TGC Post #1: Pgs. 0-41

SUMMARY:
I'm actually pretty happy with the first 40 pages of the book. So far in the novel, Jeannette Walls, the novel's author and narrator highlights her early life living as a 'nomad' on the West Coast. Her and he family are constantly moving from town to town, running away from tax collectors, the FBI, and etc. Currently, the family has lived in at least 11 places, and are currently living in a small town in the Nevada desert. Just like any family in poverty, Jeannette and her family have few resources to live off of. With her father, Rex Walls, being an inventor, he has a dream of creating a Glass Caste for his family, so they could finally settle down. So, the gist of the story is Walls and her family running around the country to find money, food, shelter, and gold for their Glass Castle. Jeannette has multiple encounters with fire, and it seems to keep on coming back to kill her, as it started from the first few pages of the novel to around 30 pages later. Jeannette is also getting hurt often, and with, I would say, 'careless' parents, Jeannette suffers a bit from her wounds, but its struggle that helps mold you.

QUOTE:
While we were in Midland, Mom painted dozens of variations and studies of the Joshua tree. We'd go with her and she'd give us at lessons. One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight.
Mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty." (Walls 38).

REACTION:
I'm loving this novel! It's almost like the author is narrating a documentary of her life in a movie, except this isn't on a television, this is on pages. Walls doesn't really have a particular style, but I can read these pages, and watch the novel's movie in my mind. It helps seeing what Jeannette is going through, like her living conditions in the desert, the casinos in Las Vegas, and etc. It also seems like some family's may have similar conflicts like Jeannett's in these times as well, with people losing their jobs and homes here and there, it's nice to know this kind of living isn;t really new to society (living with few resources and without a home). I like this book, hopefully I'll get more reading done in my next post!