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The Glass Castle: A Memoir (Paperback)
by Jeannette Walls
| Category:
Biography, Memoir |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
An amazingly touching and heartwarming story about human victory against odds and frustrations. |
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Author: Jeannette Walls
Publisher: Scribner; Reprint edition
Pub. in: January, 2006
ISBN: 074324754X
Pages: 288
Measurements: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00214
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0743247542
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Rate this product:
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- Awards & Credential -
The New York Times Bestseller and an overwhelming hit on Amazon.com, where it ranks #17 in books out of millions as of February 25, 2007. |
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- MSL Picks -
Jeannette Walls has a clear voice that rings of truth of her pain without bitterness. Her childhood memories ring with clarity, something I wish more authors possessed. It epitomizes the challenge that children face in loving their parents, who don't honor or protect them as they should.
All children want parent/heroes even if they live among the circumstances to the contrary; Ms. Walls captures this idealism in gentle nuances and subtlities few master in storytelling.
Faced with being protector and provider for self, siblings and parents, each child rallies to hide the truth from the other siblings. I related to these experiences though I did not share quite the same set of circumstances. The need to cover for the neglectful parents certainly is a common problem many children worldwide have had to face. I have always wondered why I was never whisked away from my precarious life but only once did Child Protective Services even make an appearance at the Walls House, and never gained entry to the shack. Their life of want continued inspite of their hideous clothes, lack of minimal hygiene and cadaver like appearance from lack of food. Jeannette ate food that landed in the trash at school, often her only meal. She and her brother stole food from other people.
The thing that angered me most was the parents selfishness and lack of shame even when they stole money from the piggy bank for liquor and had a stash of chocolate while no food existed in the house (nor heat or water or a proper roof for that matter). Yet, her mother saw no need to kill the rat that bathed in the sugar bowl nor did either parent exercise any effort to stop the water from pouring on her child's head while he slept under a tarp.
Both parents needed intervention for their mental health issues but no adult put forth the effort, it shows how little effort people are willing to extend to another.
It saddens me that the children all drifted apart in their quest for developing new lives - very common among those who had such scarred childhoods such as theirs. I think they were very brave and courageous.
Exceptionally well written and deserving of all accolades. An equal among its peers such as Change me into Zeus Daughter and Running with Scissors.
(From quoting June Bug, USA)
Target readers:
General readers, but especially good for great biography fans.
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Jeannette Walls was born in Phoenix, Arizona and her family lived in various southwestern towns before settling in Welch, West Virginia when she was ten. She graduated from Columbia University's Barnard College with honors and went on to become a reporter for New York magazine, Esquire, USA Today and MSNBC.com, where she currently works. She has appeared regularly on television, including the Today Show, CNN and PrimeTimeLive.
She currently lives in northern Virginia and is married to writer John Taylor. Her memoir, The Glass Castle, was a New York Times bestseller and is being turned into a movie by Paramount.
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From Publisher
The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. 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 the 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 - a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar, but loyal, family. Jeannette Walls has a story to tell, and tells it brilliantly, without an ounce of self-pity.
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| View all 12 comments |
Francine Prose (The New York Times Book Review) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-24 00:00>
The Glass Castle falls short of being art, but it's a very good memoir. At one point, describing her early literary tastes, Walls mentions that ''my favorite books all involved people dealing with hardships.'' And she has succeeded in doing what most writers set out to do - to write the kind of book they themselves most want to read... Memoirs are our modern fairy tales... The autobiographer is faced with the daunting challenge of attempting to understand, forgive, and even love the witch... Readers will marvel at the intelligence and resilience of the Walls kids.
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People (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-24 00:00>
Walls has joined the company of writers such as Mary Karr and Frank McCourt who have been able to transform their sad memories into fine art.
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Bookmark Magazine (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-24 00:00>
"Being homeless is an adventure," Walls's mom used to say. In her extraordinary memoir, Walls recalls her nomadic life with surprising affection - though she would not want to relive it. The title, which derives from her father's dream house, serves as an apt metaphor for the Walls' fragility. Yet Walls sheds no tears nor succumbs to self-pity - she probably learned early on they would get her nowhere. Instead of condemning her parents’ foibles, she unblinkingly examines how they transformed hardship into family romance and adventure. Sharing incredible, painful experiences in no-nonsense prose, Walls has, as The New York Times Book Review notes, "succeeded in doing what most writers set out to do - to write the kind of book they themselves most want to read." |
Dani Shapiro (Author of Family History) (MSL quote) , USA
<2007-02-24 00:00>
Jeannette Walls has carved a story with precision and grace out of one of the most chaotic, heartbreaking childhoods ever to be set down on the page. This deeply affecting memoir is a triumph in every possible way, and it does what all good books should: it affirms our faith in the human spirit.
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