Five of us enjoyed discussing our latest read: a memoir that
tells the story of Jeanette’s upbringing by Rex, her alcoholic father, and Rose
Mary, her mother who is an artist and a hoarder. Our mutual enjoyment of this
book set the tone for our discussion which was quite ‘exploratory.’
We welcome 'virtual' members to our group and, for this meeting, we had email and text input from two members who at last
minute couldn’t make the date. One loved the book (as did everyone else) and
one didn’t. Here’s what they had to say:
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| Incoming text during our meeting |
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| e-mail received before our meeting |
The story tells of a family of six and from the very start
it is clear there is something ‘different’ about the parenting. First
impressions led some of us to believe they had a life of adventure, freedom,
ideology. Possibly in many ways it was all that and more. The ‘more’ is the bit
that Jeanette recalls and most of us feel she did that very well. Perhaps though,
as our ‘text’ member feels, she may have overdone the hard-life bit and glossed
over happier times? Life in the 60’s and 70’s was poorer, harder, simpler,
colder, and hungrier after all. Most of us feel that Jeanette chose to present
her childhood as she did for good reason, and that she did it very well.
As the tale unfolds it becomes clear that Rex, though highly
intelligent (even intellectual), has gambling and alcohol issues. Rose Mary is
a qualified teacher who chooses not to teach but to focus instead on her art. Neither
of the parents prioritise income, home comforts, feeding or clothing the
children. Rex does, however, dream of one day ‘getting’ enough money to build a
‘Glass Castle’ in which they can all live and he has even drawn the plans. Rose
Mary is going to be a sought after artist, if only she can bear to part with
some of her paintings!
Running from debt or simply needing a new adventure the
family travel from state to state living in trailers, cars, an old station, Rose
Mary’s mother’s home, Rex’s parent’s home and a dilapidated wooden shack. It is
hard to imagine that any of these places could be regarded as home for the
family. The children are poorly clothed. Their clothes (and bodies) are dirty and
they frequently resort to scavenging to feed themselves. Of necessity they are
a highly self-sufficient, mutually supporting group who share what they have
and survive.
That said, the strength of family bonds shines through and
the family remains a strong unit. We talked about how love conquers all. It didn’t
matter to the children how badly their parents brought them up, they still loved
them. The relationship between Jeanette and her father was of doting father and
loving daughter. Lori was the perfect big sister. Brian the fun loving little
brother and everyone adored Maureen (including the neighbours with whom she
found her own way to survive by spending time in their households enjoying their
hospitality – food and warmth was easily found for Maureen.). We were left
unsure about how the children felt about Rose Mary – she was, after all a mother
who did very little for her children and who put herself first when
opportunities arise.
Jeanette had her trust in her father shaken on more than one
occasion but, when he asked ‘have I ever let you down?’ she couldn’t tell him
what she wanted to say because she loved him. With her mother
Jeanette was more honest, direct, frank and open and we were impressed at how
she could do this without being over-emotional and how her mother accepted (and
we think respected her for it). When you ‘listen’ to the conversations between
Jeanette and her mother you can understand the relationship a little better.
And if you want to know more, click on this link. There is a
photo of Jeanette with her mum now and the article expands on the relationship
between mother and daughter.
So, would we recommend this book? Yes. For most of us it is firmly
on our ‘Good Read’ list and for some of us it’s on our ‘Must Read’ list.
Our next book is Chronicle
of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez. We will be discussing this, our Christmas read, on Thursday 21st January at The Hundred, 8pm.
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