Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

  Another book by Jeannette Walls about her family.  This book deals with the author growing up in her dysfunctional family.  Jeannette's parents, Rex and Rosemary are the parents from hell.  Neither one seemed much interested in providing the necessities for their family, Lori, Jeannette, Brian and Maureen.  Rosemary was nothing like her mother, Lillian Casey Smith, who could make a meal from almost nothing.  Rosemary couldn't be bothered with cooking, washing or parenting.  She would rather read or paint.  She would only work if forced to do so.  The father, Rex, was a drunk and and was abusive to the family.  He would peridoically disappear or run off with  the grocery money and could not hold down a job. 

After living off Rosemary's inhertitance and working a few jobs, the family loads the car with their few possessions and heads to Rex's hometown, Welch, WV.  They move in with Rex's parents and his brother.  When that move doesn't work out, their father finds them a shack to live in.  The children are cold, hungry and have few clothes and terrible shoes.  The shack has a coal stove but they have no coal except what the children are able to pick up along the road after it falls from the coal trucks.  School is their savior; there they can get food, a warm place, and instruction, which all three take advantage of.  When Lori graduates, she leaves the town for New York City.  She soon sends for Jeannette, then Brian and finally Maureen.  Later their parents arrive in New York.

The book is packed full of hardships for the children.  I don't know how they survived.  It is unbeleivable that their parents did very little to support them and that they still turned out to be great people.  The three oldest made successes for themselves. 

I enjoyed the book very much except that parts horrified me.  I am glad for the family that they were able to make something of their lives despite their terrible upbringing.