The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

This is one of those books you stay up way past your bedtime to finish.

I chose this book as our book discussion title for January, despite not having read it before, based solely on the weight of all the positive reviews floating around, and now I can't wait to discuss it.

This memoir, written by successful journalist Walls, traces her growing up as the second daughter in a family that was loyal and loving - but extremely underprivileged, always on the run, and making poor choice after poor choice. Walls' father, an alcoholic, and her mother, an "adventure seeker", cared for their children, but provided little for them. The memoir begins with Walls in a cab on Fifth Avenue in New York, looking out the window and seeing her homeless mother digging through a dumpster, and the book just explodes from there.

I can't adequately summarize this memoir, except to say that it's written without self pity, despite the sometimes pitiful circumstances, and that Walls' writing is engaging, and the story clearly arresting.

Highly, highly recommended!

Labels: book review