2008 book 22

Jeannettee Walls' The Glass Castle
People have been urging me to read this memoir for years, but since two people recommended it to me last week, I decided it was time to give it a go. It's the story of four children and their absolutely insane parents--alcoholic father, mother with some other issues. I HATED it. On every page, I hoped social services would come to give these children a real home. Their lives are astonishingly heartbreaking and awful, and I don't care that 3/4 of them turned out ok, no children should have to grow up like that. It's like when I read Running with Scissors and was aghast that people lived like that. Guess what, this is worse!! Children should always have food and a roof over their heads! I guess Walls is a good writer--she tells her family history with wry humor--but that doesn't make the facts more palatable. Also, I wondered what her siblings thought about her version of events. I'd be mad if one of my sibs wrote a book and mentioned multiple times that s/he was the favorite child. None of her sibs are fully realized people here, though her parents are (horrifyingly so). Seriously, this is why I rarely read non-fiction. It really depressed me.