeling story. I will keep this book ... Read More
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