James Amenta

The Glass Castle is a good memoir because the author (Jeannette Walls) grew up thinking her life was normal when it really wasn’t, she had many near death experiences, and left her crazy parents after high school for a new life in New York. All these reason show how interesting and abnormal the author's life was growing up.

One example for when the author was growing up an abnormal life was when she was always moving place to place with her family to get away from the law and other people chasing her father. They called this the skedaddle when they always moved from place to place. In the book it says, “We were always 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.” Later that page it said “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.” Usually most families don’t move from place to place to avoid the law.

Another example would be how she had some near death experiences. For example in the beginning of the book when Jeannette was three years old she was cooking hot dogs by herself without her parents helping her, which ended badly. On page 9, it says, “I was standing on a chair in front of the stove, wearing a pink dress my grandmother had bought for me.” Later on that page, “I felt a blaze on my right side. I turned to see where it was coming from and realized my dress was on fire. Frozen with fear, I watched the yellow-white flames make a ragged brown line up the pink fabric of my skirt and climb my stomach.” This makes the book interesting since not many kids make hot dogs alone that small which is why she wasn’t cautious and almost died.

One more example would be how she had moved to New York after high school and got a job, apartment, and more. After living most of her life with her horrible family in poverty she decided to move to New York in search for a better life. When she is there she goes to live with her sister who previously moved there and she finds a job at a burger joint. After living there she decided to go to college and study as a writer. She gets a writing job for a newspaper. This shows how the book is also inspirational because she went from nothing and got a decent job in New York city.

These three reason provide information on why The Glass Castle is such a good memoir from all the interesting event that took place in the book.