Jeannette Walls, a journalist and former gossip columnist on MSNBC.com, tells her childhood story of living as a nomad with a brilliant father who pans for gold to build a glass castle for his family but prefers to drink and a mother who would rather paint and dream of cooking and taking care of their four children. The book begins with her seeing her homeless mother on the streets, looking through trash, and Jeannette getting into a cab and pretending not to know her. Jeannette had kept her childhood a secret while she lived in New York and then decided to share her story with the world. And what a story she had to tell.
I warn you in advance that Jeannette’s story contains vulgar language, situations of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Some of you will probably choose not to read this book, so I’ll try to give you an idea of what she experienced. One of her earliest memories is when she was three years old, boiling hotdogs on the stove. She was standing on a chair and her dress caught fire. Her torso suffered severe burns and she was in the hospital for six weeks. Her family always moved because they didn’t pay utilities and other bills. When she was little, she thought it was a great adventure: sometimes they slept under the stars, other times the children slept in cardboard boxes because her parents couldn’t afford the beds. They really made the most of her situation. Her father wanted to find gold to get rich, but meanwhile he took jobs that barely allowed him to make ends meet. And I say barely! Her mother enjoyed painting and she didn’t really care for her own children. They would have beans and rice for three days straight, or popcorn or ice cream. Anything that was for sale if she could afford it. Jeanette loved her parents, especially her father. They couldn’t afford nice gifts and they didn’t care. Once, her father took the children outside and gave them “stars”, and she chose Venus. She thought it was the best gift in the world.
Jeanette was almost raped when she was eight years old and her parents did nothing about it. Her father taught her to swim by throwing her into the deepest part of the water until she discovered it herself. When they ran out of money, they ended up moving to West Virginia to live with her father’s parents, though he wasn’t too happy about it. Their only vehicle was the u-haul, so the four children sat in the back of the u-haul for long hours hoping their father would stop so they could go to the bathroom. They lived in the basement of her grandparents’ house, and her grandmother made her bacon sandwiches for lunch. The other children made fun of his family because they were dirty all the time and often had nothing for lunch. She hid in the bathroom and ate what people threw away. She couldn’t understand why people would throw away uneaten sandwiches and delicious fruits. Her grandmother tried to sexually abuse Jeanette’s brother, Brian, and she was upset that she wouldn’t let her and they locked the children in the basement. There was a door for them to go out, but there was no bathroom, so they had to wait until school or go in the dark. Her family couldn’t afford charcoal, so they foraged for firewood and huddled under blankets; the four shared a bed.
Once they finally got a place of their own, it wasn’t much better. They couldn’t afford electricity, there was no indoor plumbing, and the only bathroom was a bucket in the middle of the room. They dumped their garbage in a hole in the yard and the house threatened to collapse at any moment. His father continued to get more into drinking and her mother went into teaching. Her father took her to a bar and drank from her, while a man tried to assault her in her apartment. She was able to escape, and he just laughed and said that he knew she would be fine. Her mother had a sweets addiction and would hide chocolates in the house for her before feeding her children. The children worked hard and the oldest was finally able to move to New York. The other children soon followed him. Jeannette ended up attending an Ivy League school and her brother became a police officer. Her parents eventually followed them to New York, and were happy to be homeless scavenging for a living.
After several years, her family gathered for Thanksgiving at her home with her husband and daughter. She liked to see her brothers, and her mother was the same as always. She really was happy with who she was and she wouldn’t accept any help. I think Jeannette finally figured this out and was able to relax and accept her mother as well.
Reading this book was very interesting, as his life was the opposite of mine. It amazed me how much he adored his parents when he was young, only complaining when they didn’t have enough to eat or he wanted new clothes. He didn’t blame his parents for much of anything, but simply told his story as it happened. It’s a sad story, one I wouldn’t want my children to experience, and a humble and thoughtful one. It’s a good story to read about someone who made the most of her situation and is now a successful journalist.