What readers think of The Glass Castle, plus links to write your own review.

Nothing is sugar coated. Jeannette Walls tells it all. You feel sorry for her and her family but at the same time you wish you were as free spirited and independent as the Walls family. Rex Wall's stories reminds me of my Dad's tall tales about how nobody could whoop him. The description of Welch is exactly the way I remember it when my Mom would take us to Welch in the late 60's early 70's. Excellant book and good reading. Hard to put it down.

PURE, RAW AND UNPRETENTIOUS. As the Walls tale unfolds you cannot help but to become swept up into their life and enjoy every second of it. The open and honest writing is so inviting that you feel as if you grew up with them. It will leave you with an incredible sense of how much people (children) can learn and thrive under any circumstanc and will change a lot of ideas of how the real people in this world actually live. You will never feel sorry for this family, only like they are a part of yours.

I could not put this book down, and I constantly had to remind myself that I wasn't reading a work of fiction. My memories of my early childhood are crystal clear, and I think the author's level of intellect allowed her to write a book in which the reader can feel the unconditional love a child feels for her parent, even while being neglected. I could feel the intense bond between the siblings, and worried constantly that one of them might not survive in that environment. I felt her mother to be severely narcissistic, and her father's alcoholism tragic ... although there was no doubt in my mind that he loved his kids. (I thought that giving them stars for Christmas was touching.) The author manages to tell the story of her sad childhood without making you hate her parents ... and I suspect that is difficult to accomplish. I feel that it is her true love for her parents, despite being so neglected, that enables her to do that, Fantastic book!

This is a fascinating memoir of disfunctional parents and the children who survived their neglect. The author speaks in a cool, uninflected voice as she recounts the story of a childhood that is almost unbelievable in 20th century U.S.A. Highly intelligent and educated parents, driven by alcoholism (the father) and eccentric artistic ambition (the mother) create a chaotic, destitute family in which the children are left to withstand the worst kind of insecurities.

My only quibble is that the author quotes verbatim whole conversations and dialogue from her earliest childhood. Can she possibly remember things that took place so long ago in such detail? There seems to be some fictionalizing along with the "memories." Nevertheless, I highly recommend this book.

She's a really good writer. Her choice of words and ways of descriptions that tell of her experience growing up stirred me to keep reading. At times, I found myself angry at her parents, sad and happy about the things that she endured, laughing at how creative she is, and altogether, thinking about my own life.

I am amazed that there is such doubt about the memories of a three year old. Simple research reveals that early memories are tied to trauma and remain vivid throughout a lifetime. Repeated trauma, as seen at the hands of this author, link early memories to each other. Walls writes her memoir at a level that permits her free range to examine and write this memories with near complete recall. My own traumas allow me to know that. My husband has almost no recall of his earliest years, but also experienced no trauma in a warm and loving family. Walls remembers things that hurt. And lots of things hurt her. She lived an outrageous childhood. My disappointment comes with the recognition that, while she tells a great story and tells it well, I have no sense of her own emotional response to what she reports so well. My own brother was a student at Milton J Hershey, and I lived at an orphanage. When kids from MJH deride her talk there one needs to pay attention. No one there is free from childhood trauma. In the end it is about degree and triumph.doubting Walls' story is ridiculous. It's her story, however outrageous. You doubt so much happened to her? That might indicate a complete separation from what is, for some of us, the real world.

Wall's book shocked me; most of us may have chosen to keep such a shabby upbringing a secret, if we felt embarrassed or shamed by a parent's abysmal skills. I put myself in her place and confess a deeply held reluctance to shame a parent by such an honest disclosure. But different strokes. Walls has not only provided us a compelling story of resilient, tough, gutsy kids thriving IN SPITE OF haphazard parenting, she has also given us sharply drawn characterizations of a man and woman unsuited to parenting who transcend logic and produce this talented, grounded child grown into a delightful and successful artist. It makes me think of the innate 'wisdom' of so-called dumb animals. It also makes me think there is a divine planner making divine plans for each of us.

The Glass Castle is the story of the authors childhood. She includes details about the whole family. The parents Rex and Rosemary both have many problems. The dad is an alcoholic and the mom doesn't seem like she is all there. The family goes through very difficult times. The kids have to take care of themselves and seem to be what holds the family together. It was a very good book which I looked forward to reading every time I picked it up. Recommend it to everyone.