Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1127646 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Review
'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 and Justice: Crimes, Trials, and Punishments '

Publishers Weekly
'Walls's parents -just two of the unforgettable characters in this excellent, unusual book - were a matched pair of eccentrics'

Customer Reviews

The Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls writes a very powerful and desperately honest account of her childhood. Raised by an alcoholic father and disinterested mother, she tells of the struggles herself and her siblings faced surviving poverty, neglect, and abuse in the US. Jeannette's account of her childhood is told with humour and acceptance, and I wasnt able to put the book down. A great read.

In My Observation
In my opinion, the thing that makes "The Glass Castle" so interesting is author Jeannette Walls' ability to take a passive role in observing the actions of an incredible ensemble of outlandish characters. It's a similar observational style that worked well in Augusten Burroughs' "Running With Scissors" and Rikki Lee Travolta's "My Fractured Life." It isn't the actions of Walls that make the drama, it is her action to observe and report the drama. The memorable cast of characters includes a mother who happens to be one of the most irrational woman of all time with an ironically uncanny ability to rationalize just about anything, and a father who favors an alcohol-based liquid diet and who balances the instability of the inability to hold a job with the stability of consistently losing at the card table. It's a cast of oddities that is every bit as fascinating as it sounds. Once you've completed "The Glass Castle", I also recommend "Running With Scissors", "My Fractured Life", "Smashed", "Simon Lazarus", "Nightmares Echo", "Mermaid Chair", and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time."

Inspirational And Honest Reflection
THE GLASS CASTLE is an inspirational and honest reflection of a childhood filled with pain. As of late there have been many "Memoirs" that are similar to this book. i.e. NIGHTMARES ECHO, A PAPER LIFE and SMASHED. Each book shows a different perspective on a childhood filled with pain that must be shoved down inside oneself only to have it emerge and threaten the lives of the adults that lived through that terrifying childhood. In each of the above books, inspiration and courage shined through to bring the author full circle and help us the reader to not just understand, but focus on our own lives and our own inner inspirations that keep us afloat. THE GLASS CASTLE has shown this very well with page turning enthusiasm.