Jeanette Walls has again taken us to a small southern town
where dysfunction abounds. At the center
of her story are twelve year old Bean, the narrator, her fifteen year old
sister, Liz, and their poor excuse for a mother, Charlotte. The story opens in California where Charlotte
is still trying to get her big break in music at the age of 36. Bean and Liz are her daughters by two
different men. Bean’s father died before
she was born. Charlotte has again left
them alone for a few days in their rented house in the California desert while
she goes to auditions in L.A. They are
left with about twenty frozen chicken pot pies which is one of their favorite
meals. Liz makes certain than Bean eats,
attends school, and has sufficient clothing, school supplies etc. Charlotte has been gone longer than usual,
and Liz is worried. Charlotte does
return after a few days, but she has again been disappointed by her
options. Her money is running out and
she is concerned about her next move. The phone and other services have been turned
off for non-payment of bills, and she has been late on the rent payments. Clearly, she is unstable and troubled. She seems to suffer from manic
depression. Yet she leaves them once
again and returns after a few days with an imaginary or made up boyfriend who
is going to be her entrée to the music industry. Once the reality surfaces and
her daughter, Bean confronts her, she has a melt down. She disappears again for days. This time the
girls have no idea when she will return.
They also don’t have any money.
They scrounge for money working at any odd job or task that will keep
them in pot pies and school supplies.
Someone notices their situation and calls the authorities. The girls are aware that social services is
likely to take them and put them in foster care. Instead they pool their money and buy bus
tickets to Byler, Virginia, their mother’s small southern home town. There they have an uncle Tinsley, their
mother’s brother. They do not phone him
ahead of time and simply show up at his door.
Once they arrive they learn that his wife, Martha, died a few years
earlier and he was on his own. After a
few sketchy days, he takes them in.
Previous to this, Liz had been in charge. She was beautiful with strawberry blond hair,
and she was tall and slender. She was
also considered gifted in school and was deemed a child prodigy by some of the
teachers.
At one time the Holladay family who owned the textile mill
which was the chief employer in the town was wealthy. They lived in the biggest house and were the
most admired family in the town. However, the mill was struggling. The Holladay family sold it to a national
outfit and Tinsley became an employee of the mill. The mill continued to fail and Tinsley was
replaced. He has fallen on hard economic
times and the condition of the house shows it.
Repairs and upkeep have been neglected. He survives on venison which he
hunts and farm products much of which he gets by trading extra venison or
pasturing privileges. His farm also has
orchards and gardens where fruit and vegetables can be harvested. It also appears that uncle Tinsley is a pack
rat and cannot throw anything out. The
house is cluttered with papers and other detritus. In order to “earn” their keep the girls begin
cleaning up the house. They organize the
clutter, weed the garden, help clean out the gutters, paint what needs to be
painted, and dust and vacuum the house in the hopes that their uncle will not
throw them out. Because they have an
irresponsible mother who has abandoned them, they are in a very precarious
position. Realizing that they will need
money for school clothes, they look for and obtain jobs against their uncle’s
advice. He has no idea they are working.
Liz is acting as a secretary and Bean is babysitting for a powerful and cruel
plant foreman brought in by the new owners.
They attend school in Byler and make a more stable place for themselves
with their uncle. Bean becomes the
dominant sister who suddenly becomes her older sister’s support. This is the story of that year in their
lives.
I loved the story and for me it was a page turner. It is a quick read that is a good companion
for a vacation. The story is told
lovingly and tenderly. The author knows these
kinds of flawed characters. She
recognizes their flaws but loves them just the same. She accepts them as they are, and understands
their deficits. However, she also
realizes that there are consequences to their emotional instability, failure to
plan their futures properly, and failure to parent. She illustrates the consequences which can be
tragic for the children involved. She
does not excuse them from responsibility for the hardships they create for
others who are often their offspring.
However, she is neither angry nor vengeful. The children still long for and love their
mother and hope to have her in their lives.
However, they realize that she cannot care for them, and they seek their
best alternative on their own. This is
not so different from the author’s own story, The Glass Castle.
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