Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, totally worn out and screaming,
"WOO HOO, what a ride!"

Monday, January 11, 2010

Mailbox Monday

I only got one book last week but I've been curious about it for a long time. I found it at my library on the Used Book Sale shelves for only 50c. It was too good of a bargain to pass up!

Mailbox Monday at The Printed Page is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

The Glass Castle
by Jeanette Walls

Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In
The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover. --Brangien Davis

17 comments:

  1. I feel like I've read this just from all the reviews I've read : ) Hope you enjoy it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've heard loads of raves about this one. Enjoy your reading this week!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, cool :-) I just read this one a few weeks ago. It's quite a rollercoaster, emotionally. There were times I just wanted to slap some sense into the parents. "Laissez faire" style parenting would've been more involved. They were rather self-centered. Ugh! The bit with the chocolate bar was just the lowest, IMHO. Hurry up and read it so we can rant on them together! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, what a bargain you found. This book is so good. I can't wait to see how you like it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You're a good bargain-hunter and this sounds like a great deal. I hope you enjoy it a lot. Have a great week and happy reading.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I picked this one up at the Goodwill a couple of months ago but still haven't had a chance to read it. I've heard only good things about it though...enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is a fantastic memoir. Walls never falls into the woe is me trap, and it makes for a great book. Hope you enjoy it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. 50c WOW, this book is a definite read, great memoir.

    http://teawithmarce.blogspot.com/2010/01/mailbox-monday.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. I hope you enjoy it. It's a great one.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You will love this memoir! I just received her other memoir, Half Broke Horses, which is about her grandmother.....

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is a really good book. I read it with my book club and I'm pretty sure we all liked it. I picked up her second one the other day and I'm looking forward to reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. My mom loved this book. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have to read this one (thanks to all of you voters. Are you reading it now?

    ReplyDelete
  14. This book has been on my shelf for quite some time now. I am curious to know how you find it. I am planning to read this book this year for the Women Unbound challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I agree that it was too good of a deal to pass up! You'll have to let us know what you think of this one.

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I hope you keep coming back!