The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls- A Masterpiece

I just finished reading The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls and I have to say, I am overwrought with emotion and absolutely floored by the book.  The Glass Castle is Walls' memoir, and she shares her life story, which is truly fascinating.  Walls grew up with her mother and father, an older sister, a younger brother and a younger sister as well.  Their family was very unique to say the least.  Living in complete poverty all of their lives, they moves from state to state and as her mother put it, they were always up for adventure.

I suppose you can call some of the things Walls and her siblings faced as children 'adventurous.'  As a very young child, Walls lit herself on fire because her mother let her cook hot dogs at three years old.  She was admitted to the hospital.  Her father snatched her from the hospital and their solution was to move.  They moved to various parts of the desert and rented small little homes (dumps).  When her grandmother died they inherited a home in Phoenix.  Once in a while her parents would work, but for the most part, they did not.  Her father was a raging alcoholic and her mother was eccentric, lazy and selfish.  However, she was educated and artistic.

Walls tells us of the home in Phoenix, and how they could smush cockroaches by just putting a shoe down anywhere in the kitchen.  She tells us how the floor boards were rotted through due to termites.  She explains how her parents left the doors open and windows, because they couldn't pay for electricity.  This welcomed the neighbourhood bums and perverts into their home in the middle of the night.

When the Walls move to West Virginia to be with their father's kin, they have it extremely hard.  Jeanette and her siblings would go for days without food.  They had no electricity and no toilet.  They had no coal in the winter and they almost froze to death.  Their father would spend any money they had on booze and be gone for days at a time.  Their mother was just so weird.  Once when Jeanette was being sexually abused by her uncle, her mother told her to get over it because her uncle was just lonely.  Another time, when they finally did get some groceries a ham was left on the kitchen counter for a week and began to develop maggots.  Jeanette's mother told her to not be so picky, to cut the maggoty part out and eat the middle of the ham.

The Walls kids had to go through the garbage at school for food.  They had very few articles of clothing which were all bought at the Salvation Army.  They were taunted and made fun of and called the poorest children in the town.  They learned to fend for themselves and as soon as they could, they left West Virginia and went to New York City.  Gradually the oldest three siblings got jobs and had a good place to live.  Eventually their parents followed them to New York and lived homeless, and then as squatters.  They could not be convinced to live any other way.

Walls' story is absolutely gripping.  I haven't put The Glass Castle down for more than two days.  I am abhorred by the way the kids were treated, but I have to say there is something bittersweet about this memoir.  On the one hand, the children were neglected and starving some of the time.   On the other, their parents always stayed a family, and they were taught to read and write and paint and have appreciation for knowledge at very early ages.  This is why they were always placed in advanced classes in school.  In a way, their parents prepared them for the world so they weren't afraid to make it.  In another way, they were terribly abused.

When the kids grew up, they told stories about their father with love.  They talk about how he once gave them stars for Christmas because they had no presents.  And once he brought them to a zoo and made them pet the tiger so they would appreciate the fact that wild animals could be harmless.  Although their father stole money from them and was a complete derelict, he was lovable at times and some of the memories the family shares are good.

Walls is honest and open and this memoir is one of the most powerful I've read.  Every single page is breathtaking and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.  I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates a good read.  This book is a work of art, and I will never forget Walls' story.  The Glass Castle was named for a scheme that Jeanette's father had.  He intended to build this castle for his family as soon as one of his many inventions became successful.  This book is absolutely amazing.

5 huge stars