Jeannette Walls, a journalist and former gossip columnist on MSNBC.com, tells her childhood story about living as a nomad with a brilliant father who is searching for gold to build his family a Glass Castle but takes to booze instead and a mother who would rather paint and dream than cook and care for her four children. The book starts off with her seeing her homeless mother on the streets, searching through garbage, and Jeannette getting into a taxi and pretending not to know her. Jeannette had kept her childhood a secret while living in New York, and then decided to share her story with the world. And what a story she had to tell.
I will warn you upfront Jeannette's story contains crude language, sexual abuse situations, and domestic violence. Some of you will probably choose not to read this book, so I'll try to give you an idea of what she experienced. One of her earliest memories was when she was three years old, boiling hot dogs on the stove. She was standing on a chair and her dress caught fire. Her torso was severely burned and she was in the hospital for six weeks. Her family was always moving, because they didn't pay utilities and other bills. When she was little she thought it was a great adventure - sometimes they'd be sleeping under stars, other times the kids slept in cardboard boxes because her parents couldn't afford beds. They really made the most of their situation. Her father wanted to find gold to become rich, but in the meantime took jobs that barely made ends meet. And I mean barely! Her mom enjoyed painting, and didn't really look after her own children. They would have beans and rice for three days straight, or popcorn, or ice cream. Whatever was on sale if they could afford it. Jeanette loved her parents, especially her father. They couldn't afford nice gifts, and they didn't care. One time her father took the kids outside and gave them "stars", and she chose Venus. She thought it was the best gift ever.
Jeanette was nearly raped when she was eight, and her parent's didn't do anything about it. Her father taught her to swim by tossing her into the deepest part of the water until she figured it out for herself. When their money ran out, they ending up moving to West Virginia to live with her father's parents, although he wasn't too happy about that. Their only vehicle was the u-haul, so the four kids sat in the back of the u-haul for long hours hoping their dad would stop so they could go to the bathroom. They lived in the basement of their grandparent's house, and her grandma made her lard sandwiches for lunch. The other kids would make fun of their family because they were dirty all the time, and often times didn't have anything to eat for lunch. She would hide in the bathroom and eat what people threw away. She couldn't understand why people would throw away uneaten sandwiches and delicious fruit. Her grandmother tried to sexually abuse Jeanette's brother Brian, and was upset that they didn't let her and locked the kids in the basement. There was a doorway so they could get out, but no bathroom so they had to wait until school or go in the dark. Their family couldn't afford to by coal, so they would scrounge around for wood and huddle under blankets - all four of them shared a bed.
Once they finally got a place of their own, it wasn't much better. They couldn't afford electricity, there was no indoor plumbing, and the only bathroom consisted of a bucket in the middle of the room. They tossed their garbage in a hole in the yard and the house threatened to collapse at any moment. Her father kept getting deeper into drinking, and her mother took up teaching. Her father took her to a bar and drank, while a man tried to assault her up in his apartment. She was able to get away, and he just laughed and said he knew she would be all right. Her mother had a sweet addiction and would hide stashes of chocolate in the house for herself before feeding her children. The children worked hard, and the oldest was eventually able to move to New York. It didn't take long for the other kids to follow. Jeannette ended up attending an Ivy League School, and her brother became a policeman. Her parents eventually followed them to New York, and were happy living homeless scrounging through the trash to survive.
After several years, her family got together for Thanksgiving at her place with her husband and his daughter. She enjoyed seeing her siblings, and her mother was the same old person. She really was happy with who she was, and wouldn't accept any help. I think Jeannette finally realized this, and was able to relax and accept her mother as well.
Reading this book was very interesting, as her life was opposite of mine. It amazed me how much she adored her parents when she was young, and only complained when they didn't have enough to eat or she wanted some new clothes. She didn't blame her parents for much of anything, but just told her story as it happened. It is a sad story, one I wouldn't want my kids to experience, and humbling and thoughtful. It's a good story to read about someone who made the most of her situation, and is now a successful journalist.
Bonnie manages http://www.spoonfulofperception.com/, a web blog for book reviews from various forms of literature.
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