Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I read Half Broke Horses (Walls' grandmother's story) before this so it was in chronological order for me and so some of the things Glass Castle referenced, like the land in Texas, were more in context. While I think I enjoyed Half Broke Horses slightly more, probably because it reminded me of the background some of my relatives came from, Glass Castle was still an awesome read. I love Walls' writing style and the effective manner in which she merges memoir with a bit of fiction to tie it all in together. This book made me realize how easy it is to forget the amazing people we encounter in life everyday. I've been homeless for a period of my life and I greatly identified with Jeannette. I can't understand why someone would choose that way of life; it is infinitely hard. Although, I can't imagine the differences I would have encountered had I been in a huge city like NYC instead of an average sized one. I was impressed and inspired by the pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps type stories of Jeannette, Lori and Brian. Jeannette's story (post-HS) was very similar to mine and so I related to so many of her emotions: wanting to get away, struggling through college, having to hold a job on top of everything else just to afford a little apartment in the ghetto.
I also loved the way how she brought out the bad and good in all of her family members. Rex is portrayed exceptionally well. While he is primarily a delusional alcoholic and let his family down time after time, Walls brought out so many good facets of his character that I found it impossible to hate him. He may not be able to hold down a job, but his mind is filled with knowledge of so many diverse topics that the reader knows its not for lack of ability. His relationship with Jeannette, while rocky at times, embodied an amazing bond between father and daughter that I believe many of us wish we could have had. Just when you were so fed up with him that it seemed you couldn't keep reading, he would do something amazing out of left field, like giving away the stars, and instantly win you back.
I found myself a bit tougher on the mother. She seemed constantly out of touch with reality and while I admired her backbone, her sense of morals and choices in life negatively impacted her children to the point that she truly was a bad mother. I guess she wasn't much worse than Rex, she just lacked his endearing saving moments. It also seemed to me that, while Jeannette was Rex's daughter, Lori was Rose's.
Anyways, I immensely enjoyed this book and Walls has made my list of MUST READ authors. I finished the book about an hour ago and my roommate is already pouring through it.