Personal Review

The Glass Castle was an oddly heartwarming memoir for me, because it revealed the true memory of Jeanette Walls and regardless of how members of the family treated each other at various points in the novel, they consistently had an undeniable love for each other. For me it was ironic that the family kept stressing their love for the openness of the desert, yet they eventually end up in New York City, one of the most populated and busiest places on earth. It revealed, for me, the imperfections of life and how people change and adapt to what must fit them.

            Throughout the novel I was shocked and appalled with Rex, Jeanette’s father, and despite this I loved him. I enjoy that Jeanette not only writes her life exactly how she remembers it, but she writes it to reflect the emotions and feelings she felt towards her life and the people in it. It is hard to deny the love shared between Jeanette and her father, though unconventional, it is unconditional. The literal actions of Rex Walls could easily make any outsider learn to hate him because he may seem selfish or eccentric. However, I believe that is what caused Jeanette to love him, as a child she did not understand the drinking and vulgarity of his nature, this not only reveals the innocence in her but it also gives an outlook that people like Rex Walls are doing the best they can and although at times they screw up, they do what they can in the moment. The moments that Rex was strong he taught his kids and gave them all he could.