Sorry to be a blog hog and post 2 days/books in a row, but I had to write about The Glass Castle.
I just finished it (like, 5 minutes ago), and I had to be sure all of you know that this is a must read. Casidy told me to read this book about a year ago, and I finally got around to reading it this week.
The very first chapter of the book has Jeannette telling how she was in the back of a taxi, headed to a party, when she saw her mother going through a dumpster, just another homeless lady in New York. She then told her driver to turn around and take her back to her apartment on Park Avenue.
She then goes back to the beginning and tells the story of her childhood, moving around all the time, mostly being practically homeless, her mom and dad never really having jobs, her dad as an alcoholic, etc. etc.
She has some truly amazing things happen in her life, this book is incredibly interesting. If you're like me, when you hear that someone wrote a "memoir," you're not really too interested, but this is a page turner. I really couldn't put it down. Like I said before, I made the mistake of starting this while I was still reading another book and had to force myself to finish the other one first.
One of the most remarkable things about this story is how she portrays her parents. She doesn't glamorize them at all, she tells it like it is, her mother's dramatic laziness, and her dad's alcoholism--but neither does she come across as bitter and angry, as many people would. She has an affection for them that the reader shares. By the end I would chuckle when her mom said something, thinking, "Oh, that is so like her." She really brought her family to life, and though you sympathize for their plight, you also kind of admire them. The thing I admired about her parents was their love of learning. They raised intelligent children because they had intelligent conversations about all sorts of things. There's a story in the book about how the mom was talking to someone else and mentioned Jackson Pollock, and the lady said, "I have Polish blood, so I don't appreciate you talking like that."
Mostly, they were pretty reprehensible parents, but the way she tells her life story made me love them too.
I give this a 5 out of 5 stars. I loved it.
4 comments:
I am so excited to read this - definitely on my to read list.
Erin. You totally said all of the things that I love about this book! I too loved how she was completely honest and candid and yet did not come off bitter about her family sitch.
I LOVED this book as well, my only complaint is the language. And it's kind of understandable because I mean, it's true to their situation and the people and they were probably things the dad really said, but I still always like to warn people about the dad being a potty mouth
PS I'm glad that you're being a blog hog. We all need to be more like you!
Love, love, love The Glass Castle. Such an interesting story and very well written. I also loved Half-Broke Horses by the same author.
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