Queen’s welcomed best-selling author Jeannette Walls to campus as the finale to this year’s Queen’s Reads program. The Glass Castle is a New York Times bestseller and the amazing story of Jeannette Walls’ life.
On September 21, 2013, she shared her story with Queen’s students and residents of Kingston. Her hour-long talk was so popular that it filled Grant Hall with fans.
The Glass Castle is a story of resilience and determination; it is the story of Jeannette Walls’ life. She shares in her story her experiences with hardships. For example, her father was an alcoholic, they never had any money for food or clothes, and they were sometimes homeless. But throughout it all, she never lost her sense of humour or her loyalty to her family.
As she told this story in front of a crowd of more than two hundred people, she occasionally burst out laughing when re-telling something her mother said, got choked up when mentioning her father, and sometimes double-backed and tripped over her own words like she had so many things she couldn’t wait to share. Jeannette Walls was honest about everything –from being forced to dig food out of the trash to going back and visiting her hometown for sole purpose of showing them how far she had come. She admitted that with a sheepish grin and a shrug.
As she weaved in and out of stories from her childhood and gossipy anecdotes, she left her audience with a lesson. Be independent, her stories implied. Be resourceful. Be brave. But her most important lesson was: always be kind. Everyone has something from their past that makes them terrified and ashamed, so respect each other and be gentle.
Another important lesson she teaches is tolerance and forgiveness. If Jeannette Walls were a hard, angry, bitter person, she would have good reason to be. She had a difficult upbringing, and though her parents tried their best and loved her as much as they could, they were often distant or neglectful. Instead, she is open and humble. For instance, at the talk she smiled shyly at the audience as if surprised that they had all turned up just for her. She laughs at herself and her family and clearly loves them all.
Her past could be seen as tragic or as a great adventure. For every drunken fight there was a beautiful painting. For every day without proper schooling was a lesson on Shakespeare and physics. When her parents couldn’t afford Christmas presents, they gifted each child with a star of their choice.
Jeannette Walls is deeply affected by her past, but she also wouldn’t be the same person without it. Every tragedy was a lesson and every betrayal a cause for forgiveness. Everything in life is a matter of perspective, and Jeannette Walls clearly chooses to see life with hope and optimism.
“Life is an Adventure!” she scribbled into the books she signed. But you have to choose to see it that way, and you have to brave enough to take that adventure.