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The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Published in 2005, The Glass Castle follows Jeannette Walls’ tumultuous and nomadic youth, from four years old into adulthood. Her eccentric parents refused to do parenting, schooling, working, and everything else under the sun the traditional way. Her father, a loving but unreliable drunk, and her mother, an impractical and inattentive artist, Jeannette and her brother and two sisters grew up as free-spirited travelers, the price being poverty, instability, and social isolation. Her parents, refusing to settle down, roamed the United States, toting their few worldly possessions and four kids in a rundown old automobile nicknamed the Blue Goose. The stories of their innumerable adventures and transitory lifestyle are fascinating, but pain-filled. Growing up, much of what Walls knew was change, unfulfilled hopes, neglect, and hunger.

This best-selling book explores the dysfunctional dynamic of her negligent parents and the lasting impact of their careless ways on her childhood, going into her adulthood. To give you an example, Walls starts her memoir with a memory of her four year old self making her own lunch. She is boiling hot dogs alone in the kitchen, her mom painting in another room in the camper van, in a world of her own, and the little girl hauls a huge pot of water onto an open flame stove. The fire catches Jeannette’s dress, and the four year old is encased in flames. Jeannette bore the scars forever. 

The title of The Glass Castle refers to the idea of a glass castle that her father would speak and dream of building. Her father was all talk; he was a dreamer, with a fantastic imagination and adventurous spontaneity, and he would speak of the magical, comfortable home he was going to build one day for the family. But that day never came. They bounced around, living in camper vans, the basement of Jeannette’s abusive grandmother, and rotting cabins. The title demonstrates the illusion of false hopes, of being constantly let down, of being fed on dreams, not meals. Stability always around the corner and out of sight, Jeannette and her siblings were starving for a solid home, but the selfish spontaneity and fears of her parents prevented this.

The book prompts many moments of sympathy, distaste, admiration, and awe from its readers. It examines family dynamic, broken home life, alcoholism, homelessness, sexual abuse, poverty, forgiveness, and in the end, personal determination and triumph, as Jeannette muscles her way from the bottom to the top, using her independence and strength to fulfill her dreams. Painfully struggling to break away from the messy entanglement of her family, she finally succeeds in striking out on her own to be a writer in New York City.

The raw way in which Walls depicts her unique childhood is mesmerizing. Jeannette Walls is a wonderfully honest author. In her own memoir, she is totally transparent about her personal imperfections and failures—an admirable feat considering how difficult it is to tell a story that you have been ashamed of your entire life. Walls has no airs as she frankly shares her life story with us. The topics she develops and explores really hit home with readers, because everyone comes from different backgrounds and struggles in home life. The memoir will definitely strike a chord with readers’ beliefs about personal choices and the strength and humility that is necessary to follow through with tough decisions. 

Walls’ memoir challenges readers to think about the feeling of being stuck, trapped, in a life or lifestyle—one that you aren’t able to change, refuse to change or, more specifically, refuse to do what is necessary to change. It comes down to knowing what you want and how much you are willing to work in order to achieve it. Many people choose not to help themselves, like Jeannette’s parents. They had all of the dreams and none of the resolve, but Jeannette and her siblings broke the cycle. They got out and stayed out, and their story is well-worth reading. Walls’ vividly demonstrates the potential that each individual holds to damage so many other lives around them. Each person carries the ability to have a dramatic effect on their loved ones’ lives with their poor decisions. 

A little taste from the Glass Castle :

You should read this book if you like autobiographies and stories of personal struggle and redemption. If you enjoy this book, consider reading her other novel, Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel. 

Also after reading this novel, we highly recommend watching the film version of The Glass Castle. It does the memoir justice, has a star-studded cast, and is a heart-wrenching, soulful adaptation that makes you question everything you’ve ever experienced (or at least that’s what it did to me).

We encourage you to read this unique memoir this month, because you’ve never read anything like it before, and share your thoughts with us at the end of the month in our Facebook live discussion thread! We would love to have you chat with us about this fantastic book. Details about the Facebook live thread will be coming out soon. 

More by Jeannette Wells:

Happy reading!