The Glass Castle

I read Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week for a total of 1 hour and 30 minutes. The Glass Castle keeps getting more intense as I read. Jeannette and her siblings lives get more sad and chaotic as the story fo her childhood goes on. They had finally settled in Phoenix, in her grandma's home and things were great. They had running water, food, lots of room, a bed, clean clothes and they were happy. The author describes Phoenix and the orange trees outside in their yard as being so refreshing. Jeannette was happy and content with her life. Then her parents make them leave all of  their belongings and go across country to West Virginia. The trip took over two months and their car broke down and once again they had to leave whatever possessions they had.
The family arrives to their dads mom's home and it is a disaster. She is abusive towards the kids and they don't eat or shower and she confines them to the basement. Their parents never stick up for them.
Reading all of these sad experiences makes my heart hurt for children that go through life like this daily. The parents could prevent all of the chaos and abuse and neglect but they choose not to due to their own selfish reasons. Their mom has a teaching degree and could be providing for the family and get them running water, electricity, a warm fresh meal but instead they expose them to a horrible environment and make them think of it as an adventure. The parents also say to the kids that it could be worse. I can't imagine their lives being any worse than it already is.  The kids get made fun of at school my other students and the teachers.
The author has done a great job so far with descriptive words and painting the picture of the sad situations the kids experience. The emotional aspect of the book is heartbreaking! I am so curious to see how the book progresses and what happens to the family.

I am thoroughly enjoying the Glass Castle and reading about the main character Jeannette's childhood. The story is so up and down and it makes you feel for the character with everything her parents do or not do. As I am reading her parents do outrageous things but then seem to try to teach them a legitimate lesson with whatever they did dysfunctional and not a normal parent role. This week, while reading the story it dove into her Dad's alcoholism and gambling addiction. The parents played it off so well and made the kids believe that it was for the best and they downplayed it while teh kids knew clearly what was really goig on. Jeannette, the main character and her siblings definitely made a connection that something was not right with their dad but dealt with it and moved on. Their parents fought alot and then their relationship was so up and down. There are many things in the story that have happened that I ask myself, could a parent get away with that now and still have their children in their custody? It then makes you think and realize that there are children that grow up with chaos and learn to adapt and function with the dysfunction. I am so invested in the book it is hard to put down and I find myself wanting to read everynight!! I read Monday through Wednesday about thirty minutes each night.
I am so interested in where the story will go and how Jeannette will turn out as an adult. Stay tuned!!

Glass Castle

This week I read Wednesday evening for 35 minutes, then again Friday and Saturday night from 11:30 to 12 a.m. This book gets more and more interesting and very sad too. It is hard to imagine how the main character and her siblings survived their childhood with such dysfunctional and mentally ill parents. This week I read about the character's traumatic swimming incident. She did not know how to swim and she was just wading in the hot springs water. Her father then proceeded to tell her she was going to learn to swim today whether she wanted to or not. He then threw her in the hot water and she sunk and had water in her nose and mouth.  She had to endure this repeatedly until she somehow swam a little bit. The sad thingis that her mom did nothing and that her parents had no idea how to treat their children as children. They forced them to experience and behave in a way that is not normal for children. It is heartbreaking to read! It makes me want to hug my little one and be the best mom I can be.

Since I have started reading The Glass Castle, it has been hard to fit in the time this week, but I did it! It has been a page turner and I am enjoying it! I read Wednesday from 9:45p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Thursday from 10:50p.m. to 11:20 p.m. and Friday 10:55 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
The book begins with the main character as an adult and seeing her mom digging through trash embarasses her and brings back memories of her childhood. Then the book flashbacks to her childhood and begins the story of her dysfunctional childhood and parents.
The main character tells stories of the family having to pick up and move in the middle of the night and they lived a very nomadic life. Her parents would make up elaborate stories as to why they had to move when in reality it was the parents running away from reality. The parents seem to make their life adventurous when it is really pathetic and very sad.  As a Social Worker I see child protective services all over! There are really unbelievable stories about the way people live their lives.
Stay tuned for more blogging!

Chosen book

The book I chose to read is the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

Book Selection

I ordered Life of Pi and the Glass Castle because they both sounded like great stories. I will decide once I get them which one sounds most exicting to blog about.