Stunning

The Glass Castle is simply stunning. I have had this on my to-read list for quite some time. You just never know how good a book is going to be until you read it I guess. And I just absolutely LOVED it! The main reason I think I loved it so much was that it was a true story. You just can't make up some of this stuff. Geez - what this girl went through. Simply unbelievable and I can't imagine what it was like for her. The other part that made me REALLY love it, was that she prevailed. She didn't fall victim to her life circumstances. She still made it, despite all the odds that were against her. I especially liked the part when they were discussing homelessness in her college class and she stated that perhaps homeless people didn't need to be homeless if they would just make different choices. I agreed with her point, and I also completely understood why she didn't pursue the line of argument with her annoyed instructor. But a little part of me wished she would have had the courage to admit that she was speaking from a personal perspective. I think many people are curious how homeless people find themselves living on the street and   maybe some even feel a tad bit guilty that they aren't helping more. Maybe all the help in the world wouldn't be enough to set some people on the "right track". Because then you would have to define right track, and obviously for the Walls' parents, they were okay with their choices. Kudos to J. Walls for finding the courage to tell her story. I hope that college professor of hers has read it!

I give this a 10 out 10 stars. Definitely a book that would meet all book club criteria - lots of things to discuss. An interesting side note, is that while looking at it on Goodreads I noticed that it contained a wide variety of reviews from readers. (see reviews) Some people absolutely loved it, and for others they didn't even want to finish it. I'm curious how one novel can elicit such varied responses from people - a similar group of people in a way as they are all "avid readers". My theory is that it is an emotional, gut response. An empathic tuner. It seems that the people who enjoyed it, were more empathic to her situation than others. But hey, I'm not a psychologist or anything. Who knows. Just more proof that this would most likely be a very easy book to discuss - or argue depending on the crowd - with others.