Summary

     The Glass Castle, is a non-fiction book based on the childhood and early adult life of Jeannette Walls. The earliest memory Jeannette has, or one of the earliest, is of her cooking hot dogs. She was cooking hot dogs in a pink dress when she was three years old, and her dress caught on fire. Jeannette ended up in the hospital with severe burns, and stayed there for a while. One day when her dad came to visit, they checked out Rex Walls style. Jeannette, Brian, Lori, Rose Mary, and Rex moved around a lot. Many of the places they lived were trailer parks. Even though they moved around a lot, the one thing that they always took with them were the blueprints to the Glass Castle. Rex was always saying that he needed money in order to build the Glass Castle, so the money they had always went to "research." When the youngest Walls child is born, Maureen, they check out Rex Walls style once again, but they continue to move around. The first place that Jeannette considers to be home is the house her mom inherited from her mother. They lived in this house for a while, but one day, they left. The Walls moved to Welch, and stayed there, not moving around at all.

    When they first moved to Welch, everyone lived with Rex's mother and father. When Rex and Rose Mary go back to their old house to collect some of their belongings, Brian, Lori, and Jeannette get into an argument with their grandmother. Jeannette accuses her grandmother of touching Brian inappropriately and Lori gets into an argument and smacks her grandmother. When Rex and Rose Mary get back, Rex's mother tells them that they have to leave. This is when they buy a house in Welch. When the Walls move to Welch, all hopes of the Glass Castle being built disappears. Everybody pretty much forgets about it. Rex continues to drink and drink, spending all the money they have on alcohol, while Maureen practically lives with the neighbors. Jeannette, Brian, and Lori convince their mom to get a job as a teacher. Even with their mom having a job, they still never have money. When Rose Mary goes away to renew her teaching degree, and Lori is at camp, Jeannette is in charge of providing food for her, Brian, and Maureen for a month. One day, Rex asked Jeannette for money, knowing Jeannette will give it to him since she has a soft spot for her dad. Then he takes her out to a bar so she can help him win a pool game. This is the summer that Jeannette gets a job at a jewerly store. When school starts up again, Lori and Jeannette make a plan to move to New York. They start saving all the money they can and putting it in a piggy bank. Brian helps with the savings, but he's not included in the plan. When it is almost time for Lori to go to New York, Rex steals all the money that they saved up, and he denied it. But, Jeannette is able to get Lori to New York by giving up a babysitting job that pays $200.00 and a bus ticket.  During Jeannette's junior year in highschool, she moves to New York with Lori. With her dad seeing her off, she leaves Welch.

     Lori and Jeannette live in a New York apartment, with both of them having a job, and Jeannette going to school. Lori and Jeannette bring Brian to New York to live with them, since things in Welch are not looking up. Jeannette applies to Barnard College, and she gets in. But since she has to pay tuition, she isn't able to live with Lori anymore and finds a place she can stay if she babysits. Three years later,Lori, Brian, and Jeannette decide to move Maureen up to New York to, where she will live with Lori. Rex and Rose Mary move to New York soon after that. When they got kicked out of their apartment, they moved in with Lori. But Lori could not handle her dad, so Rex moved in with Brian. When Lori has to kick her mom out of the apartment, Rex and Rose Mary become homeless. But Rose Mary says it is an adventure. In her final year at Barnard, Rex came through for her by coming up with the extra $1,000.00 she needed for tuition at school. Rex and Rose Mary finally get off of the streets by moving into an abandoned apartment building with a bunch of other people, around the same time that Jeannette not only graduates, but moves in with the guy she has been dating for a couple of years. Jeannette gets married to Eric and they continue to live in New York. Lori has a job as a freelance artist in New York and Brian became a police officer but Maureen is dependant upon her parents. When Rose Mary told Maureen she would have to make her own way in the world, Maureen stabbed her mother. Rose Mary didn't die, but Maureen did go to a hospital. Later, Maureen moved to California. Jeannette finds out that her father is dying, and while talking they bring up the Glass Castle. They said how they never did get to build it, but had a good time planning. Rex later died in the hospital. Jeannette and Eric get divorced, but she marries a guy names John. The book ends with Jeannette inviting everyone over for Thanksgiving. Lori comes with their mom,and Brian with his daughter. The Thanksgiving went smoothly, even though it was one of the first times they had gotten together since Rex died.