The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This is actually a memoir about the Walls family - specifically the children who are forced to raise themselves because their father, though brilliant is a drunk and their free-spirited mother doesn't want to be bothered with the baggage and responsibility of raising children. Sounds incredibly uplifting huh? It always amazes and inspires me when people who have been dealt a shitty hand actually rise above all the crap and make something of their lives. Too often we hear about people who have been dealt a crappy hand and then use that to excuse every crappy action that they have then done in return.

I give The Glass Castle 4.5 out of 5 stars. A good, solid book. The author is great at giving detail and making the reader laugh with the anecdotes that were her life growing up nearly homeless and sometimes nearly starving. Like the time a river rat got into the shack because it was attracted to the huge hole that was filled with garbage and nearly had her little sister as a midnight snack. Or the fact that because of a leak in the ceiling, her brother had to sleep with an inflatable raft draped over him. A raft, mind you. that his mother got by sending in empty packages of Benson and Hedges cigarette which she dug through the garbage for. I'm just glad I didn't have parents like those growing up because I most likely would have been an orphan.