The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle is a memoir about Jeannette Walls life as a young girl and how she continued to keep up hope and always look on the positive side. Jeannette Walls has also written The Silver Star: A Novel. The story follows Jeannette from her years as a little girl living in a trailer park up to her life as an adult living in New York City.

Jeannette spent her life constantly moving place to place living only one notch above homelessness. Her mom, Rose Mary, was an artist who liked adventure the excitement that being married to Rex Walls offered. Rex was Jeannette’s dad and was a smart charming man who could figure anything out made sure his kids where smart despite being practically homeless. However the man is an alcoholic who turns into a hazardous monster when booze hits his system and can’t keep a job for more than a few months. He also come up with amazing inventions and ideas, like the glass castle. Jeannette and her three siblings spend their whole life moving from city to city, state to state and never staying long enough to make any friends. They live most of their life eating as little as possible to stay alive and living in hand-me-downs, and goodwill if they were lucky.

I really liked this book and it’s not a type of book that I go for often. It is a touching story that gives you hope but also makes you wonder how in the world anyone can even live like that. I would recommend everyone go read this book right away. It is an amazing book that really opens your eyes to what some people go through in their life and how despite all of that they still manage to be optimistic and have a positive outlook on life. 

Book Review by Calla L.