- Category: Books » Biography & Autobiography » Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities
- Format: Paperback Learn more about the Paperback format using Tower WIKI.
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- ISBN: 074324754X
- WAPI (Tower ID): 100415431
- Release Date: January 9, 2006
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Average Customer Review:
(1 customer review)
- Tower.com Sales Rank: #38835 in Books (See Top 100 Books Bestsellers)
- #1042 in Biography & Autobiography (See Top 100 Biography & Autobiography Bestsellers)
- #7 in Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities (See Top 100 Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities Bestsellers)
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Product DescriptionDiscover More Information About Jeannette Walls (Author)Run a Quick Search on "The Glass Castle: A Memoir" by Jeannette Walls to Browse Related Products:Browse more products related to "The Glass Castle: A Memoir"Browse more products related to "Jeannette Walls"Review"[A] remarkably dispassionate account which, precisely because of the detachment of its prose, is also extraordinarily moving. Jeannette Walls's parents here join a distinguished roster of memorable monsters." "The memoir offers a catalog of nightmares that the Walls children were encouraged to see as comic or thrilling episodes in the family romance....Walls has a telling memory for detail and an appealing, unadorned style. And there's something admirable about her refusal to indulge in amateur psychoanalysis, to descend to the jargon of dysfunction....But what's best is the deceptive ease with which she makes us see just how she and her siblings were convinced that their turbulent life was a glorious adventure....Walls is notably evenhanded and unjudging....THE GLASS CASTLE falls short of being art, but it's a very good memoir." "What saves this book from mind-numbing grimness is the family's extraordinary resilience. You'll root for them." "An account of growing up nomadic, starry-eyed, and dirt poor in the '60s and '70s....A pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps, thoroughly American story." Publisher's noteThe second child of a scholarly, alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother discusses her family's nomadic upbringing from the Arizona desert, to Las Vegas, to an Appalachian mining town, during which her siblings and she fended for themselves while their parents outmaneuvered bill collectors and the authorities. AnnotationJeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever. Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home. What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms. For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story. Aregular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor. TO INQUIRE ABOUT SCHEDULING JEANNETTE WALLS FOR SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS PLEASE CONTACT: Keppler Speakers Jeannette Walls's memoir revolves around her parents, who give the concept of bad parenting a whole new meaning. Her irresponsible romantic of a father was an inventor of outlandishly useless devices, and her mother, an artist, was his abettor. As the two of them dragged the family around the country on the run from creditors and from one bad idea to another, they virtually ignored their four hapless children, except when they were giving them shoplifting lessons or stealing their money for booze. Walls writes about these years with a hardheaded, clear-eyed acceptance and very little recrimination, and she doesn't neglect her parents' virtues, which she manages to wrest out of the slag heap: their values were both generous and idealistic, they produced self-reliant children, and they were true originals. If You Enjoy "The Glass Castle: A Memoir (Paperback)", May We Also Recommend:Customer Reviews for "The Glass Castle: A Memoir (Paperback)" by Jeannette Walls (Author)Most Recent Customer Reviews  Heart Wrenching tale.., February 7, 2008
By Steve
Jeannette Walls provides a grim look at the struggles of growing up poor and you
wind up part of the support squad whilee lending your heart to their plight.
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