Outside Reading Book Post #1

Blog #1 pg. 1-42 The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The story starts off with the main character, Jeanette, sitting in a taxi driving to a party. On her way she looks over to see her mom digging through a dumpster for any useful items. This brings the main character to re-tell the story of how her parents and her family went from a well-off life to rags and living on the streets.
The first recalled memory of Jeanette occured when she was 3. She was trying to make herself a hotdog by putting it in boiling water. She ended up burning more than half of her body. Jeanette was taken to the hospital where she was bandaged and recovered. Her father, Rex Walls, was not happy with her staying in the hospital for very long so one day he came and took her out without nurse's permission.
Next, one random night Rex came and woke up their family from bed, he told them it was time to leave so they packed what they could in the car and left. Their first stop was her grandmother's house in Pheonex, Arizona. Rex and her grandmother got into an arguement one night and ended up leaving. The family drove from town to town sleeping in a sandy desert or a cheap motel. One of the most detailed stops of their adventure was Las Vegas where Rex had found a way to rig the system of blackjack and ended up winning a lot of money. The Wall's family lived a life of the riches for the time spent in Las Vegas; but eventually the casinos caught on to his scam and chased the Wall's out of Nevada. The next stop on their drive was San Fransisco. Rex got a job in the mines.
The next and last portion of my book so far was about the Wall's family christmas spent in a cheap motel in the desert. The family had no money for presents so Rex (an admireror of astronomy) took each of his 3 kids out to pick out a star for Christmas. This was his way of giving his children something for Christmas.

REACTION:
So far I think that the story is really interesting. I'm just starting to get to know the characters by the things they say and the actions they make. The one thing that stands out to me is how mature that Jeanette is. At the age of three she was boiling her own water to make herself lunch. And also living in a car at the age of five. I think that it shows extreme maturity. I predict that the family finally finds a place to live and that Rex's alcoholism gets worse. And the alcohol is what leads the Wall's family to poverty.