Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle ****

In the first chapter of this memoir, Walls is in a taxi on her way to a fancy party in New York City when she sees her mother scrounging through a dumpster. Her parents are homeless while she lives on Park Avenue. She meets her mother for lunch a few days later and asks how she can help. Her mother suggests that she, the author, is the one who needs help. "You're way too easily embarrassed. Your father and I are who we are. Accept it."

This story captures the tone of the memoir as a whole. Walls tells an entertaining tale of her itinerant childhood with her unsuitable parents. She is honest about the sad facts, but presents her parents' views in a sympathetic light. They always have a rational argument for why their way is best!

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