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Cover of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls

  • 347 pages · about 6 hours
  • First published 2005
  • 32 editions
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1 About this book

The Glass Castle is a 2005 memoir by American author Jeannette Walls. Walls recounts her dysfunctional and nomadic upbringing, emphasizing her resilience and her father's attempts toward redemption. Despite her family's flaws, their love for each other and her unique perspective on life allowed her to create a successful life of her own, culminating in a career in journalism in New York City. The book's title refers to her father's ultimate unfulfilled promise, to build his dream home for the family: a glass castle.

The Glass Castle has received broad readership and positive critical feedback for Walls' balanced perspective on the positive and negative aspects of her childhood. It has not uncontroversially been used in some North American high school curricula; it was listed ninth on the Office for Intellectual Freedom's list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in 2012.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • Family relationships
  • Biography
  • Science fiction
  • Survival
  • Journalists, biography
  • Poor
  • Problem families
  • Dysfunctional families

2 What to expect

A memoir of a childhood spent on the move, with parents who were free-spirited and loving but also unreliable, and often left the children hungry and poor. It follows Jeannette Walls from the Southwest to a West Virginia mining town and then to New York, weighing admiration for her parents against what they cost her. The telling is clear, direct and frequently moving, and it includes neglect, alcoholism and abuse.

Good for readers who want: family memoirs, resilient childhoods, and a vivid, easy read.

3 About Jeannette Walls

Born 1960

Jeannette Walls (born April 21, 1960) is an American author and journalist widely known as former gossip columnist for MSNBC.com and author of The Glass Castle, a memoir of the nomadic family life of her childhood. Published in 2005, it had been on the New York Times Best Seller list for 421 weeks as of June 3, 2018. She is a 2006 recipient of the Alex Award and Christopher Award.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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