As soon as I returned home from my two week dance workshop, my mom told me I had received my “first assignment from Barnard.” I didn’t even care if it was an assignment - I was just ecstatic to receive a package from the school of my dreams.
I took the contents out of the package, and picked up my “complimentary” copy of The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. Neatly pasted to the inside cover was a small message from Barnard offering me my first alumna novel. I’m sure it will be one of many.
I finished the book in about a week, easily… Besides the fact that I’m going to get to meet this amazing woman during orientation week and ask her about her life after I’ve read it, I don’t think I could have loved reading this book anymore. It was simply fantastic.
The Glass Castle is a memoir detailing the life and childhood of Jeannette Walls. A bit like Grapes of Wrath, yet written from the perspective of an extremely intelligent young girl and much more compelling, this book will draw so very many different emotions out of you. It was a fast-paced read; the plot never stopped rolling through Jeanette’s struggle against her ambitious (yet drunken father), the numerous faults of society she faced daily, and her attempt at growing up as an awkward child trying to set a place for herself in the world.
The fantastic bit about this memoir was the chapter in which Jeannette arrives in New York City and applies to Barnard. I couldn’t be more proud of my school.
So, if you need a summer read that will make you stay up until 4am because you can’t put the book down… I suggest The Glass Castle. I can’t wait to meet Ms. Walls, and I’ll be sure to fill you all in.
