The Glass Castle Book Vs Movie

The Glass Castle follows the life of the Walls family, providing insight into their strange, yet non-fictional lives. Both the book and movie portrayals focus specifically on Jeanette, the writer of the novel and the movie’s protagonist. The story starts in New York, focusing on Jeanette’s life as a successful writer living in luxury. She has a seemingly perfect life - until it is interrupted after spotting her homeless parents rifling through the trash as she drove by in a cab. The book and movie go into flashback, telling the story of her rough childhood and the ways in which she and her siblings stuck together to avoid extreme poverty and a lifestyle of nomadity.

In their childhood, the walls children were forced to mature and grow up faster than the average. Although it was evident that the children felt their parents love, their parents were not very fit for raising children (despite the fact that they had four). Rex, the father was an alcoholic, and Rose Mary, their mother, a distracted artist. Their father’s paranoia about the state and organized society, along with his alcoholism and inability to keep a job, leads them to move frequently. With no money and no permanent home, the Walls turn towards Rex’s family

living in Welch, West Virginia for residence.
Welch turns out to be the opposite of a respite - the town is impoverished, segregated, and does not welcome newcomers.

On top of that, Grandma Walls sexually abuses Brian, Jeanette’s younger brother. Jeannette and Lori, fed up with their parent’s irresponsibility, hatch a plan to move to New York. Ultimately, the girls accomplish this, bringing their younger siblings out to live with them. Jeanette gets a job as a writer and marries a wealthy man, becoming the successful woman she set out to be. Feeling abandoned, Rex and Rose Mary move to New York and become squatters in an abandoned building. After her father dies, Jeanette realizes that despite her crazy childhood, part of her thrive on the sense of adventure that her parents instilled in

her.
Surprisingly, the book and the movie were very similar. Of course, it is much more difficult to fit every story into a two hour movie resulting in scenes that were edited or completely left out of the movie depiction. In the movie, Jeanette is engaged to a wealthy financial analyst, David. He has a large role in the film, becoming a source of tension between Jeanette’s past and present. In the book, Jeanette marries a man named Eric. Although he is wealthy like David, he is barely mentioned in the story and does not play a major part in the plot. In the novel, Jeanette’s despair is more tangible. Her mother provides the hope for a stable life as she attend a college course and obtains a teachers degree. She is readily hired into the understaffed schools, but does not help her family’s situation as Rex takes her money for alcohol.
I feel that the movie really glossed over how bad life could be at times. For example, in the book Jeanette tried to paint one of their homes a bright yellow, ultimately failing as a frost completely ruined her hard work. They lived in cold, with no heat, plumbing, electricity, etc., resorting to eating butter and sugar as meals because there was no food. In the movie, the family works to make the house more cheery, painting the house and hanging artwork on the walls. Although life is tough, it is bearable.
Personally, I liked the book more than the movie. Although the movie was very well done, there is nothing like a good book. You cannot feel how the characters are feeling in a movie, there is no explanation for their actions. In addition, you are able to use your imagination to create the scene described. In a movie, everything is given to you and you cannot connect as deeply with the characters and their plights.