The Glass Castle

珍妮特·沃尔斯（Jeannette Walls），美国著名记者。撰有《闲聊：流言世界的内幕》、《闲聊：流言如何变成新闻，新闻怎样成为另一场秀》等书。2005年出版回忆录《玻璃城堡》，首次公开自己鲜为人知、与众不同的家庭背景和成长经历，凭借此书蜚声文坛。现与丈夫约翰·泰勒（John Taylor）长住纽约城和长岛。

出版者:Scribner

作者:Jeannette Walls

页数:304

出版时间:2005-3

价格:GBP 18.66

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780743247535

图书标签:英文原版回忆录美国文学美国小说外国文学非常值得读JeannetteWalls

Amazon.com

Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover. --Brangien Davis --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

读后感

人总归不能沉浸在某一种生活状态里，不然就会对周边，对外界失去感知，就像自己并不是生存在这个世界上一样，这是一件可怕的事情。 主人公和其兄弟姐妹，摆脱了曾经贫穷和遭人唾弃的生活，开始过上了平常人的生活，并在这种平常生活中发挥着自己的特长。可同时，他们也失去了那...  

对于这本书来说，真的是每一个人的感受都会不一样；我深刻的觉得，父母一开始的教育模式---放任自流，教导孩子爱好自然，去幻想，去大胆---有时候会觉得一些观念是很正确的，也是值得学习的，可是后来看到孩子们生活艰苦，衣食不足，很觉得父母其实最后也并没有完全尽到父母的...  

确实如书评所言，once you begin to read it, you won't stop it. 这几乎是我读过的最快的英文书，总是想知道后事如何。 这是作者的经历，可以从中窥见美国在上世纪六七十年代的社会形态。毫无疑问发达资本主义国家也是有穷人的。但穷到没有饭吃，也是出乎社会主义苗子的意料...  

人总归不能沉浸在某一种生活状态里，不然就会对周边，对外界失去感知，就像自己并不是生存在这个世界上一样，这是一件可怕的事情。 主人公和其兄弟姐妹，摆脱了曾经贫穷和遭人唾弃的生活，开始过上了平常人的生活，并在这种平常生活中发挥着自己的特长。可同时，他们也失去了那...  

看完《巨婴国》之后，接着看了玻璃城堡。这本自传体小说轻松流畅，可它讲述的故事并不轻松。可以这么说：这本小说非常传奇。小说讲的是四个孩子带着两个没长大的父母过的非常颠沛流离的童年生活。他们的父亲是清醒时是个有魅力充满想象力的人，而大多时候他是一个不着调的酒鬼...

用户评价

I guess by far, this is the most captivating book that I have ever covered this year. It's not easy to live a childhood like that.

Audiobook#最近早班少，听书进展缓慢，昨天终于又听完一本《The glass castle》。这本自传绝对是现实版的《Shameless》，描述美国最底层人民的生活。作者爹是个酒鬼，妈罹患抑郁症。他们常年居无定所，父母无法稳定工作，甚至无法保证基本的食物放在餐桌上。作者从3岁开始就自己烧水做热狗。初中高中的时候需要到处翻捡垃圾筒找饭吃。御寒的衣服连扣子都没有。就在他们几个孩子努力攒钱想摆脱这个家去纽约的时候，她爸把孩子攒的钱全偷了，拿去喝酒。我曾经一度听不下去就是因为觉得内容太黑色。而现实能给你的就是一次次的打脸。不过最后孩子们都长大了，而且成为了和他们父母完全相反的人。本书难度3星，趣味性4星。#2016audiobook#累计听书时间57时25分。

I loved this book more than I had expected. Other people’s stories make you realize how insignificant your own troubles are.

连paper都写的很享受，可以说有点喜欢Mary，喜欢Jeannette,很喜欢Rex把星星当作礼物送给孩子们的那几页。

eye opener