Book Review #43

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls

This was a magical adventure. Jeanette, or Mountain Goat as her dad refers to her, tells us how she came of age in a household comprised of a brilliant yet alcoholic father, a dreamy, artistic mother, a precocious younger sister, an adventurous younger brother and a much younger lovable, confused sister. The father had the idea that the he was going to strike it rich, and even created his own mechanism to find gold. In the interim the family lived like paupers, never staying in a town too long because of debts or questionable exploits. The kids rarely bathed, always wore second-hand clothes and slept in refrigerator boxes. But the fun they had!

One time when the family was living in a train depot converted into a home the dad found a piano to move into the house. He rigged up a handy pulley system to get it in the door, hooking it up to the car to haul it in. His wife at the wheel, she drug that piano in at 25 mph because she'd been told that that was slow on the highway. The piano ended up next to a prickly bush in the yard and that was where it stayed. Better to entertain the neighbors!

There are so many heartwarming moments and moments of dire poverty that resonate with a certain undeniable dignity. And then there are the moments where you want to reach into the novel to throttle the father or the mother for their irresponsibility and abject stupidity. Yet you end up believing that if the kids can forgive these people maybe you can too.

General consensus: You owe it to yourself to read this book and become an honorary member of the family.