Source: TGON
Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
This week’s book is one of my favorite’s. I’m a sucker for autobiographies, specifically one’s about overcoming tragedy, suffering, or personal obstacles.
Walls captures her own family story, which is both vibrant and fascinating, but also deeply troubled and dysfunctional. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captures his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, astronomy, and to resist the traditional constraints of society. As a reader, you grow up with her and her siblings, you suffer when they do, rejoice when they do, and get pulled along by Walls vibrant story telling and colorful language.
With an alcoholic father and anti-domestic mother, the Walls children learn to fend for themselves. They share an unbreakable bond; they have a story that makes readers with siblings feel the deepest gratitude of their own siblings, and only children want siblings of their own.
Glass Castle is a poetic journey. It will leave you feeling deeply spiritually satisfied. It’s an incredible piece of artwork.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Length: 288
Favorite quote: “One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. “You’d be destroying what makes it special,” she said. “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty.”
Best time and place to read it: in the black of a clunky car, squished between your siblings, driving through the desert.
If you liked this, check out: “The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers”, Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
