The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle

A Memoir

Jeannette Walls

Scribner · Print & ebook · January 17, 2006

THE BELOVED #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER—FROM THE AUTHOR OF HANG THE MOON The extraordinary, one-of-a-kind, “nothing short of spectacular” (Entertainment Weekly) memoir from one of the world’s most gifted storytellers.

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Who it’s for
A memoir that reads briskly, then lingers in the room.
Themes
family dysfunction, resilience, redemption
Pacing
Reflective

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About this book

THE BELOVED #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER—FROM THE AUTHOR OF HANG THE MOON The extraordinary, one-of-a-kind, “nothing short of spectacular” (Entertainment Weekly) memoir from one of the world’s most gifted storytellers. The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant.

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When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing—a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family. The memoir was also made into a major motion picture from Lionsgate in 2017 starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts.

Why It Clicks

A memoir that reads briskly, then lingers in the room.

Come here for

  • memoir texture, not just events
  • a lot to talk about afterward

Expect

  • hard edges, spare honesty
  • resilience without smoothing the rough parts

Where it sits

Personal Memoirs93%
Dysfunctional Families56%
Child Abuse37%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Writers' Lives
  • Women's Lives
  • Personal Memoirs
Authors
Jeannette Walls
Publisher
Scribner
Published
January 17, 2006
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
family dysfunction · resilience · redemption
Reading lane
Writers' Lives