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The Glass Castle: A Memoir

by Jeannette Walls

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
21,110804219 (4.15)775
Now a major motion picture from Lionsgate starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts. MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST The perennially bestselling, extraordinary, one-of-a-kind, "nothing short of spectacular" (Entertainment Weekly) memoir from one of the world's most gifted storytellers. 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.… (more)
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(see all 22 recommendations)

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» See also 775 mentions

English (792)  Spanish (3)  German (3)  French (2)  Piratical (1)  Norwegian (1)  All languages (802)
Showing 1-5 of 792 (next | show all)
I didn’t want to like this book. But I did! ( )
  krisannebaker22 | Dec 26, 2024 |
This was a captivating story that I couldn't put down. Written like a fiction novel but with the knowledge of it being a memoir, I truly was glued to the pages. This story just goes to show how resilient humans are and what impact generational sins have on the family tree. ( )
  Brittany76 | Nov 26, 2024 |
March Am book club
a very well told story about the struggles of a family ~ with kids so devoted to each other and survival. ( )
  Trisha_Thomas | Nov 13, 2024 |
This book is funny and heartbreaking and matter-of-fact and wild. It's the all-around excellent memoir of Jeannette Walls' childhood and her crazy family... I deeply admire her and (most of) her siblings' ability to rise beyond their circumstances.

And, I admit... there were a lot of things in this book that I could see glimpses of in my own family, and even in myself (and the parts I saw in myself weren't the good parts--they were the parts about Jeannette's self-sabotaging artist mother).

The whole second half of the book gripped my heart and even... at least for just a moment... made me want to skedaddle to New York.

Anyway--definitely worth reading! ( )
  word.owl | Nov 12, 2024 |
I never know how to rate a book that was so intensely compelling I couldn't put it down, but that I ultimately found extremely disturbing. This was a well written memoir by the author of Half Broke Horses (anyone read that yet?) about her incredibly dysfunctional family and astonishing childhood. To give it four stars, indicating I "really liked it", feels a little weird. ( )
  BarbKapp | Nov 11, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 792 (next | show all)
''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.
 

» Add other authors (11 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Walls, Jeannetteprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Gibson, JuliaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Dark is a way and light is a place,
Heaven that never was
Nor will be ever is always true
-Dylan Thomas
"Poem on His Birthday"
Dedication
To John, for convincing me that everyone who is interesting has a past
First words
I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (3)

Now a major motion picture from Lionsgate starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts. MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST The perennially bestselling, extraordinary, one-of-a-kind, "nothing short of spectacular" (Entertainment Weekly) memoir from one of the world's most gifted storytellers. 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.

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Book description
The child of an alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother discusses her family's nomadic upbringing, during which she and her siblings fended for themselves while their parents outmaneuvered bill collectors and the authorities.
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