Book: The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle

by Jeannette Walls

Length: 304

Format: Hardback
Price: Free via the library

How I heard about it: It's on my list.

Basic Premise: Jeannette Walls tells the troubling story of the nomadic, impoverished childhood she spent with her brother and two sisters, and her parents, who seemed to constantly be in a hurry, but never seemed to have anywhere to go.

My Take: 9 out of 10 (scale here)
I really loved this book. I knew nothing about it prior to reading (which is the truth about most of the books on this list) and since I read The Silver Star a few years ago, I was expecting something similar. At once, I realized this was going to be VERY different. She opens with one of her earliest memories; boiling hot dogs on the stove in the family Winnebago at the age of three while her Mom painted outside. The water boiled over resulting in significant burns and a lengthy hospital stay, until her father "broke her out" of the hospital and the family skipped town. This was the family's pattern for most of her young life - stay until someone starts to wonder what's going on at home, and then flee. I loved this story because it gave me a perspective on what it's like to be a small child who has to grow up quickly. I have known many of these kids in my ten years of teaching, and reading this made me feel as if I understood a bit. Not much, but a bit.

I LOVED this book.

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai review here
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky review here
   
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood review here
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher review here
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving review here
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver review here
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah review here
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddonreview here
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie review here
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer review here
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey review here
    
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey review here
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *abandoned*
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb *abandoned*
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini review here