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Summer reading pick announced |
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Tuesday, 04 December 2007 |
 The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, has been announced as the Appalachian summer reading book. Photo by Anna Donlan
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by JILLIAN SWORDS
News Reporter
“The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls has been chosen as 2008’s summer reading book, Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock announced this month.
Director of the Summer Reading Program Dr. Emory E. Maiden said the memoir is a stoic look at the author’s nomadic, uprooted raising at the hands of eccentric, troubled parents.
“The committee was very, very impressed with the fact that this is a very successful woman in her field who had such a difficult childhood [and the fact that she had to make such] difficult choices as a young person…[and did so] without residual anger,” Maiden said.
“It explores both the wonders and constraints of growing up in a
difficult family …it’s about managing the choices you make about your
life,” Maiden said in explaining the value of the book to incoming
freshmen, who will be required to read the volume prior to their first
semester at Appalachian.
The book accounts what Walls and her three siblings underwent at the
hands of their parents without playing “the blame game,” Maiden said.
Homelessness, a mentally ill mother and an alcoholic father were only some of the hurdles faced by the children.
Walls matter-of-factly described what it was like to be her parents’
child, from the mortification of coloring her skin with marker so that
holes in her clothes wouldn’t show to hearing time and time again her
mother’s rationalizations that “being homeless is an adventure.”
Junior English major Victoria L. Ajemian is one of the student
representatives on the Summer Reading Program Committee. She read the
book last spring and strongly supported its selection.
“It’s one of those books [where] it was almost like a movie it was so
surreal. You couldn’t believe it was happening,” Ajemian said. “It
shows that diversity isn’t just based on ethnicity…that poverty [isn’t]
just in third world countries—it’s in our backyard and is a situation
that should be addressed with more potency than it is right now.”
The book, however, does not dwell on the more appalling aspects of
Wall’s childhood. Maiden said one of the book’s strongest themes
throughout is the love that held her family together and the respect
she still holds for her parents, who always tried to make the best of
the family’s situations.
Chancellor Peacock noted this as one of the book’s most powerful lessons.
“That word ‘family’ sometimes is bigger than biological connection,”
Peacock said. “Here at the university, the Appalachian family works
together, leans on each other, confides in each other. We set common
goals and look at ways to succeed.”
Walls has been quoted saying she is in some ways thankful for her
childhood, as it allowed her to emerge a strongly self-reliant
individual.
“A very smart woman interviewing me about “The Glass Castle” said that
there’s a school of thought that the most common form of child abuse in
America these days is overindulgence,” Walls said in the interview with
ABC. “I find that just fascinating. A friend of mine, who actually grew
up with great privilege, told me that when she first started reading my
book, she felt really sorry for me. Halfway through, she said, she
started getting jealous. She explained to me I had a sense of
independence…and was able to prove I could do things on my own -
something she never had.”
The book is thoroughly appropriate for incoming freshmen due to the range of issues it addresses, Maiden said.
“It has angles for discussion all across campus,” Maiden said.
“The Glass Castle” won the Christopher Award, the American Library
Association’s Alex Award and the Books for Better Living Award.
Walls will speak at Appalachian’s convocation ceremony Sept. 4, 2008.
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