Personal Review

From the moment Jeannette Walls began to tell her story in the memoir, The Glass Castle, I was intrigued by her openness concerning her hectic childhood and rambunctious family adventures. The frequent relocation of the Walls family provided for various tales of their life in an array of cities and states while interacting with new and old friends. The writer connects with her readers through descriptive imagery and endless anecdote and creates a sense of hope and determination that rallies the reader’s support. Jeannette’s family is rare in its way of dealing with daily tribulations, which shocked yet fascinated me.

The plot ignites curiosity in its readers because of how careless and selfish Rex and Rose Mary Walls could be at times. While their parents were submerged in self-pity throughout the latter half of the novel, the Walls children gained more determination and began to succeed as their parents began to fail. During their years in Welch, each sibling seemed to find their own forte, using it to assist each other in obtaining a better life elsewhere, which struck me as nearly incredible that they could accomplish this without the guidance of role models. Upon the family’s arrival in Welch, Rose Mary refuses to work and earn an income while Rex is known as the “town drunk”, however, this does not affect Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen’s ambition to support and care for each other despite the hardships, which is made evident by the writer’s persistent hope for the future. The most significant aspect of this piece was its blunt and unbiased recollection of events that made me have faith in the Walls children, even without the writer’s convincing.