Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Glass Castle FTI by Jeannette Walls

114 reviews

library_bee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Sexual harassment, and Death of parent

Minor: Fatphobia and Medical content

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

halloween_writes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Medical content, Racial slurs, Rape, Alcohol, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Addiction, Bullying, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent

op3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Child death

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Sexual assault, Cursing, Bullying, and Alcoholism

Minor: Abandonment

Mentions of neglect

whatthesquids's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Addiction, Racism, Child abuse, and Racial slurs

aidyncs's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Addiction, Racial slurs, and Alcoholism

hcop's review against another edition

adventurous reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Addiction, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Racism, Bullying, Death of parent, and Racial slurs

Minor: Child death

kbroshous's review against another edition

inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

xiaqine's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, and Drug abuse

grayyym's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book was incredibly human. It angered me in ways I didn’t know books could and I oftentimes found myself forced to empathize with the focus of my anger. It never ceases to amaze me how selfish humans can be, but this book also showed how we can love and be loved regardless. There were parts that felt all too real and parts where my gut churned at the thought of turning the page. This book painted a complex and compelling picture of a dysfunctional family, riddled with generational trauma. Knowing that it is a memoir and based on someone’s real life only made it hit that much harder. First five star book of 2024!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction and Drug abuse

Minor: Sexual harassment and Sexual violence