Author: Jeannette Walls
Number of Pages: 289
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Review:
Try to imagine yourself in a different life. A life where your family doesn't stay put in one area or even a house, in a family that doesn’t conform to society's standards, a family that lives in the middle of the desert. Would you want to live like that? This is how Jeannette Walls lived her childhood life. Walls writes her memoir based on the type of childhood she grew up in. Starting her story off with a memory she had when she was a three-year-old cooking herself hot dogs on the stove. She had got her dress under the pot and her dress went up in flames, her skin burned brutally. That is one of many crazy events that happened in Jeannette’s life as a child with irresponsible parents. Jeannette Walls one of four Walls children, describes her dysfunctional family and how they lived through day to day life with an imaginative alcoholic father with empty promises and an artistic mother with the burden of mothering her children. This story is honest, heartfelt, and meaningful.
The Glass Castle is unique due to the fact not many Americans grow up the way Jeannette describes her childhood to be. Although her childhood situation is unique, the themes of family, relationships, and acceptance are some very relatable topics to any human. This book is easy for any gender to relate to, as there are many different family roles described in Jeannette’s story. Jeannette Walls uses a lot of dialogue in her book to reflect on how her parents spoke to their children, in general, or to society. Also how her siblings Lori and Brian would react to many situations they all encountered as a family. Walls technique with using her families dialogue, gives her readers an inside look at how her family's grammar really was and how they sounded. It gives her story a tone that’s real to reader’s, giving them an opportunity to relate to the dialogue themselves.
In my personal experience, while reading The Glass Castle, I felt emotional, empathetic, and grateful for the life I have lived under my parents watch. Although I may not always like the decisions my parents have made for me, in comparison to the Walls kids’ lives, I’ve had a pretty great and easy childhood. Some of the most memorable moments of this memoir that stood out to me was the moments Jeannette and her father would have honest conversations with one another. It brought tears to my eyes when Rex disappointed his daughter so many times when he continued to drink, though Jeannette always had compassion and love for her father and never gave up on him. The way Jeannette wraps up her story also gave me peace when she describes the acceptance she found with the family she came from and how she came to terms being her individual self. I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of thirteen because there are some parts of the story that may not be appropriate for young kids. I do think this story can relate to adolescents all the way to senior age. All readers will appreciate the realness to Jeannette’s story and the love for her family.
That title alone makes me want to read it, it sounds so cool! Haha!
ReplyDelete(Oh, wait. Are they making movie or show or something about this? I swear, I got about 20 YouTube commercials about it yesterday...)
You really described the book well. Not just the writing and the style of writing, but the meaningfulness of the story and how you connected to it emotionally.
The story sounds pretty deep, especially with all the topics and events that you're talking about... Did you find it hard to read and take in all at once? (Like, was it something you could just sit down and read all at once, or did you find yourself pausing and reading a bit every day?)
I read this book as well and I agree with most of the points that you made during your review. I loved how the dialogue in the book contributed to the overall impact of the book. I was surprised that I would enjoy this book so much because I don't usually read this style of writing, but I think that the author did a really nice job of telling her story in a captivating way. I would also recommend this book to mature readers.
ReplyDeleteYour book sounds so interesting and It made me want to read it as well, the way the dialogue was so important to this book and how the style was so meaningful as well.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds very interesting! I love how you were able to connect with the book, I think that can really increase the significance of a book. I may read this in the future, because the story sounds like one that's worth listening too!
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