The Glass Castle
by Jeannette Walls
Walls' memoir of a nomadic, impoverished childhood with a brilliant alcoholic father and an artist mother who refused responsibility, and her escape to New York and success as a journalist while her parents chose homelessness. It is unsentimental and refuses both blame and excuse, and it is one of the great American memoirs of resilience.
Read it if…
you came from chaos and want to see how someone made a life without disowning where she came from.
Skip it if…
you want a how-to; it is memoir of the highest quality.
Three things you will actually use
- Children survive extraordinary neglect and still love.
- Escape and loyalty can coexist.
- Tell the truth about your family without cruelty.
Do this first
Write what your parents gave you despite everything, and what you had to find elsewhere.
Our verdict
Extraordinary memoir.
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