Why didn’t anyone tell me…

Dave: I have 5 books in the queue, but a depressing book will be a morning-only read, leaving the evening for podcasts/re-reads.
Dave: like The Glass Castle was a morning-only reader.
Nate: by Jeanette Walls?
Dave: yeah
Dave: good book, but don’t read it on the way home
Nate: the wikipedia summary makes it look depressing
Dave: well, it depends on how close you were to people that lived like that
Dave: in my town, it was all around you
Dave: so to me, it was her victory dance. She got through it, survived, and left. In every way it felt like me leaving my hometown and getting away. I didn’t live in squalor with drunks and weirdos, but I was just as trapped as she was at various points.
…
Dave: one thing I did like about it was how she didn’t make it feel like she was harping on about how bad things were. it really just felt like her recalling stories. some were funny, some mean, some depressing, some sweet, and the tone of the whole was desparate motivation to better her life.
Dave: and how every time she tried, her parents shut her down, right up until she left
Nate: that’s great. I hate the “everything sucked” toned books/stories.
Dave: and even some of the time after she was established on her own, how her parents became homeless and refused to get proper help, etc. there was a great moment when she was taking an economics class and the teacher asked why people are homeless. her response was that some people choose it. teacher freaks out and challenges her:
Nate: heh. except that her parents did just that.
Dave: “what do you know about it? how could they want that?” author’s response was one of fear – saying sorry, i guessed wrong – because she feared her friends would find out her parents were homeless and chose to be so voluntarily
Dave: so no one-sided characters. the deadbeat dad loves his kids desparately but refuses to give up the bottle, but does some truly sweet things for them. the mom is just nuts, i guess that never changes, but the kids get a lot of depth.
* Dave will probably have to paste this whole thing in the blog
Nate: just a little clean up and it becomes a nice little book review.