Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, is about her life growing up in an unconventional family. My mother recommended it to me after she read it herself, which seems appropriate seeing as much of the story is centered on the relationship between mother and daughter. Often in life, the experiences of being a part of a dysfunctional family end up building that person into one with unique ideas and outlooks on the world. I am interested in seeing how her difficulties surviving helped shape her into such a successful writer. This particular theme of family and the loyalty involved with it has a very strong effect on me, so I hope that this very real human story will open my eyes to the many different ways that people around me grew up.
I’m afraid I will see a lot of grief as Walls tells her trying tale because it is clear that she had her share of suffering as a child. Maybe I’ll see how grateful I am to be living the sometimes boring, average life I lead. I could be motivated to take my experiences and write my own memoir. In another sense, I might find a connection to this woman who seems to have come from a completely different world, thus setting a new picture for me on the idea of family in general. Jeannette Walls’ feelings towards her unusual family could be similar to my own, so that I might be able to understand that all of our ideas about family are essentially the same, even if you come from totally different walks of life.
