The Glass Castle

A Memoir

By: Jeannette Walls

Narrated by: Jeannette Walls

THE BELOVED #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER—FROM THE AUTHOR OF HANG THE MOON

The extraordinary, one-of-a-kind, “nothing short of spectacular” (Entertainment Weekly) memoir from one of the world’s most gifted storytellers.

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family.

The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.

The Glass Castle is truly astonishing—a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.

The memoir was also made into a major motion picture from Lionsgate in 2017 starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts.

Like peeping through your fingers at a car wreck

The Glass Castle is the remarkable tale of Jeannette Walls growing up with her whacky parents. It is such an entertaining, outrageous story that it is hard to believe. Assuming that it is true, Walls' youth certainly provides some framework of appreciation for me as I look back at my "boring", stable family. If it is all hyperbole, then it is an inventive memoir of a highly dysfunctional family. Either way, it is a very entertaining listen.

Pathetic child rearing.

I found this book so very sad, that the parents in this true story were so self absorbed and neglected their children so horrifically. The children still loved the parents, and it made me so furious, especially at the mother. But it is well written, and very thoughtful, and as tough as the circumstances were in these lives, I still really enjoyed the book.

amazing memoir

loved it easy to follow and an amazing story highly recommend would read it again!

Great story, bad reader

How did the narrator detract from the book?

This is such a wonderful story, the reader didn't bring any personality to the characters and had the horrible habit of dropping her voice a the end of each sentence. It was so irritating I stopped listening for a couple of weeks but the story lured me back.

Nicely Writen

Jeanette Walls by most accounts had a hard upbringing. She tells her story with vivid details to bring you into her world. Great book of reminders how fortunate you are with the little or abundance of things. And in the end, all that matters is family.