The Glass Castle Review

The Glass Castle is a memoir by author Jeannette Walls. In this novel she tells the story of her childhood in poverty. She vividly tells the story of her family's life in the desert and then later in West Virginia. She details the complicated relationships between her parents and siblings.  She has such an interesting family and even though their lives were completely ridiculous compared to what I'm used to I could also relate to them. I wanted a little more about Jeannette and her brother Brian as they grew up though. Their relationship was strong in the beginning but then faded towards the end. Brian was a prominent person to me and I missed him in the end. Jeannette's little sister Maureen surprised me as she got older because I didn't really feel her presence in the rest of the book but that's because she actually wasn't there. She practically lived with her rich friends and was wildly popular despite her family's reputation. I often forgot about her though. Jeannette's parents sometimes annoyed me but it just shows that real life people are irritating which some fiction novels don't really get at. Jeannette's father was at times lovable but also infuriating in his drinking habits. Her mother's unwillingness to divorce him for the good of her children was sweet but I could also see Jeannette's frustration at this time. I don't read too many memoirs but they are my favorite form of nonfiction and I loved Jeannette's writing about her life. Overall, The Glass Castle went through a spectrum of emotions that are real and relatable.