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A review by deinnos
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
3.0
3 out of 5 stars
I was so excited to dig into this memoir after hearing, so many include it in their Best Memoir lists, unfortunately, it did not lie up to the hype. It wasn't necessarily bad, still it did not leave an impression on me as it had for many. The author builds their memoir around this idea of a "glass castle" her father had promised to build their family, but as the author grows up, she soon realizes this was nothing but a childhood fantasy. We see her grapple with her childhood faced with never having a stable home alongside struggles with poverty and hunger primarily due to her father's alcoholism and her mother's neglect.
I quite enjoyed how the author develops her writing to reflect her ages with the passage of times. The first couple of chapters you can tell it is being narrated by a small child and then by a teenager and finally by an adult. I did listen to the audiobook, and this is where my gripe with it comes: the author came off as a flat narrator. At times, I found myself deviating my attention for that same reason. Another thing, I wish we would have had more depth into what were the author's feelings and thoughts regarding certain events. For the majority of the book, we are simply being told of events in her childhood, but because there is no emotional connection or personal reflection provided, I found myself having a hard time sympathizing with the author's experiences.
At the end of the day, it is up to each author how they want to frame and portray their own story in their memoirs and I have to respect that, especially when dealing with sensitive topics. Just personally, I did not find it as impactful as many had mentioned.
I was so excited to dig into this memoir after hearing, so many include it in their Best Memoir lists, unfortunately, it did not lie up to the hype. It wasn't necessarily bad, still it did not leave an impression on me as it had for many. The author builds their memoir around this idea of a "glass castle" her father had promised to build their family, but as the author grows up, she soon realizes this was nothing but a childhood fantasy. We see her grapple with her childhood faced with never having a stable home alongside struggles with poverty and hunger primarily due to her father's alcoholism and her mother's neglect.
I quite enjoyed how the author develops her writing to reflect her ages with the passage of times. The first couple of chapters you can tell it is being narrated by a small child and then by a teenager and finally by an adult. I did listen to the audiobook, and this is where my gripe with it comes: the author came off as a flat narrator. At times, I found myself deviating my attention for that same reason. Another thing, I wish we would have had more depth into what were the author's feelings and thoughts regarding certain events. For the majority of the book, we are simply being told of events in her childhood, but because there is no emotional connection or personal reflection provided, I found myself having a hard time sympathizing with the author's experiences.
At the end of the day, it is up to each author how they want to frame and portray their own story in their memoirs and I have to respect that, especially when dealing with sensitive topics. Just personally, I did not find it as impactful as many had mentioned.