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The Glass Castle
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Walls has carved a story with precision and grace out of one of the most chaotic, heart-breaking childhoods... This deeply affecting memoir is a triumph in every possible way, and it does what all good books should: it affirms our faith in the human spirit.' - Dani Shapiro

About the Author

Jeannette Walls lives in New York and on Long Island and is married to writer John Taylor. She is a regular contributor to MSNBC.com.

Reviews

Tragic and comic at the same time... an outrageous story, one that will break your heart
*Sunday Independent*

A terrific story, grippingly told
*Sunday Times*

Like J.D. Salinger or Hemingway before her, Jeannette Walls has the talent of knowing exactly how to let a story tell itself
*Sunday Independent*

'I read The Glass Castle straight through in an evening, wearing an expression of slack-jawed amazement. Jeannette Walls has managed to balance her account with great precision; as she and her siblings did, we must both love and hate her parents
*Spectator*

There isn't a shred of self-pity in this deeply compassionate book
*Marie Claire*

Wall's journalistic bare-bones style makes for a chilling, wrenching, incredible testimony of childhood neglect
*Kirkus Reviews*

Affection, shame and guilt run side by side in this unforgettable memoir of a childhood spent ''on the skedaddle''
*Woman and Home*

Funny and brilliantly written through a child's eyes, recreating a unique family life
*Evening Herald*

Walls has joined the company of writers such as Mary Karr and Frank McCourt who have been able to transform their sad memories into fine art
*People*

Walls has a God-given knack for spinning a yarn, and The Glass Castle is nothing short of spectacular
*Entertainment Weekly*

Extraordinary
*Time*

Each memory is more incredible than the last... That Walls recounts them so well and in such detail is our good fortune
*Plain Dealer*

Some people are born storytellers. Some lives are worth telling. The best memoirs happen when these two conditions converge. In The Glass Castle, they have
*New York Newsday*

The Glass Castle is the kind of story that keeps you awake long after the rest of the house has fallen asleep
*Vogue*

Utterly engaging and teeming with incident. This is a life so vividly rendered that the reader feels present at every moment
*Express*

Walls has carved a story with precision and grace out of one of the most chaotic, heart-breaking childhoods... This deeply affecting memoir is a triumph in every possible way, and it does what all good books should: it affirms our faith in the human spirit
*Dani Shapiro*

'Walls doesn't pull her punches. Walls's parents - just two of the unforgettable characters in this excellent, unusual book - were a matched pair of eccentrics. And raising four children didn't conventionalise either of them. [Walls has] a fantastic storytelling knack.' Publishers Weekly 'Just read the first pages of THE GLASS CASTLE by Jeannette Walls, and I defy you not to go on. It's funny, and sad, and quirky, and loving. I was incredibly touched by it.' -Dominick Dunne, author of The Way We Lived Then : Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper and Justice: Crimes, Trials, and Punishments * 'Like JD Salinger or Hemingway before her, Jeannette Walls has the talent of knowing exactly how to let a story tell itself, crafted without self-pity or analysis or judgement' Independent on Sunday * 'A terrific story, grippingly told' Sunday Times * 'Funny and brilliantly written' Evening Herald * 'There isn't a shred of self-pity in this deeply compassionate book' Marie Claire

Freelance writer Walls doesn't pull her punches. She opens her memoir by describing looking out the window of her taxi, wondering if she's "overdressed for the evening" and spotting her mother on the sidewalk, "rooting through a Dumpster." Walls's parents-just two of the unforgettable characters in this excellent, unusual book-were a matched pair of eccentrics, and raising four children didn't conventionalize either of them. Her father was a self-taught man, a would-be inventor who could stay longer at a poker table than at most jobs and had "a little bit of a drinking situation," as her mother put it. With a fantastic storytelling knack, Walls describes her artist mom's great gift for rationalizing. Apartment walls so thin they heard all their neighbors? What a bonus-they'd "pick up a little Spanish without even studying." Why feed their pets? They'd be helping them "by not allowing them to become dependent." While Walls's father's version of Christmas presents-walking each child into the Arizona desert at night and letting each one claim a star-was delightful, he wasn't so dear when he stole the kids' hard-earned savings to go on a bender. The Walls children learned to support themselves, eating out of trashcans at school or painting their skin so the holes in their pants didn't show. Buck-toothed Jeannette even tried making her own braces when she heard what orthodontia cost. One by one, each child escaped to New York City. Still, it wasn't long before their parents appeared on their doorsteps. "Why not?" Mom said. "Being homeless is an adventure." Agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh. (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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