I picked this book up on Saturday and could barely put it
down all weekend. Jeannette Walls is a
successful journalist living in New York City today, but her memoir tells of a
very difficult childhood. Her father was
very intelligent, but not very interested in working. His beliefs were very anti-establishment and
he refused to sacrifice his pride or his freedom to conform to an
employer. He also suffered from a bit of
a “drinking situation” as their mother would say. Their mother was an artist who was so
impractical that she couldn’t see the value in preparing a meal for her four
children. Despite her lack of nurturing
instincts, I could tell that there was genuine love between the family members. When Jeannette was young the family moved
frequently, and each new place represented hope for a better life. Sadly they were usually homeless. Eventually they moved back to the remote West
Virginia town where their father was raised.
At this point the hope of moving to a better place disappeared, until
Jeannette was a teenager and found her own way out.
Even though Walls never condemns her parents’ choices, I personally
became very frustrated with them as I read.
I do think that many of my students who come from dysfunctional or
broken families will be able to relate to this story and will benefit from the
message of hope and personal strength that it conveys.
No comments:
Post a Comment