Ali Schmalz

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Ali Schmalz is currently reading

The Glass Castle

by Jeannette Walls (Goodreads Author)

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in December 2016

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Ali Schmalz said: " The Glass Castle is a super interesting memoir about Jeannette Walls’ childhood. I think growing up in the situation she grew up in was setting her up to crave structure and learn responsibility. Her parents were irresponsible in a different way than The Glass Castle is a super interesting memoir about Jeannette Walls’ childhood. I think growing up in the situation she grew up in was setting her up to crave structure and learn responsibility. Her parents were irresponsible in a different way than you’d think. They did teach their children good, valuable lessons, but they aren’t dependent enough to provide a steady family budget to keep food on the table or the electricity on.
Jeannette’s mother has a degree in teaching, but doesn’t want to teach because it would be a shot to her pride. Her mother made her go to college to get a fallback degree in case her art career didn’t take off. Jeannette’s mother would rather make her children go hungry and semi-homeless because she doesn’t want to let her mother win. I disagree with this style of parenting because her art isn’t selling, so it’s necessary to make money for the family since her father’s occupations are so unreliable. Her mother would rather do art and prove her dead mother wrong.
Her father is an alcoholic and although he tried to get sober for her, let her down yet again. Yes, Rex Walls teaches some good lessons to his children, but he still gets dangerous when he gets drunk. His solutions to fixing a termite/ roach infested house is chicken wire hole repairs, and a planned attack, because an extermination is too expensive. Jeannette is the only one in the family that actually still has faith in her father because he has let the rest of them down so much, they don’t respect him as much. Jeannette is obviously his favorite, but she still trusts him too much I think. He gets very violent when he’s drunk and around her mother.
I’m happy for the kids (Lori, Jeannette, and Brian at least) because they grew out of the disorder and graduated into real, structured, and practical lives that lead to something. I realize that material things aren’t the most important things in life, but knowing that there’s a steady place to stay, food on the table, and basic things that someone needs in today’s society is comforting. ...more "

Dec 15, 2016 06:05PM · see review