The Glass Castle

Some stories are so incredible, they are almost hard to believe. With an opening sentence that reads," I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster", you know you are in for a strange ride. This memoir by Jeannette Walls is a sad but electrifying coming of age story in the poor, eccentric Walls household.

Jeannette's mother, Rose Mary, was an artist that abhorred the idea of a typical, domestic lifestyle. She preferred painting, writing, and reading to working, supervising, and raising a family. Jeannette's father, Rex, was charismatic and sneaky, a genius and an alcoholic. He despised any sort of authority and always insisted that the family do the "skedaddle" before they were noticed by the "gestapo". The relationship between mother and father was dysfunctional at best, and created an unstable and often hostile environment for their four children: Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen. One story from the book recounts an incident where an argument between Rex and Rose Mary got so out of hand that the children, watching from the front yard, saw their father hang their mother from outside a window by her arms. Events such as these were frightening but not unusual for the kids to witness. A perfect example of this unique relationship is described on p. 122 when Rex came home drunk and screaming, looking for a fight with Rose Mary. After a struggle, he pinned her to the ground and demanded to know whether or not she loved him. When she finally relented and said yes, they both hugged each other and laughed while Jeannette observed," It was as if they were so happy they hadn't killed each other that they had fallen in love all over again."

Throughout their childhood, the children lived in cars, slept in cardboard boxes, scavenged for food in dumpsters, and relied on one another for support and protection. Their parents did not believe in rules or discipline, but they also didn't see the need to take care of their children. One of the stories that Jeanette describes in the novel is her first memory as a three year old. She had been standing on a chair, in order to reach the stove, and making herself hot dogs for dinner. She caught fire and was rushed to the hospital where she remained for six weeks. Needless to say, the children were left almost entirely to their own devices, because Rose Mary and Rex believed that they needed to learn to fend for themselves, immediately.

As children, everything was an "adventure". Every time their parents decided to move, which happened every couple of months, they told them that it was an adventure. When they could not fit in the car and had to sleep on the ground in the desert, it was also an adventure. The kids grew accustomed to not having heat, indoor plumbing, and often times, food. When Rex took odd jobs or Rose Mary decided to work (she was a certified teacher), the family would have groceries for weeks at a time, but that never lasted because Rex was continuously let go and Rose Mary hated going to work. As the children grew older they realized that things were not going to change and if they wanted something more, it would be up to them to make it happen.  They took small part time jobs, babysat, and recycled metal, anything they could to save up money. One by one, the children moved to New York and left their parents behind in West Virginia. Jeannette worked as an assistant at a newspaper and saved money to go to college. Several years later, the parents followed the children to New York and continued their "adventurous" lifestyle on the streets, rummaging through trash and sleeping on park benches.

The hardships and struggles that Jeannette and her siblings went through in this novel were sometimes painful to read, but all the more inspiring when you realize everything that they have accomplished, and how far they have come. I think the most surprising part of this novel, for me, is that the Walls family did not have to live the way that they did. Rose Mary could have been a teacher. Rex was brilliant and could have worked almost anywhere, yet they refused to conform to the ways of society and were determined to live only for themselves, despite the impact it had on their family. These sad stories made for a fantastic novel that proves it doesn't matter where you came from, it only matters what you make of yourself.