3rd Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

By: Cindy Belanger

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication, 2005 Genre: Biography

The Glass Castle is an amazing book about a poor family who lives on the edge and with what they got. A mother and a father who has four children one of them being Jeannette. They move a lot and live with what they have. They run from cops and live where they can. The problem is their mother who paints a lot and a father who drinks and smokes. You can see where a lot of money goes. But as they get older thing start to change for the kids.

“Just read the first pages of the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and I defy you not to go on. It’s funny and sad and quirky and loving. I was incredibly touched by it.” -Dominick Dunne

The way it’s written is not too different then most books I have read. But there is a lot of feeling and description. And you get Jeannette’s view. You know what’s going on in her head. She thinks a lot and is very smart, in fact all the kids and dad are (not so sure about the mom). I loved the book because it brings you thru what is happening as if you were there too.

I haven’t read any other books by her but this was really great. She also makes it to where you don’t really know what will happen next, but I guess it is because her life is just so unpredictable. She really made me want to go on. And I liked it so much that when it ended it made me sad. And for someone who doesn’t like to read that’s really different.

“She held up her glass. “Life with your father was never boring.” We raised our glasses I could almost hear dad chuckling at mom’s comment in the way he always did when he was truly enjoying something. It had grown dark outside. A wind picked up, rattling the windows, and the candle flames suddenly shifted, dancing along the border between turbulence and order.” (288)



This book really made me think. Think about a lot of stuff like how we take things for granted and how some people have really hard lives but make it thru. I also loved how their family is close even if there are problems with some of them. And how they have so much hope. Mostly the dad has a problem but Jeannette still believes in him and has hope even when she shouldn’t. There was so much to learn from this book.