The Glass Castle

This book has to be my favorite book of all time. I love all books with conflict and this book is overloaded with conflict. The amount of challenges that Jeanette Walls faced changed who she was and her perspective of life. I sometimes think, as everybody does, that my life is to complex and to much to handle and i have good reasons to think so, but this book really changed my mind and made me realize how lucky i really am.

There where many parts of The Glass Castle that broke my heart. It really helped me understand the true hardships of poverty and the way it affects the lives of people and the way they deal with it. The father of Jean (Jeannette) really stood out to me and his strange ways of living life. He didn't care what others thought or did as long as they didn't put him or his family in danger. Lastly, I thought a lot about how people can be pushy without realizing it and force someone into a life they never knew the way the father did to the mother.

There where so many things in this book that broke my heart and changed my idea of lower class life. One thing that made me want to fall down and cry was when Jean was in the hospital for deadly burns on her body ,due to the catching of fire on her dress while she was making hot dogs, and the doctors where operating on her. One of the nurses was talking her through the procedure and was saying "you will be okay" and Jeans response was "I know. But if i'm not, thats okay too". This line came out of a three year old and it amazed me how Jean was able to realize and be okay with something that not even most young adult would be able to do.

The father of Jean was a very interesting character in The Glass Castle. He had a different perspective on life and how to live it. He understood it in a way no one else did. It's sad to say,but the father didn't really accomplish much in life. Yes he was able to build The Prospector and create the plans for The Glass Castle, but he wasn't really there for his wife and kids. Jean didn't grow up the way most people do. she grew up with the bare minimum, without much food, and for a long time, a home to live in for more then a year. He was a hard person to understand and very smart, but not much of a father.

Lastly, this book made me think a lot about the was the father was able to push and convince his family to do things and go places that they didn't want to go. Multiple times Jean and her siblings did things that that they didn't want to do.They didn't want to move from house to house without time to stay a while but they knew That their father would be more then willing to leave them behind and never come back. The mother did want to live with no food, no money, and no permanent home. She loved her husband but she knew she could be living the good life. She wasn't able to leave because her love for him blocked her way.

All in all, i think this book has to be my favorite, i love dramatic books and this book gave me what i wanted. A book with what seems to be to much, but really isn't. The fact that this is a memoir only adds to the book and makes me wonder how jean managed to deal with her complex life.