return to home  
Join   |  Gift   |  Member Login   |  Library Login
BookBrowse Mobile
Follow Us: 
   Reader reviews of The Glass Castle

Read what people think about The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and write your own review.

The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle
A Memoir
by Jeannette Walls
Hardcover: Mar 2005,
304 pages.
Paperback: Jan 2006,
304 pages.

Publication information
Author Information
Critics' Opinion:   
Readers' Rating:  
About BookBrowse Rankings
Share: 
Buy This Book
Page 6 of 29 There are currently 169 reviews
for The Glass Castle
Select your view:
Order Reviews by:
Click Here To Write Your Own Review
Rated 4 of 5 of 5 by hey123
The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle is the story of the authors childhood. She includes details about the whole family. The parents Rex and Rosemary both have many problems. The dad is an alcoholic and the mom doesn't seem like she is all there. The family goes through very difficult times. The kids have to take care of themselves and seem to be what holds the family together. It was a very good book which I looked forward to reading every time I picked it up. Recommend it to everyone.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by George
Guess speaker
Jeannette was the quest speaker at the Milton Hershey School graduation on June 12, 2010. She was interesting and funny at first, then she started to go on and on. The parents and students were starting to fall asleep, and someone called out," Come on". She paused for a second and continued, then the audience started to clap every few minutes. She didn't get the hint, finally the whole graduating class stood and clapped till she stop talking and sat down. She is so brain dead, she still doesn't realize, everyone wanted her to stop talking. Lesson for the lady. A speech has a interesting beginning, a thoughtful ending, and a short space in between. The book is just another look how good I am, been done before.

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by Cristie
Ive never been moved like this!
When I first was introduced to this book, to be honest I was just bored at work and needed something to read, The very first page I was sucked in, I never have cried, laughed, was angry and bitter everything I felt Jeannette and her siblings should have felt, Jeannette was always so strong and a leader and I was so proud of her success. I would recommend this book to everyone

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by amina.
the glass castle
I had the option of reading this book for my English class for and independent novel study and I am so glad that I chose it because it is amazing! You forget that you are actually reading a book about someone's life. It is absolutely memorizing and breath taking-ly captivating. I simply loved it and could not put it down ! I would recommend this book to anyone in a heart beat.

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by JaneN
What a life
With parents like Jeannette had, it's a wonder that she, and her siblings, survived. Her parents, one one side, are feckless, self absorbed, mean-spirited, and on the other hand hopeless romantics ! The amazing part is that she turned out as successful, both personally and professionally , as she did. This book made me think about the human spirit's resiliency. It also made me think about how children either stay whole or fracture apart. A good book, well written, and one that will be discussed for years to come.

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by Judy Ghoneim
With Parents Like These......
Jeannette Walls is a really strong woman (as are her siblings) to have survived her childhood. Though never physically abusive, her parents as revealed in her memoir, were totally feckless people who should not have been allowed to have children. Though her father was a highly intelligent man, he was always blaming someone else for his continuing failures, was a foul mouthed alcoholic who never understood himself nor his children. Her mother lived in a fantasy world with delusions of talent and was, with her husband, convinced of the conspiracy of government and all authority, who admired her own so-called values. And yet Jeannette, her sister and brother managed to break free of their family, leave West Virginia, and make good lives for themselves. They also tried to help their parents, to no avail.
Walls writes cleanly and forcefully, without self-pity, about a horrendous childhood, essentially raising herself, to become a talented, focused writer. I found the book compelling reading and was left in awe by the persistence of Jeannette, Lori and Brian. I would recommend it highly for anyone over the age of 12.
«  prev   2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10   next »

Lists of books with similar themes


Read-Alikes


Other books by Jeannette Walls
Buy This Book:

Become a Member
Click Here
Editor's Choice
  •  May 21 
  •  May 20 
  •  May 18 
Helga's Diary
Helga Weiss

Helga's Diary Jacket

The remarkable diary of a young girl who survived the Holocaust—appearing in English for the first time.
Fever
Mary Beth Keane

Fever Jacket

A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
The Woman Upstairs
Claire Messud

The Woman Upstairs Jacket

The riveting confession of a woman awakened, transformed, and betrayed by passion and desire for a world beyond her own.
Click Here
   Most Recent Blog Entries
Movies Based on Books: Summer 2013 (May - August)
Jewish Young Adult Books That Are Not About The Holocaust
Books to Give This Mother's Day
rss  RSS   rss  subscribe
Recent Reader Reviews
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight... read more
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on... read more
The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag
Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read... read more
RSS RSS feed More...  
Most Viewed This Week
1. Half the Sky
Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn
2. A Child Called It
Dave Pelzer
3. And the Mountains Echoed
Khaled Hosseini
4. Defending Jacob
William Landay
5. Into The Wild
Jon Krakauer
More...
Book Club Recommendations
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
by Jeanette Winterson
Paperback (Mar/13)
Eleanor & Park
by Rainbow Rowell
Hardback (Feb/13)
The House Girl
by Tara Conklin
Paperback (Oct/13)
The Painted Girls
by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Hardback (Jan/13)
More...
First Impressions
Members read and review books often months before they're published. See what they think in First Impressions!
Golden Boy
by Abigail Tarttelin
4.5 Stars            (May/13)
The Caretaker
by A .X. Ahmad
Four Stars            (May/13)
The Last Girl
by Jane Casey
Four Stars            (May/13)
The Sisterhood
by Helen Bryan
Four Stars            (Apr/13)
More...
  Latest BookBrowse News
British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales. (May 20 2013)
Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate... Full Story
rss RSS feed More...
 
BookBrowse Poll
Q: Which of these Summer movies based on books would you like to see? (Info on each movie here)
The Great Gatsby
Epic
Man of Steel
World War Z
The Lone Ranger
The Wolverine
R.I.P.D.
Percy Jackson
Paranoia
The Mortal Instruments
Select Any That Apply
Search: Title or Author
Free Newsletters
The Light Between Oceans

Online Book Club
More about
Five Days
Join the discussion!


Win This Book!
On Sal Mal Lane


"Piercingly intelligent and shatter-your-heart profound."

Enter To Win Now!

wordplay
Solve this clue:
"I Y N P O T Solution, Y P O T P"

and be entered
to win....
frame top
New Author
Interviews
Menna van Praag
Erica Brown
Helga Weiss
Kate Morton
frame bottom
HOME Book Submissions | Advertising | Library Subscriptions | Reviewing for BookBrowse | Contact Us