'the glass castle' is a harrowing memoir relaying jeannette walls' brutal and unconventional childhood. involving themes of poverty, child neglect and abuse, and growing up with dysfunctional parents who struggled with addiction and mental health illnesses.

this book has developed an almost legendary status within the literary/non-fiction world, and so i feel like there isn't much for me to add to the plethora of reviews that already exist on the internet. so i'll try and keep it (somewhat) brief.

i think it is a remarkable book, beautifully and eloquently written, and manages to capture the intricacies of growing up with an extremely complex child-parental relationship. i never usually read non-fiction/memoirs, and i was pleasantly surprised at how immersive this was. due to both it's anecdotal format and walls' prose, it has an almost fairytale-like, illusive feel, that works really well for a reader like me, who prefers fiction.

it is a real, honest and startling look at the modern american family, revealing uncomfortable truths about american culture/reality that was never typically shown within media (especially not in 2005, when this memoir was published). jeannette's story resonated deeply with me, a profound memoir that i'll continue to think about.