The Glass Castle is a memoir marked by adventure, turmoil, and acceptance. Jeanette Walls, the author and protagonist, lived a highly unconventional childhood alongside her 3 siblings and parents, never living in a city for long and growing up with next to nothing.
They'd go days without eating, never stayed in a school for too long, their houses were unsafe and without plumbing and electricity, barely had any clothing, and had their own family issues with a mom who only cared about her work as an artist and a dad who was an alcoholic. Although nothing was really ever right, they still loved each other and learned more lessons than you and I ever will. I highly recommend you read this book but here are my favorite quotes:
1. “Things usually work out in the end."
"What if they don't?""That just means you haven't come to the end yet.”
2. “Sometimes you need a little crisis to get your adrenaline flowing and help you realize your potential.”
Next time you feel like your life is falling apart, be thankful. If Jeanette Walls could become successful after the childhood she lived, you can do anything.
3. “She had her addictions and one of them was reading.”
Although her mom wasn't always the most providing, she showed her children the importance of reading; her dad was addicted to alcohol and her mom to books.
4. "We laughed about all the kids who believed in the Santa Clause myth and got nothing but a bunch of cheap plastic toys. 'Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten,' Dad said, ' you'll still have your stars.”
Cue the tears. This is one of the best scenes in the book and one that the movie doesn't quite give justice too.
5. “Those shining stars, he liked to point out, were one of the special treats for people like us who lived out in the wilderness. Rich city folks, he'd say, lived in fancy apartments, but their air was so polluted they couldn't even see the stars. We'd have to be out of our minds to want to trade places with any of them.”
Oh, the irony.
6. “I wondered if the fire had been out to get me.
I wondered if all fire was related, like Dad said all humans were related, if the fire that had burned me that day while I cooked hot dogs was somehow connected o the fire I had flushed down the toilet and the fire burning at the hotel. I didn't have the answers to those questions, but what I did know was that I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.”
7. “You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.”
Tell this to yourself. Tell this to your kids. Tell this to your neighbor or even a stranger.
8. “I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.”
If I had to pick one line from the entire book as a summary, this would be it. Without a doubt.
9. “I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even the people who seemed to have it all had their secrets.”
Because even if you come from a peculiar background, it doesn't mean you are destined to be nothing.
10. “No one expected you to amount to much," she told me. "Lori was the smart one, Maureen the pretty one, and Brian the brave one. You never had much going for you except that you always worked hard.”
We all feel like Jeanette from time-to-time. There's always someone faster, someone prettier, someone smarter, someone cooler... just someone better. But look who's laughing now.
11. “Why spend the afternoon making a meal that will be gone in an hour," she'd ask us, "when in the same amount of time, I can do a painting that will last forever?”
To sum up her mom in a nutshell.
12. “You can't cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is 'If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim.'”
This is another scene you have to read and not watch. Though the movie was a good stand alone feature, in comparison to the book, half of the magic was lost.
13. “Maybe I should have cut him some slack. With his broken wing and lifetime of eating roadkill, he probably had a lot to be ungrateful about. Too much hard luck can create a permanent meanness of spirit in any creature.”
A little understanding can go a long way. How can you judge someone when someone can easily judge you too?
14. “But the positive thoughts would give way to negative thoughts, and the negative thoughts seemed to swoop into her mind the way a big flock of black crows takes over the landscape, sitting thick in the trees and on the fence rails and lawns, staring at you in ominous silence.”
Enough said.
15. “Every household needs one piece of furniture in really bad taste.”
An overlooked piece of life advice.
16. “I told Mom that maybe I had made a terrible mistake, but mom said sometimes you have to get sicker before you can get better.”
Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to finally see the light.
