‘The Glass Castle’ is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. It describes Jeannette’s life growing up and how she survived and even prospered despite all the trials and tribulations she faced throughout her life.
In the beginning of the story it describes Jeannette as a three year old living in Arizona, cooking hot dogs on the stove.. All of a sudden Jeannette’s dress catches fire. Her mother is able to put out the fire and survives, but Jeannette has significant burns on her torso. This description captures your attention immediately and makes you want to keep reading. I remember thinking if this is want happened at the beginning, what else is going to happen?
As Jeanette grows up she is a strong girl who is able to survive the many obstacles that are in front of her. Her father is an alcoholic and her mother is an artist, a trained teacher, but also deals with bouts of depression. Her parents do not have steady jobs and the four children including Jeannette often have to look after themselves.
Since Jeannette’s parents do not work consistently, they often have move around. Often having to pick up and leave quickly. On one occasion the family was relocating and driving to a new town in hopes of finding gold. As they were driving the car took a sharp turn and Jeannette rolled out. She was four at the time and ended up in a ditch. However, even though this could have been a traumatizing event for some people, Jeannette was not affected.
“I rolled several yards down the embankment, and when I came to a stop, I was too shocked to cry, with my breath knocked out of me and grit and pebbles in my eyes and mouth. I lifted my head in time to watch the Green Caboose get smaller and smaller and then disappear around the bend.
Dad started to pull pebbles out of my face. Some were buried deep in my skin, so he reached into the glove compartment for a pair of needle-nosed pliers. When he’d plucked all the pebbles from my cheeks and forehead, he took out his handkerchief and tried to stop my nose from bleeding. I was dripping like a broken faucet. “Damn honey, “he said “You busted your snot locker pretty good.
I started laughing really hard. “Snot locker” was the funniest name I’d ever heard for a nose. After dad cleaned me up and I got back into the car, I told Brian and Lori and Mom about the word, and they all started laughing as hard as me. Snot locker. It was Hilarious” (pp.30- 31).
When reading this memoir I often thought, is this really true? Did these things really happen to this family? Even though it is a story that is filled with grieve, sadness and can be depressing, it was written in a way that keeps you reading. You want to be able to find out you is able to overcome all this adversity and who falls.
This story is unlike one I have ever read before. I was a little sceptical about reading a memoir and was not sure what to expect. However, this book met my expectations and left me wanting to read more.
