The Glass Castle - Reception

Reception

In The New York Times Book Review, critic and novelist Francine Prose wrote, "What's best is the deceptive ease with which Walls makes us see just how she and her siblings were convinced that their turbulent life was a glorious adventure. In one especially lovely scene, Rex takes his daughter to look at the starry desert sky and persuades her that the bright planet Venus is his Christmas gift to her. Even as she describes how their circumstances degenerated, how her mother sank into depression and how hunger and cold — and Rex's increasing irresponsibility, dishonesty and abusiveness — made it harder to pretend, Walls is notably evenhanded and unjudging...'The Glass Castle' falls short of being art, but it's a very good memoir. At one point, describing her early literary tastes, Walls mentions that 'my favorite books all involved people dealing with hardships.' And she has succeeded in doing what most writers set out to do — to write the kind of book they themselves most want to read."