What Is The Difference Between The Glass Castle Book And Movie

The film adaptation of The Glass Castle was released on the 11th of August, 2017. It stared Brie Larson as Jeanette Walls, Woody Harrelson as her father (Rex Walls), and Naomi Watts as her mother (Rose Mary), just to name a few of the more well-known actors in the production. The Glass Castle was written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Jeannette Walls and Andrew Lanham also assisted in the writing the of the movie.
I found the movie deviated from my expectations and didn’t at all measure up to the beautiful book it was based on. The movie was completely out of order, glosses over some important information, or leaves it out altogether.
When reviewing a movie you do of course have to understand the changes that will happen

between the book to the written screenplay, but there are things that can be helped, like putting events in order and keeping key details. Fortunately for my assigned scene most of the key details were there, even if it wasn't in order and had a few things changed.
My assigned scene was when Jeanette was forced to learn how to swim. In the book, Jeanette states, "[Dad] announced that we were going swimming at the Hot Pot. The Hot Pot was a natural sulfur spring in the desert north of town" (Pg. 65). In the movie adaptation, the Walls go to a local swimming pool instead of the hot springs, they also go to the swimming pool while they're living in Welch when in the book they're still in Battle Mountain when Jeanette learns to swim. This would change the setting and tone, but only a little, not enough to significantly change anything.
Jeannette also states in the book that "But the Hot Pot didn't have any neat edges like that of a swimming pool. There was nothing to cling to" (65). In the movie, since they're at the pool and not the springs, it's easy to throw this little bit of info away. Though it doesn't have that much impact on the overall plot of the scene, it would have been nice to see that in the final movie.
Thankfully most of the lines in the scene are similar to or exactly like the lines in the book.

Unfortunately the characterization of Rose Mary and Rex and not exactly like the book. In the book, Jeannette reveals that "Mom [had] been floating on her back as if nothing were happening" (66). In the movie, Rose Mary actively tries to tell Rex to stop and is angry after the whole event, though mostly because they had to leave the pool early.
Looking at the movie as a whole in comparison to the book, it is out of order and the movie really isn't as dark as it could have been. The glossed over a lot of information like her journalism as a student in high school and how much that meant to her, her mother's abuse, and her relationship with Jack at the very end of the book.
All of this can easily be overlooked if you're looking at the movie solely and ignoring the book. But if you're using this movie as part of your curriculum regarding the book, it really doesn't do The Glass Castle (book) or Jeannette's story any justice in my opinion.
Jeannette Walls herself believed the movie to do justice to her life, and who else but the author herself can better make that judgment. If she believes it to do justice than no one else's opinion really

matters?
The Atlantic's Article, The Trouble with Making Books We Love into Movies, sums up my experience with The Glass Castle best; "The relationship we have with the book is personal and special; the relationship we have with the movie is more distanced from that, more passive". I didn't particularly care for the movie adaptation because the book was so personal to me, but if it's good enough for the author, it's good enough for me.