The Glass Castle: A Memoir

The Glass Castle: A Memoir
by Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle: A Memoir
List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $5.90
You Save: $9.10 (61%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.23 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Jeannette Walls
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2006-01-09
ISBN: 074324754X
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Scribner

Book Reviews of The Glass Castle: A Memoir

Book Review: Couldn't put it down...
Summary: 5 Stars

I felt a little bit like Jeannette's Mother the couple of days it took me to read this book because dinner and laundry for my family had to wait because I just couldn't put it down! Such a great book, loved every word of it. I hope she writes another book soon.

Summary of The Glass Castle: A Memoir

Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover. --Brangien Davis
Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.

Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.

What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story. A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor.

TO INQUIRE ABOUT SCHEDULING JEANNETTE WALLS FOR SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS PLEASE CONTACT: Keppler Speakers
Dustin L. Jones
Associate, College & University Division
703.516.4000 (P)
703.516.4819 (F)

Authors Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in All-time Faves
The Secret Life of Bees ImageThe Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Kidd
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2005-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops: $16.00
Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back (P.S.) ImageCome Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back (P.S.)
by Claire Fontaine, Mia Fontaine
Harper Perennial; Published: 2008-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.85
Price in other shops: $15.95
The Glass Castle: A Memoir ImageThe Glass Castle: A Memoir
by Jeannette Walls
Scribner; Published: 2006-01-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.24
Price in other shops: $15.00
Black and Blue (Oprah's Book Club) ImageBlack and Blue (Oprah's Book Club)
by Anna Quindlen
Delta; Published: 2000-02-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: $15.00
Fall On Your Knees (Oprah #45) ImageFall On Your Knees (Oprah #45)
by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Published: 2001-12-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.47
Price in other shops: $15.00
My Sister's Keeper: A Novel ImageMy Sister's Keeper: A Novel
by Jodi Picoult
Washington Square Press; Published: 2005-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.94
Price in other shops: $14.00
Notebook ImageNotebook
by Nicholas Sparks
TIME WARNER PAPERBAC; Published: 2006-05-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.80
East of Eden ImageEast of Eden
by John Steinbeck
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2003-06-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.32
Price in other shops: $17.00
She's Come Undone ImageShe's Come Undone
by Wally Lamb
Scribner; Published: 1999-12-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.88
Price in other shops: $16.50
The Kite Runner Illustrated Edition ImageThe Kite Runner Illustrated Edition
by Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead Hardcover; Published: 2007-10-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.00
Price in other shops: $29.95
Similar Books and other products
My Sister's Keeper: A Novel ImageMy Sister's Keeper: A Novel
by Jodi Picoult
Washington Square Press; Published: 2005-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.87
Price in other shops: $14.00
Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club) ImageLove in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club)
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Vintage; Published: 2007-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: $14.95
Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) ImageMiddlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
by Jeffrey Eugenides
Picador; Published: 2002-06-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops: $15.00
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia ImageEat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
by Elizabeth Gilbert
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2007-01-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.39
Price in other shops: $15.00
Suite Francaise ImageSuite Francaise
by Irene Nemirovsky
Vintage; Published: 2007-04-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.45
Price in other shops: $14.95
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time ImageThree Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2007-01-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops: $15.00
A Thousand Splendid Suns ImageA Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead; Published: 2007-05-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops: $25.95
The Memory Keeper's Daughter ImageThe Memory Keeper's Daughter
by Kim Edwards
Amazon Remainders Account; Published: 2005-06-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.46
Price in other shops: $24.95
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel ImageSnow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
by Lisa See
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2006-02-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.46
Price in other shops: $14.00
Water for Elephants: A Novel ImageWater for Elephants: A Novel
by Sara Gruen
Algonquin Books; Published: 2007-04-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: $13.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories