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| Jeannette Walls |
Perhaps each of us has a glass castle-a hope which, while aware its fruition may never be reached, helps ease the tedium of daily life. Sadly, Jeannette Walls’ father allowed this ideal to obliterate such realities as paying bills, setting down roots, and finding/retaining a worthwhile job. (His ruthlessness even led to the smashing of his children’s piggy bank in order to steal their hard-earned savings, and then laugh when confronted.)
In efforts to elude debt collectors, Mr. Walls expected his wife and children to view their nearly nomadic travels as a series of delightful adventures. Convinced some nefarious dealings would soon make him wealthy, he became enmeshed in any number of schemes, each of which ended in yet another family “adventure”.
Throughout these miseries, the dream of the glass castle loomed, to the point of his digging a hole he believed thought would hold its foundation. This compassionate but honest memoir chronicles both the struggles of growing up in such a family, and the gradual understanding of parental fallibility.
Still, as to most children, at first Jeannette viewed both her parents as pillars, able to shield her from strife and turmoil outside their familial bond. It took countless cruelties and disappointments before she could see the vulnerability beneath her father's bravado. In all likelihood, he could not allow himself to perceive its intensity. Even after he contracted tuberculosis, he dealt with it by his usual nonchalant shrug-or at least made every effort to do so.
As years passed, Jeannette saw both her parents aging, especially her father, given his long-standing hard-living lifestyle. Still, having reached the end of this book, I was left with a sense that, in a peculiar way, all four Walls’ children drew some benefit from their early vagabondage. Jeannette feared she might be drawn into marriage with someone similar to her father. Instead, her childhood upheavals led her to someone both tender and stable. Her three siblings also made wise, well-considered choices.
While this review touches upon some exhilarating peaks and wretched pits of their shared growing years, there is a great deal of depth to be found and savored by future readers of this wonderful book.
