Diskworld is one of my go to rereads. I almost always go to it when I need a dose of absurdity, satire, or humor. I usually cycle through The Watch books, Susan, Moist, and the stand alones.

Yeah, I’ve replied this a couple times, but the relationship with the mom in interesting and I don’t understand her at all. The dad’s stories have some balance between him trying to be a good dad and completely screwing things up. The good moments seem genuinely caring or at worst like he’s trying to make up for the bad bits. The moms interactions seem emotionally stunted without a scrap of nurturing in them. When the dad was going through alcohol withdrawal, I dont think there was any comfort from the mom at all. All of the “good” moments with the mom also seem a bit self serving. Even celebrating Christmas on Christmas was more for her than for the kids.

I wonder if the way she is portrayed is most indicative of the author’s relationship with her mom or her moms true self. Probably both.

The summary looks interesting. It’s on my list now. I had to laugh. The title of the first review on audible is “The Subtitle Should Be ‘Diary of a Mad Housewife’”.

I love books about flawed people and clashing life perspectives.

Yeah. I don’t understand the mom at all. Narcissism, bipolar, and hoarding disorders maybe? The dad have a lot of humanity along with the demons of addiction. The mom, on the other hand, was constantly either self absorbed or completely off the wall.

One of the things I wish I could understand is why someone who supposedly had grand detailed plans to build a “Glass Castle” couldn’t do something as simple as fixing the steps up to the house or insulating the roof. Even a bad attempt?

By all descriptions, he was fairly clever and decent with his hands. I think at least some of that was unearned boast, but a resourceful person can do a lot with a little knowledge and the time. (Even if the end result doesn’t necessarily meet safety regulations.)

The author’s caretaker streak seems to be an interesting effect of her childhood. She cared for her family and her mom then and continues to do so.

I wish I could understand her mother a little better though. Jeanette shares a lot of positive stories about her father that display both sides of him, but most of her mothers interactions seem either self serving or completely off the wall. There’s a streak of narcissism, but it has to be more than that. Hoarding explains her inability to let things go. Bipolar possibly explains the swings in mood and lack of touch with reality. I don’t know. Just wish I could understand her.

If you look the author up on YouTube, there are a couple videos that have her mom in them and some of her paintings. It brings a new perspective on the futility of her aspirations towards art. They aren’t bad exactly, but also aren’t anything spectacular. If she had any ability to balance, the mom should have been able to work a job and paint as a hobby to make her happy. But that’s a rational brain speaking.

I had a feeling it was coming from the moment she mentioned buying it. I almost thought they were in the clear. Then the shoe dropped. The dads reaction to being called out…the gall. Especially after going on a multiple day binge. I was pacing in my living room coming up with ways to chew him out. (Not that it would have helped anything.)

It’s really hard to juxtapose that man with the one who gave her 1k to help with college. I do think he loved his family. He just didn’t have the capacity to be a decent human being the rest of the time.

Thank you for mentioning Half Broke Horses. I was actually really curious if it was worth a read.

I’ve worked with kids that come from disadvantaged and neglectful backgrounds, so it makes me quite mad when parents do preventable damage to their kids. I do not have any personal experience though which keeps it from hitting uncomfortably close to home.

Some of the stories are infuriating. Like, I wish I could get a window into the parents heads to see how they justified their actions. It takes a special level of cognitive dissonance to be too proud to apply for welfare/accept charity, but not too proud to let your children starve, dig through dumpsters, and sneak chocolate behind their backs.

When I read through Goodreads reviews, there was a lot of criticism towards the author regarding how she framed the story and the innocent nostalgia and love for her parents that was present even after everything they put them through. Personally, I thought it was quite impressive. I suspect that capturing the conflicted emotions was not easy to do. It would be very easy to paint the parents as outright villains, but she found a really good balance.