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Quick answer: Good discussion questions for The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls focus on growing up with brilliant but neglectful parents, poverty, resilience, loyalty and forgiveness, and Rex Walls’s unfulfilled dream of building a glass castle. Below are 17 questions grouped by theme, plus a spoiler-free summary.
Quick facts
Author: Jeannette Walls
Published: 2005
Genre: memoir
Setting: Arizona, California, Battle Mountain in Nevada, Welch in West Virginia and New York City, 1960s–1990s
Adaptation: 2017 film starring Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson
Content note: child neglect, alcoholism, hunger and attempted sexual abuse
The Glass Castle is one of the most popular book club memoirs ever written, and for good reason. Jeannette Walls describes a childhood of constant moves, hunger and danger with surprising warmth and almost no self-pity. Her father dazzles and terrifies; her mother is an artist who refuses to act like a parent. Members always disagree about how to judge Rex and Rose Mary, which makes for a great meeting. This guide includes a spoiler-free summary, characters and themes, and 17 discussion questions grouped by theme. The questions contain spoilers.
Table of Contents
Spoiler-Free Summary
Jeannette Walls opens with a scene in New York: riding in a taxi, she spots her mother digging through a dumpster. Then she goes back to the beginning.
As a young child, Jeannette and her siblings, Lori, Brian and later Maureen, move from one desert town to another with their parents. Rex Walls is charming, brilliant and full of big plans, including a solar-powered glass castle he promises to build for the family. He also drinks. Rose Mary Walls is a free-spirited painter who would rather make art than cook.
When money runs out, the family moves to Rex’s hometown of Welch, West Virginia, where things get much harder. The children learn to rely on each other, and eventually, one by one, they make plans to escape to New York.
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Main Characters and Themes
| Character or Theme | What to Know |
|---|---|
| Jeannette Walls | The author, who tells her childhood story with clear eyes |
| Rex Walls | Her brilliant, charming, alcoholic father |
| Rose Mary Walls | Her artistic mother, who resists responsibility |
| Lori | The oldest sister, who escapes to New York first |
| Brian | Jeannette’s loyal younger brother |
| Maureen | The youngest, who struggles most later in life |
| Erma Walls | Rex’s mother in Welch |
| The glass castle | Rex’s dream, and a symbol of broken promises |
| Resilience | How the children survive and thrive |
| Forgiveness | Whether and how to love flawed parents |
Discussion Questions (Contains Spoilers)
Opening and Early Years
- Why do you think Walls opens with the scene of her mother in the dumpster?
- Three-year-old Jeannette is badly burned while cooking hot dogs. What did that scene tell you about her parents?
- How do the children describe their early adventures? When did you see them as neglect?
Rex Walls
- What makes Rex so magnetic to his children?
- What did the glass castle mean to Rex, and to Jeannette?
- The “Demon Hunting” stories and the gift of a star at Christmas are both tender and sad. Which moment with Rex stuck with you?
- Did you end up loving, pitying or resenting Rex?
Rose Mary Walls
- How would you describe Rose Mary as a mother?
- Rose Mary owns land worth a lot of money but lets the family go hungry. How did you react?
- Do you think Rose Mary’s choices were selfish, or something more complicated?
Welch and the Siblings
- How do Lori, Jeannette and Brian protect each other?
- What does the family’s house in Welch show about their decline?
- Why do you think Maureen’s path was so different?
Writing a Memoir
- Walls describes painful events without judgment. Why do you think she chose that tone?
- How do you think Jeannette’s parents felt about her telling this story?
- What does the final Thanksgiving scene suggest about family and forgiveness?
- How does your own family’s story shape how you read this book?
Is The Glass Castle a Good Book Club Pick?
Choose it if your group likes memoirs that read like novels. It’s under 300 pages, moves fast and almost always sparks strong opinions. It’s a good fit for mixed groups because the writing is plain and vivid. Some scenes involving neglect and abuse are upsetting, so a heads-up helps. Members who have read Educated will want to compare the two, which can fill a whole second meeting.
Book Club Ideas for The Glass Castle
- Draw the glass castle: sketch what Rex’s dream house might have looked like.
- Bring a “gift star”: a paper star, like the one Rex gives Jeannette for Christmas.
- Talk about resilience: what helped you through a hard season growing up?
- Watch the film trailer and compare it with your picture of the family.
- Serve simple comfort food, since the kids went hungry so often, and talk about what home means.
Books Like The Glass Castle
If your group loved it, try Educated by Tara Westover for another memoir of survival and self-invention, The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr for a funny, painful Texas childhood, or Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls for her grandmother’s story.
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How to Structure Your Meeting
Start by asking whether each member felt more anger or more love toward Rex Walls by the end. Then work through two or three questions from each theme above, saving the “big picture” questions for the end. If your group is large, split into pairs for one theme and report back.
A simple 90-minute plan:
- 0–15 minutes: food, catch-up and the opening question.
- 15–60 minutes: the discussion questions, theme by theme.
- 60–75 minutes: one of the book club ideas above, or a quick comparison with the adaptation if there is one.
- 75–90 minutes: everyone rates the book out of five in one sentence, then you pick next month’s read.
Related: Educated book club discussion questions and the best memoir books for book clubs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Glass Castle about?
It’s Jeannette Walls’s memoir of growing up poor and often hungry with a brilliant, alcoholic father and an artistic mother, and of escaping to build her own life in New York.
Is The Glass Castle a true story?
Yes. It’s a memoir of Jeannette Walls’s real childhood, published in 2005.
Is The Glass Castle good for book clubs?
Yes. It’s short and readable, and groups always debate how to judge her parents.
What does the glass castle symbolize?
It’s the solar-powered house Rex promises to build, and it stands for his dreams and broken promises.