The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls



Summary: The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir...and a penetrating look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who hated anything to do with domesticity. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.

 I LOVED this book.  It is the memoir of a girl growing up poor with totally dysfunctional parents in rural USA.  Her dad is an alcoholic and her mother has several undiagnosed mental disorders but they truly love and care for their four children the best way they can.  While I'm sure some people would call them abusive, I say they are unconventional.  They do not raise their children in a "normal" way - but that is not necessarily a bad thing.  Yes, they probably should have fed and bathed them more often but they are an extremely close and loving family.