I read this book a few years ago, but it is one of those stories that really touches you and stays in your mind. I find that I keep recommending this book to friends when they look for something good to read. Walls writes a very candid memoir about her childhood. Her parents had four children but did not believe in a traditional way of providing for the family. Neither the father nor mother had steady jobs. They moved around a lot, sometimes even camped out in the wilderness. The mother painted and wrote but never really cooked a decent meal for the children. The father (when sober) taught them whatever he knew about sciences. Eventually, the family settles down in a small town in West Virginia. Walls remembers them being the poorest kids in school, going hungry and dirty while their dad was gone for days and the mother refused to take responsibility for providing for the family. It was clearly a lifestyle choice for the parents, one that Walls, now an adult, has a hard time understanding. For me, as a reader, this story was very eye-opening. I personally never encountered a family which makes the choice to live a life of wandering, subjecting their kids to experiencing hunger, want and humiliation from early childhood. Hardship did not break Jeannette Walls. It motivated her to escape and build a better life for herself. She clearly knew what kind of lifestyle she did not want for herself. She became a successful author and wrote this amazing story of going through dire poverty in the midst of the wealthiest country in the world.
I hope this book will touch you as much as it has touched me.
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