The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls

I had so many moments where I forgot that I was listening to an audio book and lapsed into full-fledged conversation with Jeannette Walls. "These parents in the Glass Castle... WTF on every page." is what I texted to my sister when it just seemed like the never-ending train of neglect and abuse rolled on. I couldn't understand how Jeannette turned out so normal. How she could forgive her parents. 

The story starts with a grown up Jeannette seeing her mother picking items from a garbage dumpster in a New York City alley. Then it travels back in time to a three year old Jeannette who is terribly scarred when a stove top flame catches her dress on fire. And then it travels forward. With Jeannette, her older sister Laurie, younger brother Brian and baby sister Maureen transported across the country by their parents. Who can never seem to settle down or "straighten up." 

Their mother, a trained teacher, elects to spend her time painting and writing novels and stories that are consistently rejected. Their father, a former Air Force pilot and engineer, works for about six months at a time before being fired. He is an alcoholic. Neither parent ever seems to be able to put their children first, a fact that becomes painfully more obvious when the family moves from the desert landscapes Jeannette and the older siblings are used to, and on to Welch, West Virginia, where their dad grew up and where their grandmother probably sexually abused him. 

Good grief. A multi-generational horribleness sets in. But all of this is told in a rather matter of fact way, by a woman who is entirely grateful to have had her siblings to navigate and survive with. Even when their parents chose booze or jewelry over putting food on the table and let their kids dig food from the trash, the siblings look out for one another and each gain they get is hard won and hard fought. 

I won't go into detail of every issue of neglect that's committed by the parents in this story, but ultimately, Laurie is able to leave for New York where she pursues her dream of being an artist. Rather than wait out her time in Welch, Jeannette follows to finish her senior year in New York. Brian follows suit the next year when he enters the 12th grade. And much to the relief of the siblings, Maureen is permitted to move to New York under Laurie's care at the age of 12. 

Their children all gone the parents wait a while and then follow them to New York, where they spend time homeless and on the streets and then eventually squatting in an abandoned building. If it wasn't a memoir I would have thought I was reading a piece of hard fiction. But the fact that this was someone's life is rather amazing. 

It's a sad truth that some people are not able to set aside the mental illness or addictions that prevent them from being fully there for others. And in the end, I think Jeannette forgives her parents for that, if she even felt like she needed to. She knew they loved her in their own flawed ways. If she can forgive them, who am I to hold a grudge. But I am going to hug my kids tighter today AND when I see them, my own mom and dad.

5/5 Stars.