The Glass Castle

People have been trying to get me to read the Glass Castle for years.  I didn't have any interest.  It sounded too depressing.  In my opinion, life has enough angst.  I like my books to be angst free.  A girl growing up with an alcoholic dad and a crazy mom, struggling to find food just didn't seem like a book I'd enjoy.  But, as luck would have it,  it was the first book chosen for my new book club.  I dragged my feet so much that I didn't finish it in time for book club but I read it the next day.  And you know what?  I actually liked it.  Even though the topic was disturbing it was told in such a matter-of-fact way that it didn't seem disturbing.  I was impressed that the author told her story without any sense of self-pity or regret.  It reminded me of something a young man in my neighborhood said after his dad died.  He said "people always try to assign meaning to things, be it good or bad.  but the truth is, somethings just are."  And that's what I liked about the book.  Walls didn't make judgement on her childhood or her parents, she just told her story.  She just told what was.  And she did it with love and compassion for all the members of her family.