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 Memoires often contain sad-sack childhood remembrances. With an alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Jeannette Walls' childhood story could easily have been yet another gloomy tale. Oh, don't get me wrong, the Walls family was so poor that I felt guilty eating while reading the book. But this is a story I couldn't put down, so some nourishment was required during the read. Besides, Walls never once asks the reader for sympathy. This is not a "woe is me" memoir. Instead, "The Glass Castle" is solid proof neither nature nor nurture has the final word in determining who we become.
Today Walls is a regular contributor to MSNBC.com and the author of three best sellers. Her transformation from a kid literally living amidst garbage in Welch, W.Va., to a successful writer is a victory story. Walls delivers her early life on a platter of smooth-flowing prose covered with facts. All psychoanalysis of her parents, Rex and Rose, is left to the reader. And believe me, this book will make you question why some people ever become parents. But Walls clearly understands that childhood is what fate hands you; what you accomplish with the rest of your life is up to you.
Her memoir opens in New York City. Walls is on her way to a party when she spots her mother rooting through a dumpster. She slumps down in the back seat of the taxi. A sense of panic overtakes her. What if her mother recognizes her and calls out her name? If someone going to the same party spots the two of them together, Walls' secret would be out. None of Walls' associates know about her vagabond past. When asked about her childhood, Walls changes the subject or fibs a bit.
Immediately, I wondered how anyone could be so heartless. Could being related to a homeless person really be so humiliating that you would shun your own mother? But as I read on my sympathy for Rose Walls quickly vanished, and I began to wonder how her daughter could write this story so objectively, without a trace of bitterness or hatred.
Walls flashes back to a trailer park in southern Arizona to retell her first childhood memory; the year is 1963. She is 3 years old and wearing her favorite pink dress with a crinoline skirt. Being hungry, Walls pulls a chair over to the stove so she can cook some hot dogs. Her skirt touches the flame, she screams as fire leaps up the side of her body. Naturally, at first I thought Walls had to be a mischievous toddler, but she recalls the incident as if it's normal for a child that age to cook their own meals.
In the intervening years since her body was permanently scarred, someone must have informed Walls that most parents don't let their 3-year-old near a stove! But she recalls the incident as a childhood accident, never once placing any blame on her negligent parents.
Rex and Rose Walls are an enigma. Rex taught his children geology, biology, astronomy, earth science and mathematics. He appears to have a genuine fatherly affection for them, but he also has big dreams - fantasies fueled by alcohol. He drags his family to numerous Southwest mining towns in search of backers to finance the "Prospector," a machine he designed to extract copious amounts of gold during the leaching process. Sometimes the family lives in dives, their car, or they sleep on the ground in the desert. As an electrician, Rex had the skills to stay employed, but alcohol always lured him away from his responsibilities. He created blueprints for his biggest dream, a glass castle he promised to build when he "hit it big." For years, he would lay the blueprints on the table, sip booze and dream.
Rose Walls is an educated, intelligent woman with a passion for painting. She taught her children to love literature and art, teaching them to read before they attended kindergarten. But she's also an egotistical woman who often puts her desires before her children's needs. Whether she is suffering from bipolar disease or has a case of arrested development is unclear. Paradoxically, Rose believes children should become independent as quickly as possible, yet she lacks the skills to become a fully functioning adult herself. Her childish behavior forces her children to assume the responsibilities of an adult shortly after they learn to walk.
Poverty was a matter of choice for Rex and Rose; they appear to be drawn to it "like moths to a flame." When Rose inherits a house in Phoenix, the couple doesn't have the gumption to make repairs or earn enough money to support the family in a mortgage-free home. Instead, Rose decides they should move to Welch, W.Va., where Rex's alcoholic parents and brother lived.
Welch is nothing but poor; the mines are closed, there's no work, store fronts are boarded up, and the school system is dismal. A shack without running water becomes home. Scrounging for food and money became a daily routine for the children. Yet Walls' faith in her father's dreams endures. She convinces her brother to help her excavate a foundation for his glass castle. When it's finished, her father decides to dump the family's garbage in the hole. The stinking mess becomes a haven for rats and a source of embarrassment for Walls. Still, she doesn't join in when her older sister Lori and younger brother Brian mock their father's grandiose schemes.
Anyone interested in human behavior will find "The Glass Castle" mesmerizing. The Walls children inherited the "dreamer gene" from their father, but the three oldest siblings actually had the self-discipline to reach their goal, in spite of overwhelming obstacles. Adversity forged a strong bond among them and they pooled their resources so Lori could move to New York to pursue an art career after graduating from high school. After finishing her junior year, Jeannette moved in with Lori. She managed to get a job, complete high school and receive a scholarship to Columbia University's Barnard College. Within a short time, the sisters made enough money to bring their brother and youngest sister to join them.
Three years after Walls left Welch, her parents showed up on her doorstep. Unlike their children, they do not prosper. In fact, Rose praises poverty as if it is a righteous state of being, and prefers to dig through dumpsters rather than work. Parents and children go their separate ways - for a while. When they are physically reunited, the contrast between the rational, responsible children and their dysfunctional parents is blinding. Why the youngest child, Maureen, appears to be following the path of her parents is a matter for further investigation. While Walls grants her parents far more absolution than they deserve, she doesn't extend any to Maureen. Walls said, "Ever since she was a kid she'd been looking for someone to take care of her." Perhaps Walls is too close to the situation to see that unlike her younger sister, she had two compatriots to help her survive.
I think high school teachers should add this book to their students' reading list. Not only will it open the door to many philosophical discussions, it will give most students a whole new appreciation for their parents.
Read "The Glass Castle." This memoir proves the human spirit can overcome poor parenting, poverty and adverse genetic pre-dispositions - with a little help from fellow sufferers - your siblings.
Note: Next month, I'll review "Blood and Thunder; the epic story of Kit Carson and the conquest of the American West" by Hampton Sides. Read the book then read my review. Send your comments to KathyH@newfalconherald.com
This column does not necessarily represent the views of The New Falcon Herald.
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Kathy Hare