We were all moved by this autobiographical story of a very nomadic and unusual childhood. Jeanette Walls' parents could be described as unconventional at best and narcissistic and abusive at worst. She tells of how they were always on the move (usually because her father had got himself into some kind of trouble) through her early childhood, the 4 children and their parents from one depressing hicksville town to another, via sojourns in the desert. On the positive side, the children learned to make do with almost no material possessions and to be incredibly in tune with the natural world, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of nature. They learned to be more self sufficient than we can easily imagine, given the cossetted nature of our own childrens' lives. We were taken aback by the resilience of the children, when they were often cold, hungry and in physical danger. There were comments that the author's lack of obvious judgement of her parents became a bit hard to believe and also that the denoement of the novel was weak, with us having little insight into how she and her siblings managed to carve out such successful lives in New York. However, these were relatively minor criticisms and overall this is highly recommended.
Some of us also really liked the playful and happy way she described her sometimes tragic episodes in her early childhood, without any trace of bitterness. The way she saw it all like an adventure and never felt neglected in her early childhood, even though she clearly was in many ways. On an educational point of view they really did an amazing job, leaving some of us feeling a bit short changed as parents. Personally i felt like a very good mother reading about how Jennette's mum was. That is always a good thing in my view.
The Butter nut squash Soup was made by Roo and delicous. Present was Annelie, Tziching, Ulrika, Roo, Katheryn, Clair and for th efirst time Veena and Bavani.
Rating 4 out of 5.
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