Memoir · Book club
The Glass Castle: A Memoir book club questions
Here are 12 book club questions for The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
The Glass Castle is Jeannette Walls's memoir about growing up as the second of four children in a family that moved constantly across the American Southwest and West Virginia, rarely had enough to eat, and existed almost entirely outside conventional institutions.
Jeannette Walls · 2005 · 5h 15m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 12 questions
- 1.
Walls depicts her father with genuine affection alongside clear-eyed accounts of his failures. Which of the two Rex Walls — the brilliant dreamer or the negligent parent — do you find it harder to hold in mind at the same time?
- 2.
Rose Mary's refusal to prioritize her children's basic needs over her own desires is the detail many readers find hardest to forgive. What, if anything, do you think explains it?
- 3.
Walls describes her childhood as genuinely formative in positive ways — competence, self-reliance, a particular way of seeing the world. Do you think those gains justify or merely complicate the harm?
- 4.
The memoir resists anger in a way that makes some readers uncomfortable. Does Walls's relatively measured tone feel honest to you, or like a kind of self-protection?
- 5.
What does the glass castle itself represent to you by the end of the book? Has its meaning changed from what it seemed to be in the early chapters?
- 6.
The Walls children each respond differently to the same upbringing — some thrive in New York, one returns to the family pattern. What do you think accounts for the different outcomes?
- 7.
Walls was writing about living people, including her mother, who was well aware the book existed. How do you think that constraint shaped what she included and what she left out?
- 8.
Rex teaches Jeannette to swim by throwing her in the water. She describes this as one of his genuine gifts to her. Is that a reasonable interpretation, or is it an example of a survivor reframing harm?
- 9.
At what point in the book, if any, did you think the children should have been removed from the family? What prevented it, and what does that tell you about how the systems around the family worked?
- 10.
Walls maintains a relationship with her parents as an adult, including giving them money. Do you think that was the right choice? What would you have done?
- 11.
The book is often assigned in schools as an inspirational story of resilience. Does that framing fit the book you read, or does it miss something important?
- 12.
Which scene in the memoir stayed with you longest after you finished? What does it say about what the book is actually about?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for The Glass Castle: A Memoir?
Here are 12 book club questions for The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on family dysfunction, resilience, poverty.
How long should a book club discussion of The Glass Castle: A Memoir last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in The Glass Castle: A Memoir?
Family dysfunction, Resilience, Poverty, Identity, Forgiveness. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like The Glass Castle: A Memoir or questions for other book club picks.
