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Book Review of The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle
Author: Jeannette Walls
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Book Type: Paperback
GainesvilleGirl avatar reviewed on + 215 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


Unbelievable that the author not only survived her childhood but made a success of her adult life as well. She managed not only to graduate from Vassar, but to qualify for an excellent job afterward.
Her success is a tribute to her grit, determination, and inner strength. Maybe a dreadful childhood can make some people stronger in this way, or maybe something in her genetic makeup came to the fore and gave her a boost that a lot of others might not have had. Whatever, things seem to have worked out wonderfully well for her, and her miserable childhood was the inspiration for this gutsy, very moving memoir. The story she tells is beyond the beyond with misery, dysfunction, starvation, neglect, and just a lot of cold uncaring on the part of her parents. She gives them far too much credit in her acknowledgements before the story begins. I would not, and could not, have been so forgiving and kind. It should be said that her brother and one of her sisters seem to have made good lives for themselves, too. The other sister we are left wondering about, just a little. And I think that her mom, in the end, got about what she wanted out of life. You've got to read this book. It's an amazing memoir!