Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

10 reviews

jamie_o's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

"I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw mom, rooting through a dumpster" - this is the opening line to Jeannette Walls memoir. The story that follows is infuriating, inspiring, horrific, funny, and craaaaazy.

Jeannette's family was dysfunctional to the extreme. Her parents had a toxic relationship and were rebels who refused to play by the rules of society. Their parenting was neglectful and dangerous. Her father was a highly intelligent man, but he was bent on self-destruction with his alcoholism, lack of self-control, inability to hold down a job, and paranoia. But he also had some redeeming qualities (her mom, not so much) in his love for his children, especially Jeannette, and promotion of reading and learning.

Having recently read Theodore Dalrymple's book Life at the Bottom, I could not help comparing the two books. Jeannette's memoir is a testament to the truthfulness of his book. The Walls family had much in common with the British underclass he describes, but they're from a different era where parents still cared about their children's education. Jeannette's mother proved what Dalrymple claimed is true of many homeless when she blamed NYC for their homelessness, stating, "They make it too easy. If it was unbearable, we'd do something else."

One of the things I appreciate most about Jeannette is that she worked hard and succeeded despite her tough childhood, she didn't have a victim mentality and never blamed her parents for her failures.

*There are profanities, mostly from Jeannette's father. There is also some inappropriate sexual touching of minors (the accounts are brief and not too detailed).

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Alcoholism

jadenchimes06's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence

pinkbunnyy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

Minor: Pedophilia

nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring fast-paced

5.0

What a powerful audiobook, read by the writer herself. Be prepared for basically every trigger warning in the book to happen in this one as these children lived a very hard life because of their parents. I cannot even fathom, after listening to this book, what that must have been like to grow up in. 

As other reviewers have said, Walls does look at her past with rose-tinted glasses and does not tear down her parents. She tells us what they did, said, didn’t do that they should have done and let’s us the reader feel the anger for her. Which I thought was very tasteful of her, given what all her parents have put her family through.

Definitely one of the most powerful memoirs I’ve ever read. How they were able to save up money, budget at such a young age and be more of a responsible adult then both their parents to make it in New York. The strength of her and her siblings is truly incredible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Excrement, Medical trauma, Racism, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Medical content, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Abandonment

narbine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Transphobia, Alcohol, Classism, Gaslighting, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Child death, Abandonment, Animal death, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexual content, Stalking, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Infidelity, Misogyny, Excrement, Gaslighting, Racism, and Dysphoria

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

this was such a devastating memoir. i loved how the voice throughout most of the story aged as the story progressed. the beginning has such a child-like voice which adds to how you feel for the author and what she went through. this was a hard but rewarding read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Medical content, Grief, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexism, Bullying, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Racism, and Sexual assault

mandi4886's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Body shaming, Bullying, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Trafficking, Drug use, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Violence

gracieinhermind2's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This is my favorite book of all time. Although it has many difficult topics (my friend first had to read it in high school, and i picked up her copy and started reading), it was so interesting. her writing and short stories really show the ups and downs of her childhood. it also normalized for me how childhoods could not always be good. I will warn, it had MANY content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content

dbella191's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

Really interesting book that displayed conflicting emotions towards family and a different look at poverty in America. So many different emotions went through me while reading this, many happening at the same time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

butterfliesonmybookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy