The Glass Castle

I just finished reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It is a thoroughly engrossing and often disturbing memoir of what it's like to grow up with an alcoholic father and frustrated artist mother, neither of whom have the slightest inclination to get jobs. As a result, their four kids often resorted to digging through trash cans for sustenance and coloring their skin with magic marker to disguise the holes in their clothes. I was horrified so many times at what the parents would do and say. For example, 3 of the kids were saving up money for almost a year so that the oldest could go to NYC and escape (then the other siblings would theoretically follow once the oldest had a place there), and one day they come home from school to find their piggy bank smashed and the money stolen. The author knew her dad had done it to buy alcohol, even though he denied it (with a half smile). I GOT SO ANGRY!!! I cannot believe that parents would act this way toward their children. That's just one incident; there were many, many others like it.

One thing I will say is that this book has made me very grateful for my blessings, and for the privilege of growing up in a warm home with clothes on my back and food to eat.