Helen's Reviews > The Glass Castle

When the first line of a book is: “I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster.”, you know it is going to be a captivating read. Jeannette Walls childhood was extremely challenging, frought with hardships of all sorts, yet, she and her siblings grew to be functioning, successful adults. Her parents were renegades, unconventional, anti-establishment —yet brilliant—folks who lived out in the fringe dragging along their 4 children. Underprivileged, hungry and poor they survived, even thrived, under severe circumstances, becoming independent, self sufficient, resourceful adults. Despite the depravity, Walls writes objectively, without bitterness, with such detail and candor, to hold the reader in awe. A book that is hard to put down, and one not easily forgotten.