The Glass Castle

Jeannette and her family’s new home is massive by any standard, containing 14 rooms. Mom converts the two front rooms into the R.M. Walls Art Studio. The kids attend a public school called Emerson where they are all in gifted classes. Dad joins the local electricians’ union and lands a job easily amid Phoenix’s booming economy.

Their new life isn’t one of total luxury, however. The house is infested with cockroaches and termites, and before long the living room floor looks like Swiss cheese. Dad does little to address the termite problem aside from hammering his empty beer cans into the holes in the floor.

At night, Mom and Dad refuse to close the windows, insisting that the kids need fresh air. One night, a man climbs through the window and rubs his hands on Jeannette’s genitals while she sleeps. Brian chases the man off with a hatchet, but still Dad and Mom insist on keeping the windows open.

Despite her anti-authority bent, Mom thinks of herself as a devout Catholic. Most Sundays, she takes the kids to mass. The family finds little sense of community there, however, thanks to Dad’s frequent heckling of the priest.