Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Glass Castle (by Jeanette Walls)

Starting this memoir, I was excited about it; it felt very Liars' Club-esque, and we all know how flat-out awesome Liars' Club is. Now that I've finished it I still feel that I liked it quite a bit, but the ending was a little... I wouldn't say a cop-out, but the pace really picked up towards the end, a lot was skimmed over and left unsaid, and it left me with unanswered questions. The style is fairly pared down and simple (as opposed to Mary Karr's slightly more detailed prose) but both authors write poetically about their dysfunctional families and childhoods.

One issue is that the author right away tells an anecdote that makes you kind of hate her, but never circles back around to it to give you a better understanding of her motives... in hindsight, she seems like more of a bitch than I think she probably really is. (I'm sorry if that made no sense; I've had some wine.) Anyway, it's an interesting story, well told, and if you did love Liars' Club you'll probably like it... although it's not as good... although, what is?

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