Jeannette Walls, a journalist and former gossip columnist at MSNBC.com, tells her childhood story of living as a nomad with a brilliant father who is looking for gold to build a crystal castle for his family, but prefers alcohol and a mother who prefers paint and dream of cooking and taking care of her four children. The book begins with her seeing her homeless mother on the streets, searching through the trash, and Jeannette getting into a taxi and pretending not to know her. Jeannette had kept her childhood a secret while living in New York, and then decided to share her story with the world. And what story he had to tell.

I will warn you from the beginning that Jeannette’s story contains crude language, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. Some of you will probably choose not to read this book, so I’ll try to give you an idea of ​​what you experienced. One of her earliest memories was when she was three years old, boiling hot dogs on the stove. She was standing on a chair and her dress caught fire. His torso was severely burned and he was in the hospital for six weeks. His family was always moving, because they didn’t pay the utilities and other bills. When I was little I thought it was a great adventure: sometimes they slept under the stars, other times the children slept in cardboard boxes because their parents couldn’t afford the beds. They really made the most of their situation. His father wanted to find gold to get rich, but in the meantime he took jobs that barely allowed him to make ends meet. And I hardly mean! His mother liked to paint and didn’t really take care of her own children. They would eat beans and rice for three days in a row, or popcorn or ice cream. Whatever was on sale if they could afford it. Jeanette loved her parents, especially her father. They couldn’t afford nice gifts and they didn’t care. Once her father took the children outside and gave them “stars”, and she chose Venus. She thought it was the best gift she had ever had.

Jeanette was almost raped when she was eight years old and her parents did nothing about it. Her father taught her to swim by throwing her into the deepest part of the water until she discovered it herself. When their money ran out, they ended up moving to West Virginia to live with their father’s parents, although he was not very happy about it. Their only vehicle was the u-haul, so the four children sat in the back of the u-haul for long hours, hoping their father would stop so they could go to the bathroom. They lived in the basement of his grandparents’ house and his grandmother would make lard sandwiches for him for lunch. The other children made fun of his family because they were dirty all the time and often had nothing to eat for lunch. She would hide in the bathroom and eat what people threw away. He couldn’t understand why people were throwing away uneaten sandwiches and delicious fruit. Her grandmother tried to sexually abuse Jeanette’s brother, Brian, and was upset that they wouldn’t let her and they locked the children in the basement. There was a door so they could get out, but there was no bathroom, so they had to wait until school or go in the dark. His family couldn’t afford the charcoal, so they looked for firewood and huddled under the blankets; the four of them shared a bed.

Once they finally got a place of their own, it didn’t get much better. They couldn’t afford electricity, there was no indoor plumbing, and the only bathroom consisted of a bucket in the middle of the room. They dumped their trash in a hole in the yard and the house threatened to collapse at any moment. His father continued to delve into drinking and his mother began teaching. Her father took her to a bar and drank, while a man tried to assault her in her apartment. She was able to escape, and he just laughed and said he knew she would be fine. Her mother had a sweet addiction and hid chocolate stash in the house for herself before feeding her children. The kids worked hard and the oldest was finally able to move to New York. The other children were not long in following him. Jeannette ended up attending an Ivy League school and her brother became a police officer. Their parents eventually followed them to New York, and they lived happily homeless rummaging through garbage to survive.

After several years, her family reunited for Thanksgiving at her home with her husband and daughter. He enjoyed seeing his brothers and his mother was the same person as always. He was really happy with who he was and was not accepting any help. I think Jeannette finally realized this and was able to relax and accept her mother as well.

Reading this book was very interesting, since his life was the opposite of mine. I was amazed at how much she adored her parents when she was young and only complained when they didn’t have enough to eat or she wanted new clothes. She didn’t blame her parents for much of anything, she just told her story as it happened. It’s a sad story, one that I don’t want my children to experience, and it’s humbling and considerate. It’s a good story to read about someone who made the most of her situation and is now a successful journalist.