By Jeannette WallI can't remember the last time a book made me this angry. There was a steady stream of screaming going on in my head most of the time that I was reading this book. Wall's account of her childhood growing up with two "nonconformist" parents with a case of the wanderlust. Wall's formative years are spent sleeping under the stars, reading poetry and She sees the world through rose colored glasses that make her childhood seem to cling to a certain magic despite less than ideal conditions. Actually scratch that, terrible conditions. After the age of about ten things spiral downward into a heart breaking story of abuse and neglect. It was one terrible thing after another. One story of her parents letting her down after another. It would send me into a personal rant about some people not deserving to be parents. The injustice of good parents struggling to have children when some people CHOOSE not to take care of their children, expose them to abuse and don't even give them the basic necessities of life. Bad things do happen to good people but sometimes crappy parents just make sure bad things happen to their kids.
I was inspired by Wall's siblings ability to rise to the occasion and care for each other. There is a certain nobility in taking care of those you love. In cheering for each other they were able to drag each other up from the mire. There is a certain hopefulness and testimony to the unbreakable nature of the human spirit that I did love. I just felt more angry that they had to struggle so hard to get there.
I didn't end up quite as angry with the father, Rex. I think partly because he was repeating a terrible pattern of addiction, abuse and neglect that had been inflicted on him from childhood. I still think he was a good for nothing, selfish poor excuse for a father regardless. I do believe he loved his children. The mother, Rose Mary mostly because I think she had the most options in this book. She came from a nice family, inherited an actual home, could have left her husband, chose not to work etc. **Spoiler Alert*** When I found out that she owned over a million dollars in property that she never cashed in on, not even when her children were starving and living in squalor, I WAS OUTRAGED. I'd really like to write her off as mentally ill but I don't believe that. My impression is that she chose the life she has. I just can't fathom that she chose it for her children. She has the resources to get out and she just didn't do it. I believe sometimes people fall on hard times, sometimes they make mistakes but I cannot for the life of me understand why someone who had options would live in squalor. I think I might be forced to read Wall's second book on her mother just to try and understand.
I was pleased to read that most of the children made something of themselves. They are well educated, interesting adults with mostly happy lives. Overall I feel exhausted and lazy just reading through everything in this book.
2 comments:
I had very similar feeling when I read that book. I didn't know she wrote a second book. I need to read that.
Half Broke Horses is about Jeannette's mother's mother, Lily Casey, but it does shed some light on Rose Mary in the last part of the book. A very good read. I'd highly recommend it.
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