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The Glass Castle: A Memoir

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The Glass Castle: A Memoir

by Jeannette Walls
Read by: Jeannette Walls

Simon & Schuster Audio | September 28, 2010 | Audio Book (CD)

Millions of readers have been transformed by Jeannette Walls's award-winning memoir of resilience amid a deeply dysfunctional childhood. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want to responsibility of raising a family.

The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing and poised to stand the test of time.

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Reviews

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    Rating: 5/5

    A Story about the Very Essence of Human Spirit

    Heather Reisman

    • Chief Booklover

    5 years ago

    Here is a biography that will quietly take your breath away. The main characters aren't famous, infamous, or doing anything that will remotely change the world. But in every way, and in a beautiful way, this is a story about the very essence of human spirit.

    The writer, Jeanette Walls, is one of four children brought up by parents who are totally eccentric and often dangerously neglectful. As Walls explains early in the story: "Mom believed that children shouldn't be burdened with rules and restrictions." We experience their growing-up years through the eyes of Jeanette and what an incredibly moving and heartwrenching growing-up it is.

    While Walls and her siblings aren't abused by their parents in the conventional sense of the word, the constant chaos and upheaval in their everyday lives and the things they had to do to deal with the extreme poverty they faced - rummaging for food in dumpsters was an everyday occurrence - leave the reader wondering how the kids could even begin to survive such ramshackle parenting. Incredibly, three of the four siblings do better than survive. They grow into highly responsible, caring and contributing members of society. Perhaps most touching and inspiring is the gentle love that Walls maintains for both parents - together with a profound sense of acceptance that this is simply the kind of parents she was born to. From the opening paragraphs, when Jeanette, already grown-up, catches sight of her mother living as a homeless person on the street in New York, and through all the events which come before that moment, this is a story which will touch your heart and make you count your blessings, no matter what challenges you face.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?
    emanjit singh

    Rating: 1/5

    Not A Fave

    emanjit singh

    3 months ago

    I got this book because it was one of Heathers Pick. I usually don’t go for her book selections because I feel she just goes for the books that are the hype at the moment. However, I was at Chapters and was having a difficult time finding a book so I picked this one. Yes, it is a good book. Yes, it was a page turner. But every story just seemed fake or exaggerated. I kept asking myself “how does she remember so much”? This could have been good read if it were fictional novel. However, since it is a memoir I just kept on questioning whether it was real or not and this was driving me crazy. In the end it felt rushed and I really would not recommend this book to anybody.

    Comments on this review:
    jess

    I meant "let go"

    jess

    I think this story is for those with adventurous hearts. You have to just get go of your preconceived feelings and notion and just trust with an open mind and open heart where the author takes you, let it be exciting or uncomfortable bits of life. Whether it was all real or not it was told vividly, from her view and her view alone. Depends what you are looking for, if you want proven facts in multi-perspective maybe I'd say you should try history books or autobiographies.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 4/5

    Great read

    Sherrylynn Williams

    4 months ago

    One of those stories that is too bizarre to make up. Couldn't wait to see what happened next, definitely worth the read.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?
    Anonymous

    Rating: 5/5

    Awe Inspiring

    Anonymous

    6 years ago

    This novel pulls you into a life of modern day gypsies. You feel as though you are being driven from city to city escaping the maffias of the father's imagination, and doing anything you can think of to make a couple of dollars for food while the mom works toward her "artist's" career. You can't help but feel greatful of your own up-bringing when faced with this alternative. It is truly shocking and breath-taking. The love of this family kept them going through the hardest of times.

    Comments on this review:
    Joanne Rideout

    This is without a doubt one of the best books I have read. It is as others have said shocking and breath taking.

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From the Publisher

Millions of readers have been transformed by Jeannette Walls's award-winning memoir of resilience amid a deeply dysfunctional childhood. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want to responsibility of raising a family.

The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing and poised to stand the test of time.

About the Author

Jeannette Walls was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She graduated from Barnard College and was a journalist in New York City for twenty years. Her books include the memoir The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel.

Jeannette Walls was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She graduated from Barnard College and was a journalist in New York City for twenty years. Her books include the memoir The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel.

Audio Book (CD)

5.06 x 5.75 x 1 in

September 28, 2010

Simon & Schuster Audio

English


1442339705
9781442339705

From the Critics

"Just read the first pages of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and I defy you not to go on. It''s funny and sad and quirky and loving. I was incredibly touched by it."

-- Dominick Dunne, author of The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper

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