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Scot's Reviews > The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle
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I know many people love this book, remarking on how powerful and moving it was, but I had some deep problems with the narrator's memory process, and some issues about what lessons I was ultimately supposed to learn here. It is a riveting tale, full of unforgettable suffering, strife, and perseverance, about growing up with two bohemian-minded parents, one a raging alcoholic and the other a manic depressive. It is the story of the dangerous synergy that combination produced, and how the narrator and her siblings endured, withstood, and (well, some of them) triumphed. The film, when made, should do well at the box office. However, I am reminded of how a friend once explained Narcissism to me. "Narcissists," he said, "have to be the biggest Victims in the room and the strongest Heroes in the room--and they demand to be recognized as both at the same time."
My problem is, I found the narrator to be narcissistic, and I stopped believing her version of all the events, especially after I came across a few factual references that totally seemed incorrect based on my own experience and knowledge. These were things someone who lived the experience would have known. (She certainly claims to have a vivid memory of a lot of things that happened when she was three years old, too!) Although doubtful of the veracity, I was compelled by the series of diverse settings, the odd mix of characters, and the ongoing unpredictable calamities to read on and see what happens, if anything, at the end.
My problem is, I found the narrator to be narcissistic, and I stopped believing her version of all the events, especially after I came across a few factual references that totally seemed incorrect based on my own experience and knowledge. These were things someone who lived the experience would have known. (She certainly claims to have a vivid memory of a lot of things that happened when she was three years old, too!) Although doubtful of the veracity, I was compelled by the series of diverse settings, the odd mix of characters, and the ongoing unpredictable calamities to read on and see what happens, if anything, at the end.
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Reading Progress
February 27, 2008
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March 6, 2008
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I agree with you completely! I can remember breaking my arm at three years old. However, I do not remember any of the events before or after, and I certainly do not remember dialogue between myself and the nurses. The three-year-old's voice seemed to be the imaginings of someone who doesn't have kids and is making grand assumptions on how they would communicate. I thought your review was refreshingly concise, fair, and well-written!
I have a suspicion that some of the recollection came from help with her brother and sister (although came from her mother, I'd be wary--her twinkie's definitely missing its filling)
Walls is pretty straightforward about some parts of her account being fictionalized for the sake of making the story flow. Its not complete BS but she does elaborate her accounts for the sake of the larger story.
Fantastic, I could not agree more. Something I fail to see is, why aren't more people outraged by her parents (supposed behavior)?? Her father forces a three year old who just had a skin graft to leave a hospital before her treatment is over--while her brother has severe head wounds and is not being treated because their mother says "one kid in the hospital is enough"? How about the fact that dad drowns kittens? Or that he flings their pet cat out of the car window? It was a sickening excursion for me and I thought the story to be horrific and imagined. I'm still blown away that anyone enjoyed this
As I age, although I too swear I remember my Christening at the ripe age of 6 months, I have discovered that true long-term memories occur in 3-5 second glimpses. Sometimes, strings of these events are strung together, but they are snapshots and not cohesive stories. Sometimes, these pictures even get blazoned wrong because something in them is odd or unfamiliar. For example, I saw a guy I know get hit by a car in London, but I am American. I vividly remember the moment of impact and can see it in my head, but traffic is moving the direction it would have moved if I were in America. The body flies the correct direction, an impossibility in my logical mind, but that is the way I recorded it. My next snapshots all occur of me tending to my friend in the middle of the road. I can piece the memory together, but their are big chunks left out.
The only true memoirs are those taken straight from journals that were written at the time. Unfortunately, fiction always sells better than non-fiction so we have begun to get away from truth in our society and focus on sensational. In addition, it is a shame that our children can only read about fictionalized memories of dysfunctional families. It seems like we are telling our children this is the way they are supposed to be. And even those who should realize it is fiction defend its truth because it is listed as a "memoir."
I found myself questioning the recall of a 3 year old also, and in such supposed vivid detail that you can actually quote things your parents said??
