walls, jeannette

A guide to studying Jeannette Walls' "The Glass Castle," containing a summary and analysis, facts about the work, discussion of themes and symbols, and review questions.

A true-life novel about Lily Casey Smith (the author's grandmother) who at age six helped her father break horses, at age fifteen left home to teach in a frontier town, and later as a wife and mother runs a vast ranch in Arizona where she survived tornadoes, droughts, floods, the Great Depression, and the most heartbreaking personal tragedy--but despite a life of hardscrabble drudgery still remains a woman of indomitable spirit.

Memoir of journalist Jeannette Walls about her dysfunctional family that at times soared high--her father, when sober, would teach her and her siblings about geology, physics, and zest for life, but when drunk was destructive; and her mother, a "free spirit," hated the idea of domesticity. As a result, Jeannette and her siblings raised themselves and made their own prosperity, even as their parents became homeless.

The author recalls her life growing up in a dysfunctional family with an alcohol father and distant mother and describes how she and her siblings had to fend for themselves until they finally found the resources and will to leave home.

The author recalls her life growing up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father and distant mother, and describes how she and her siblings had to fend for themselves until they finally found the resources and will to leave home.

The author recalls her life growing up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father and distant mother and describes how she and her siblings had to fend for themselves until they finally found the resources and will to leave home.