The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is one of those stories that can make you laugh, cry, and feel compassion and empathy. The experiences that she writes about all have a certain amount of detail and meaning behind them to help you fully imagine them and take you on a beautifully awful and exciting journey through her life. The time when her tutu catches on fire while she is making hot dogs reminds me of times where I have made a mess out of simple situations like she has. Walls makes it very easy to relate to her and understand how she is feeling through the bad times and the good. The struggles that she endures made me feel so lucky but also empathetic for her and others that have also had to go through similar experiences.

I enjoyed reading this book because of the adventure and detail. When they have to pack up and leave their house brings tears to my eyes because I can’t even imagine if I had to do such things today and leave behind almost everything that you have. When they make it to a point where they can no longer afford to buy clothing and they have to go to school in the same clothes breaks my heart because of the taunting and bullying that the other students enforce. The terrible living conditions that they deal with make me feel so spoiled and awful for taking advantage of all that I have. Not only is their house in bad living condition but their family is broken and wounded to a point where the dad steals Jeannette’s money that she is saving to go live in New York with her older sister.

This book also teaches the hardships and important lessons that can be learned through simple mistakes and large ones. One of the most important lessons that I have learned from this book is to never give up on your dreams. Walls never gave up on saving money for New York and she made it there and has made a good life for herself, which is very inspiring. I would recommend this book to all who like reading about adventure and learning more about the past of such great people that we know today. We may never know how they have come to be where they are today and the struggles that they have survived in their past that has shaped them to be who they are.