The Glass Castle

I was having some bad luck with my reading choices (Blood Meridian) and so Mindy decided I should read a book she had recently finished. She kind of forced it on me so I decided not to rock the boat and go ahead and read it. After about 30 pages I was hooked.

It's kind of like Running with Scissors because it's about someone who had a fucked up childhood. But this girl had to be more responsible and had to grow up a lot quicker than most kids. The interesting thing about it is the way it's written. The author is currently a writer for MSN. She's a gossip columnist, so you aren't getting incredible literature here, it's all about the story. But that doesn't mean that the simplistic, almost detached prose should be dismissed. It becomes part of the story.

I read an interview with Jeannette Walls (the author) and it turns out her first draft felt like it was written by someone else - someone who hadn't actually lived through the experiences. So she rewrote it. But it still has that feel. It still feels like a hyper intelligent 15-year-old wrote it, which just adds to the feeling of how much this kind of childhood can fuck you up. Not that she's still fucked up, but stuff like this will color you for the rest of your life.

Current Read: Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson: By the guy who wrote Devil in the White City, which was awesome. So far, this one is building up for just as good a climax, except of course it isn't in Chicago. But still, this guy is good.