Quote Reaction #1

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

“We were doing the skedaddle, usually in the middle of the night. I sometimes heard Mom and Dad discussing the people who were after us. Dad called them henchmen, bloodsuckers, and the gestapo. Sometimes he would make mysterious references to executives from Standard Oil who were trying to steal the Texas land that Mom’s family owned, and FBI agents who were after Dad for some dark episode that he never told us about because he didn’t want to put us in danger, too… Mom, however, told us that the FBI wasn’t really after Dad; he just liked to say they were because it was more fun having the FBI on your tail than bill collectors.” (Walls 19)

Walls sets the stage for her memoir describing the relationship between her parents through recollections from her early childhood. Like any good child, she speaks admirably of her parents and their decisions, perhaps out of her own ignorance. The differences she notes between her mother and father are subtle, though she delivers the point clearly. So far, the book moves at a steady pace; it’s full of thrill and easy to read. Walls writes honestly and with good humor, and even makes her wild adventures believable.