Incredible tale..... ( )

Too disturbing for me. I can't handle this kind of stuff anymore. ( )

Originally published in 2005.

READING LEVEL: 5.9 AR POINTS: 12

This was perhaps the best memoir I have ever read in my entire life. I did not expect to like this book at all because of it being so popular among the Facebook groups I used to follow. I figured it was overrated as usual...NOT. Jeannette Walls is a great story-teller!

Her father was born and raised in Welch, West Virginia, and was a product of being raised among the poor and disfunctional hillbillies in the Appalachian hills. He had torn himself away from it all for a while by enlisting in the military, marrying, having four kids and living away in Nevada, then California for a while. They moved often, mostly running from the law.

Jeannette has some creative memories her father has left her with, but at the same time he was forever putting all their lives in danger. Her father hated city life. The way it was so organized and planned out with punch time cards, people getting too soft on creature comforts, so the family was always on the move, even if at times they were running from the law. He felt it was good for one’s soul to be surrounded by nature and living off the land and that it wasn’t in harmony with nature to be living like the lords-of-the-earth “...trying to rule the entire god-damn planet, cutting down all the forests and killing every creature you couldn’t bring to heal.” At the same time, he could be very neglectful of his children.

Jeannette’s mom was just as eccentric. She was an artist. All she cared about every time they moved around was making sure her artwork and supplies were packed. It was like she lived in her own little world. She was also very well educated and had a teaching certificate, but hated it and refused to work. She mostly home-schooled the kids and did a damn good job at it. They were all very well-read in literature and anytime they moved to a town where they had to be enrolled, they placed higher than most any other kids in school. But, she believed kids should raise themselves. So, the kids had free range to do what-ever they wanted while she painted her life away.

When Jeannette was age 10, the family had to move back to Welch, West Virginia, to live with her father’s mother for a while. Their “luck” had run out. They stayed there in Welch for the remainder of Jeannette’s school years. Conditions were so bad and deplorable for all the family. Her father took almost all of the money and would disappear for days while her mother and all the kids each fended for themselves. Jeannette moved out and went to New York to live with her older sister to finish up her senior year, and then enrolled in college on scholarships and grants. Eventually, all the kids were living in New York with them to finish up their schooling. Then here come the parents...and squatting out on the streets of New York.

Despite their upbringing, Jeannette loved her parents and knew that her parents truly loved her and her siblings. They just couldn’t function properly. From her father, she was taught that in life you either choose to sink or swim. And from her mother, she was taught empathy and to see the best in every person and every situation.

Her stories are remarkable and so well written. It’s amazing any of them survived their childhood and became successful, functioning human-beings. Jeannette is a journalist and became a contributor to MSNBC. ( )

4stars

Holy crap. This woman had one helluva childhood.

This simply told story of a very complicated life kept me reading late into the night. Truth is stranger than fiction and accounts like these - of such human grace and resilience - still leave me gob-smacked. While this was not a literary feast, it never pretended to be one. And I felt inspired. ( )