Jeanette Walls writes 'memorable memoir' about her life in 'The Glass Castle'

As an avid reader of memoirs, I have encountered my share of inspiring tales about overcoming adversity and defying all odds. (Cue the "Rocky" theme music.) By the same token, I've read more than enough ego-amplifying personal tales to whet my palate for the genre. As a result, it's been a few years since I've found a memorable memoir.\nHowever, I decided to give the good old personal account another try when I received a copy of "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls on Christmas morning. The book surprised me and turned out to be an intriguing, intimate portrayal of the author's poverty-stricken childhood. \nWalls' writing style is nonpretentious and thought-provoking, and her memoir is a page-turner from the first paragraph. I read it voraciously. \nThe story starts when Walls is an adult. She is leading a privileged life in a posh Park Avenue apartment. One day, while en route to a prestigious party in downtown New York City, she spots a homeless woman robed in rags. Walls asks the driver to turn the limo around. She recognizes the poor resident of the roadside -- it's her mother.\nReaders later learn her family's bizarre history.\nThrough her writing, Walls, who spent her childhood around the country with her parents and three siblings, recollects the difficulty of a life on the run. \nShe recalls days when she and her family slept in their car and -- if they had a home -- used cardboard boxes for kitchen chairs and took in stray animals to sleep with at night when money and heat were in short supply.\nWith stunning detail, she describes what it was like to be self-sufficient before she could walk. In an unbelievable passage, she writes about receiving third-degree burns as a 3-year-old while trying to boil water.\nWalls' story is full of compelling characters who both interested and infuriated me.\nHer father, Rex, is frequently paranoid; he packs his family into the car in the middle of the night to escape the feds and a host of other pursuers. He moves his family across the country countless times, allowing each child to bring only one possession to each new home. \nHe is also man of empty promises. On good days, he spends hours dreaming up inventions he will never pursue and crafting plans for the beautiful glass castle he says he will one day build his family. On bad days, Jeannette is forced to search every bar in town for his whereabouts. \nHer mother, Rose Mary, is a self-proclaimed artist who splurges on art supplies and super-size Hershey bars while her kids sift through trash cans at school to keep from starving. \nWhen they are old enough to work, Jeannette and her older sister, Lori, make plans to save money and escape their circumstances. They successfully save for nine months -- until their father shatters their piggy bank to foot his booze bill. \nThey eventually find their way to New York and later help their younger siblings join them. Soon after, their parents also arrive -- but choose to live on the streets rather than take charity from their children. Rex and Rose Mary declare homelessness an adventure.\nWith stunning language and seamless transitions from one point in the author's childhood to the next, this book is difficult to put down. \nReaders will root for the Walls kids -- and marvel at their motivation to make it on their own.