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Whistle Stopper - The Glass Castle: A Memoir
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List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $5.00
Your Save: $ 10.00 ( 67% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Scribner
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.82092
EAN: 9780743247542
ISBN: 074324754X
Label: Scribner
Manufacturer: Scribner
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: 2006-01-09
Publisher: Scribner
Studio: Scribner
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: What a GREAT book!
Comment: I borrowed this book from a friend's bookshelf and could not put it down. Yes, even with 11 month old twin daughters, I was still able to read the entire book in 3 days -- it's that good! Fascinating story that would have made great fiction. The fact that it's a memoir makes it truly amazing. Loved it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!
Comment: This is one of my new favorite books and has introduced me to one of my new favorite types of reading: memoirs. There is not a second during this novel that I was bored. I finished it over 24 hours and I would have finished it in a consecutive amount of time if I wasn't purposely trying to extend my enjoyment of the process. Ms. Walls' writing style was impeccable. Though this memoir was one of a traumatic childhood, it never made it hard to read and, as a self-proclaimed cry-er, I rarely shed tears. That may sound negative, but in fact, it was what gave the reader hope for Jeannette and her siblings. They never gave up and nor did I as the reader.
I found this story inspirational and it has truly shed new light on the way I look at life. I watched some videos of Jeannette Walls speaking on youtube (which I recommend) and the expectation of her character was fulfilled and then some. This book does not make you hate her parents, though at times I was very angry with them. After reading it anyone with family bitterness should probably think again.
Thank you for writing such an inspirational and courageous memoir!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully rendered memoir
Comment: Heart-wrenching, beautiful, inspiring, funny , and disturbing... "The Glass Castle" is a wonderful memoir. As surprising as the failures of the Walls parents are, even more extraordinary are the ways in which they succeed. I will remember the 'demon hunting' trick for the day when I have a child of my own. A great book that will keep you engaged from start to finish.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Comment: I just finished this book on Friday.I had it for a while but i heard that its about a sad story so I waited. I must say i was surprised by how well written this book is. It kept me interested and locked and i could not believe that there are parents who would do something like that. Especially her mother freaked me out with her art supplies.Unbeleavable. SHe is very brave and she tells the story without trying to make people feel sorry for her situation.It must have been hard to write this in the first place. I can say*applause* Jeannette Walls did a great job.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Comment: This is one of the best stories I have ever read. Amazing. Inspiring. Tragic. Comic. Heartwarming.
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Editorial Reviews:
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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
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