Book Club Monday

Our book club met on Monday as usual at Somethin's Perkin'. Our book for this week was The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. It had been recommended to me by my old dance teacher, Madelyn Anderson Ferris through Facebook. Her comment was, "you can't make this stuff up!"

I borrowed this short review from a blog called Smackamack, and I thought it gave a good synopsis of the book:

"The Glass Castle is a memoir written by journalist, Jeannette Walls. Jeannette writes about her unique childhood, sharing her fond memories of her father and mother. She tells how they refused to conform to society’s ideas of responsibility, leaving their children to fend for themselves for even the most basic of needs, such as food and shelter. Jeannette tells her story in a straightforward fashion that is not touched with anger or self-pity, belying events that often shock her readers with her almost innocent presentation of the facts. The Glass Castle is an astonishing memoir that will leave the reader both stunned by the tragic circumstances of Jeannette’s childhood and awed by her strength."

Our group enjoyed the book, and were especially moved by the fact that despite everything, Jeannette Walls refuses to condemn her parents. We decided that we had difficulty being equally nonjudgmental. We admired her for her ability to tell the story of her wildly original family with humor and compassion, and how her strength and perseverance allowed her to live a more conventional and successful life.