Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

49 reviews

narbine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

marissaam12's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

This book was an honest, beautiful story. My heart broke for the children. The author, despite knowing the abuse she endured, is able to include highlights of her parents and what she admired about them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death

mirajuliee's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.0

i do not even want to rate this book because it is such a horrible, heartbreaking  and emotional story. i loved the writing style of the author, she somehow captured every little detail in a way, that you don’t want to stop reading this book. it makes you mad and sad at the same time thinking it was all reality while instantly appreciating your own life a whole lot more.  i’m so glad there was a rather happy end to this shocking life story but i don’t think i’ll read it ever again because it has many graphic triggers and gross details. it affected me a lot emotionally, i’ll definitely think about this one a lot. 

(also, and i don’t know if this was just my version of the book but it had tons of spelling mistakes/random misplaced letters which distracted a lot while reading) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Racial slurs, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death

luckyonesoph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fatphobia and Death of parent

shieldbearer's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I know my own history affects how i feel about this book, but it's such a good read. Highly recommended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Transphobia, and Excrement

mandi4886's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

ingridbergman's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

sophicat's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Gun violence and Pregnancy

ashleycmms's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity and Murder

annemaries_shelves's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

One of my oldest TBR books and I'm so incredibly glad I finally picked this up. 

Walls has an incredibly rich talent for story-telling and displays immense vulnerability in sharing her family's story. 
Reading this 10 years after I first learned about it, I have more empathy for the parents and a better ability to understand the nuances and grey zones of parent-child relationships, the circumstances that lead to unstable, unsafe, and neglectful households, and the sheer luck it takes to dig yourself out of systemic poverty the way the Walls children did. 

That said, her parents are terrible parents in a lot of ways. You can tell they love their children and want to install certain values like independent thinking, self-reliance, and others. But this often comes at the cost of healthcare, safety, job and financial security, and others risks. While her parents clearly have some mental health issues and substance use disorders to varying degrees (though she doesn't speculate on this) a lot of the circumstances the Walls found themselves in were entirely preventable and manageable. And that infuriates me. 

I loved reading about the siblings' dynamics and their resourcefulness and determination to make the best of things - and get the hell out of Welch when they no longer could. I'd especially love to read Lori's story one day - she seems to have a unique experience within the family and I think it could resonate with a lot of people (or maybe it's just oldest children relatability for me).

I have two main critiques that could bring my rating down 0.5 stars (but won't because I loved the experience of reading this memoir to much).
1) The pacing was slightly off in the second half. Jeannette Walls devotes so much time to her early childhood, that we often skip significant portions of her teen years and young adulthood. She only discusses the highlights as compared to the substantial exploration of her childhood and set-up of their family dynamics. 
2) Being published in 2005 and set largely in the 60s and 70s there is some outdated language. This includes the R-word and racial slurs. 

Overall this is a wonderful and emotional memoir - I can understand why and how it's become a classic in the genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism and Misogyny