I remember in clear detail an incident that happened when I was 2 yrs old. Just sayin
Scot Wrote: "I stopped believing her version of all the events, especially after I came across a few factual references that totally seemed incorrect based on my own experience and knowledge. These were things someone who lived the experience would have known."Can you be more specific? What are you referring to?
Her parents should go to prison according to this book, they were killing their kids, there is nothing the author should be proud of that she is somewhat successful despite of her unfortunate childhood.
How about her father letting her use a 45 caliber Magnum at age 3? I admit I'm no expert, but doesn't that gun have a high amount of recoil? Wouldn't that break a 3 year old's arm? Even 2 handed it seems wildly implausible she could fire it accurately like she claimed to have.
Caryn wrote: "Scot Wrote: "I stopped believing her version of all the events, especially after I came across a few factual references that totally seemed incorrect based on my own experience and knowledge. These..."I sent her this message last March: Hi--you left a message on a Glass Castle review I wrote a long time ago and requested specific factual information I said I believed the author had gotten wrong. You wrote this request several months ago and I just found it now, and it has been years since I read that book, so I can't remember all the details that triggered this at the time, but I'll try to respond to your request in good faith. I remember one had to do with how it works when you win a National Merit Scholarship for a high score on SATs. Something like that happens to the narrator in the memoir I believe, and I was lucky enough to have the same thing happen to me as a youth, but I recalled the set-up and procedural rules were different than the way she described them, and anyone who had actually won the way she claimed to would have known this. That was one--there were others, but that one sticks in my recall.
Who says you are necessarily supposed to learn any "lesson" from a book? One could argue that the lesson here is to work hard no matter what and you might turn out okay regardless of your environment. But then, sometimes a story is just a story.
Why is it nowadays people assume every story is supposed to teach a lesson? Are adults so babified now they need to be taught lessons in whatever they read and watch? This is something that keeps coming up that irks me because I'd think that adults would be able to realize that not everything is for teaching morals to them.
do some of the people here think she actually made her story up??
I think she embellished. I don't think she saw the white of her dad's skull.
I have a lot of very clear memories of when I was three years old. Children develop mentally an amazing amount between the ages of three and four. It's commn for people to have no memories of when they turned three, but lots of memories from the time when they were closer to four.
I also have memories from about the age of three. They are traumatic memories. I think those are the ones that remain because of their acute pain and shock. And certainly being burned and in the hospital for six weeks would qualify as a traumatic experience.....loved this book and did not feel the least bit of narcissism from the author.
I don't think she made the story up but she did embellish them. My memories from my early years are hazy at best. I am not accusing her of lying but I believe her brothers and sisters did help her remember certain things, maybe even her mother did. Funny thing is I read Kazuo Ishiguro's A Pale View of Hills right before I started this and there's a line about memory being unreliable as it is influenced by emotions and circumstances. I think that is the closest to how I can describe what I feel about what she wrote and how some of it feels slightly odd to me.
The least thing the narrator claimed to be was a hero or a victim. It shows a lot of character to still have love for parents and not resentment, especially being raised in a highly dysfunctional household. The only thing that author did was tell her story and shared it to the world. In terms of the author’s memory, I feel like we remember things when something in life is so pronounced... for example, if you were cooking at a young age and got set on fire, I doubt that’s something you’d forget and those memories stuck with her since then. I do have to say, her writing/ book does seem so nicely put together... but maybe it’s because Jeannette has a talent for storytelling and writing.
I have to agree. I had a hard time believing this book. It is an interesting read, however.
My brother and I have very different interpretations of some of the things that happened when we were kids- not saying his was wrong but it's different. Regardless I don't think I'd want to grow up as Jeanette Walls. I don't believe she could have made up all of it.. It's pretty crazy. She'd have to have a really good imagination.
I agree with you. Story about abused parents. Where was the children's welfare agencies when all this was happening.
I don’t think she made the story up. But it is told from her POV. I find the problem in how she appears to come off somehow smug. I think the book is self serving. I don’t believe the transitions were so smooth. She was there for everybody. Even the first marriage was convenient but good. Just not the right time. She’s a survivor. I admire that. Survivors are smart. She just comes out with seemingly no flaws or unjustified sins. I just don’t believe that. I think a more honest picture of who she is, flaws and all, would have made the book better for me. That and if some one else had written the audible version of the book.
I read the book a long time ago, but didn't like any of the family. The only one I did like was the sister born when the others were older. She stood up to the parents and told them what she thought of them. The parents were abusive, should never have had children. They cared for nobody but themselves. I read the book a long time ago, but was disgusted by all that went on. The parents didn't care to lift themselves out of poverty and bad living. No pride in themselves. Not recommended.
Josephine wrote: "I read the book a long time ago, but didn't like any of the family. The only one I did like was the sister born when the others were older. She stood up to the parents and told them what she though..."
Josephine wrote: "I read the book a long time ago, but didn't like any of the family. The only one I did like was the sister born when the others were older. She stood up to the parents and told them what she though..." The book just made me mad.
Totally agree when you said this: She certainly claims to have a vivid memory of a lot of things that happened when she was three years old, too!
She remembers things that happened when she was three years old. I can't remember what happened yesterday or an hour ago.
I’m sure if you caught on fire when you were three, you would remember.
Totally agree, Ricky George!!
Just started reading this book and 17 pages in I thought � this is bullshit �. If anyone thinks that she genuinely reproduces the memories of a 3 year old has not met a 3 year old. First of all that is the age that you start getting memories, for her it looks like she genuinely remembered every day of it. I mean i can’t go on with it because it’s insulting..if those things happened she deffinetly knows about them from other people’s accounts and not her own memory.
came here for this comment. I watched the movie and was stunned at the ending embracing family disfunction despite major trauma. Jeannette is a classic story of trauma induced narcissism, trauma she thinks she overcame but only in her own sense of deep insecurity and detachment. It's clear the trauma is one which her younger siblings unfortunately did not escape. I read this in an article about her living in Virginia with her mother who lives in an in-law suite: "Walls herself is not what one might expect of a person with an utterly chaotic early life. She’s thankful for the advantages it afforded her—like the hearty immune system she probably acquired from eating out of trash cans. (She hasn’t been sick since the �80s, she boasts.) She also emerged, somehow, with strong self-esteem and, hence, no real need to seek therapy or grant anyone forgiveness." Reeks classic narcissism.
Totally agree with Leah. Its been about 15 years since this book’s debut, and there’s plenty of articles and interviews with the author one can find. I read a lot of those while in the middle of the book and reading her responses definitely changed the tone for me. In one she’s asked if her parents were abusive and she refuses to actually answer. She gives some vague, nonchalant response as if it was all just some harmless quirks then she scoffs at the notion of her ever needing therapy. I’m pretty sure most would agree that her parents were indeed extremely abusive according to her various accounts. Then the boasting about how ‘pathologically independent� her upbringing made her and how she hasn’t been sick since 1987 just rubbed me the wrong way especially in conjunction with her refusal to acknowledge that her parents were terrible people who obviously did not love their children and weren’t just ‘doing the best they could do�. Idk, but the whole down playing thing she kept doing was very off-putting. Like it’s cute she gets to wear this persona of being the pinnacle of a ‘bootstrap� kinda person.
And I really liked that the author left all of her emotion out of it. Clearly things like this have no need to show that there was lots of anger and resentment behind their actions, especially her siblings, but it seemed the author did a lot of hero worship of her parents (esp. her father), so she probably was not as traumatized by everything and horrified by everything as others (such as her siblings) and as you or I would have been. And as the author is older, you can feel her getting more and more frustrated with her situation as she has realized that the way they are living is not some magical adventure that her parents had brainwashed them into believing it was. I think she did a great job of portraying all the emotions without going overboard and making it dark and depressing, but more real - because she didn't indulge herself in those emotions while writing.