Book Report On The Glass Castle By Jeanette Walls

The Glass Castle Book Summary

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeanette Walls in which she documents the various adventures her and her family experienced while living in numerous locations along the west coast. The title was the name of the dream that Jeanette’s dad, Rex, had for his family. Rex dreamed of a large glass castle for his family to live in instead of the seemingly desolate conditions they were currently living in.

Beginning with the adult version of herself, Jeanette gives insight to her and her parents’ states of living once she was an adult. Jeanette reveals that she had built up a successful wife with a fancy apartment and a husband while her parents were still dumpster diving and roaming the streets for scraps. Following

Incidents such as Rex’s and Rose Mary’s very public argument led to many neighbors questioning their abilities to raise 4 children. This incident led Jeanette’s mother to dangle from a second story window while her father attempted to pull her back inside. Every time something seemingly unpleasant occurred, her parents had a way to either ignore it or intertwine it into their grand future plan of a never-ending adventurous life. Despite facing many hardships, Jeanette believed that her father was a genius. While her life may seem to be depressing to most, she thought that it was spontaneous and adventure filled. As she grew up in this cycle of moving to new places in order to evade trouble, she began to view her parents in a less positive light. Rather than be proud of her father’s ingenuity, she became somewhat angered at his foolish spending habits. While she still viewed life as pleasant most of the time, she especially hated the time when her father came home drunk, fearing his violent

This action leaves Jeanette sad and for her birthday she asks that Rex finally quit drinking all together, to which he agrees. Once again things seem as if they will only get better until he relapses once more and the family is forced to move in with Jeanette’s other grandma.

After years of poor housing situations, and an unsteady money and food supply, Jeanette and her three siblings devise a plan to escape to the city. After the oldest, Lori leaves and begins working the children began stashing money to fund their flight. As always, once Rex found out about their money stash, he stole all the money to buy more alcohol. While the children are momentarily discouraged, Jeanette eventually leaves the nest to pursue a college