The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle, Scribner, (2005)

This is a great memoir that has its inevitable depressing moments as well as corresponding inspiration and uplift. I found it wonderfully paced and the number of sections throughout the story meant I was consistently drawn back to find out what happened next. As much as it is a memoir of Jeannette Walls a majority of the story comes across as recollections of the Walls family experience. This is not a story that is simply about one persons experience but brings in the experience and feelings of all the Walls children. The story focuses on Jeannette but also covers the experience of her siblings and parents Rex and Rose Mary. Starting in Arizona and an early childhood marked by constant moving Jeannette is incredibly close to her father and these family relations despite dysfunction and difficulty is incredibly compelling. The story is characterized by the families existence on the outskirts of society. Even when they find a place that they feels more at home it is not long before Rex made the family do the skedaddle.

As a memoir it covers the classic coming-of-age themes as well as coming to terms with the world. Rex and Rose Mary place great emphasis on education and despite the constant moving and inconsistent schooling, they make sure their children are very well educated and knowledgeable. The implications of being on the edge of society become evident when the family does settle more as the knowledge and awareness of the children does not translate to conventional norms. Jeannette’s perspective shows how her families position holds her back in spaces of more societal norms. Her experiences also take place in rural communities for the most part and this differs to more mainstream reflections on urban environment. The impacts of segregation are also reflected in Jeannette’s writing. The story is very genuine and eye opening for life experiences that would not be common among many in society. Reading about the experience of living on the margins of society is revealing of what can be taken for granted.

The Walls family experience also highlights how prejudice can impact how people are perceived. This question of perception though extends to regions and areas. Jeannette through her life overcomes the obstacles of moving from the margins into the mainstream and the book covers this process beautifully. When she gets to her current situation at the end she reflects on this and ultimately highlights how her upbringing developed qualities that now bring many benefits. The Glass Castle is about far more than just the experience of Jeannette. The reader will really enjoy her recollections of time in all the small communities as well as the rough and tumble lifestyle that came without truly having a home. The sadder elements of the story are also the periods that define Jeannette’s growth and often come with the wilder and more fun events that are intriguing to any reader.

You could not predict her path just as much as any of the Walls family but it is a story that reaches a poignant conclusion. One in which each individual has their own path and one’s definition of success does not equal someone else’s. While society would consider Jeannette a success by the end, her own parents were happy despite being in vastly different circumstances. This story opens up the experience of individuals, families and communities that are more often overlooked in American life. It highlights the difficulty that comes with trying to move into normative society from such fringes. The Glass Castle has a number of distinct sections and each represent a different phase of Jeannette Walls’s life but also a different insight into distinct areas of American society. Lessons can be taken from this memoir and it is an engaging story with unique and interesting experiences that will make the reader continue reading. I found myself gripped and from all the books I read this year, this memoir was one of the best of its type.