History Literature / TheGlassCastle

* SecretMessageWink: In one instance of shoplifting, Rose Mary is complaining in the background about a pirce, while winking along the side to Jeanette to let her know to cause a distraction.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: Doubles as DysfunctionalFamily. There is no part in the book where the Walls family has really stability and security. And when they get a taste of it, it doesn't long long.

* WomanChild: Rose Mary. Jeannette mentions how much her mother cries like a five-year-old and how she doesn't act the way a mother should.

* AllMenAreRapists: At least seven males had sexually molested Jeannette. All of them older than her.

* WomanChild: Rose Mary. Jeannette mentions how much her mother cries like a five-year-old and how she doesn't act the way a mother should.
* YourCheatingHeart: Rex visits prostitutes on the side.

* BlackBestFriend: Dinitia becomes the closest thing to a friend that Jeannette gets, inviting her to a day at the pool that Jeannette later calls the most fun she had in Welch. Due to the area's heavily racist environment though, their friendship doesn't last long, and Dinitia ends up heading down a bad path that fortunately Jeannette did not end up getting very prominently featured in.

* TeenPregnancy: [[spoiler: Jeannette's temporary BlackBestFriend, Dinitia, gets pregnant.]]

* LiesToChildren: Rex pretends the Feds are after them and Rose Mary makes excuses for their poor lifestyle. Most of the children (especially Lori and Brian) cotton-on quickly.

[[Film/TheGlassCastle A film adaptation]] is scheduled for release in August of 2017.

* AbusiveParents: While both parents for the most part avoided physically harming their children out of anger at their full capacities, Rex caused quite a bit commotion every time he came home drunk and destroyed the house. Rose Mary also found herself in slumps every now and then in Welch, which occasionally constituted to her throwing things at her children. Also their methods of parenting go beyond being extremely questionable, and as stated above, the children ended up taking care of themselves throughout their childhood far more than their parents did.
** It's implied that Rex's mom was sexually abusive towards him as a kid.
* TheAlcoholic: Rex becomes this supposedly after the death of his infant daughter Mary. The effects of his alcoholism prove disastrous for his family.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Lori and Jeanette don't have many friends for being poor, smelly, skinny, and all-around more intelligent than the other children at their various homes. In Welch they're also made fun of for their artistic skills/tastes while everyone else at their school is concerned mainly with sports.

* AffectionateNickname: Rex nicknames Jeanette "Mountain Goat."

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Lori and Jeanette don't have many friends for being poor, smelly, skinny, and all-around more intelligent than the other children.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Jeanette's mom, Rose Mary. She probably has some sort of Bipolar Disorder going on because on some weeks she's very jovial and giddy, but by the next week she won't even get out of bed while sobbing hysterically. Then, once again, her depression then turns into happiness and vice versa. She also shows plenty of signs of being TheSociopath.

* BigScrewedUpFamily
* BlackBestFriend: Dinitia becomes the closest thing to a friend that Jeannette gets, inviting her to a day at the pool that Jeanette later calls the most fun she had in Welch. Due to the area's heavily racist environment though, their friendship doesn't last long, and Dinitia ends up heading down a bad path that fortunately Jeanette did not end up getting very prominently featured in.

* BracesOfOrthodonticOverkill: After finding out about how expensive braces are, Jeanette makes her own homemade braces with rubber bands and coat hangers that she wraps around her head when she goes to bed.
* BrokenAce: Jeanette, Lori, and Rex.
* BrokenPedestal: Jeanette's adoration for her father is slowly eroded throughout the book.
* BrotherSisterTeam: Jeanette and Brian are always protecting each other and fighting with others together, such as against the bullies and while living in New York.

* CoolBigSis: Brian sees this in his older sisters. Especially Jeanette.

* DaddysGirl: Played straight with Jeanette and Rex in the beginning, but then {{Deconstructed}} once she got older. Rex began using her love to his advantage by [[TheCharmer manipulating her]] into giving him money to buy beer and cigarettes because he knows that she won't say "no" to her father.

* DontSplitUsUp: Jeanette fears this when she is approached by a government official asking to see one of her parents. She's more afraid of the government taking her and her siblings away and splitting them up into different families than she is of missing her abusive parents.
* DysfunctionalFamily

* FreakOut: Maureen attacks her mother with a knife when her mother tries to kick her out. Her mom explains to Jeanette that the reason she did that was because all Maureen ever wanted was to be loved.

** ParentalNeglect: The kids end up taking care of themselves more than their parents do. A noteworthy example of this trope comes to mind in Welch when Jeanette is approached by a government official asking to see one of her parents, neither of which are home.

* IAmNotMyFather: Played with. Jeanette, Lori and Brian deliberately choose their adult life (as a gossip columnist, illustrator and policeman) to be as different from their parents and childhood as possible. However, Jeanette eventually acknowledges she and her father share similarities and is much healthier and happier after doing so.

* LowerClassLout

* MundaneLuxury: Lori and Jeanette move to a crime-ridden, blighted area in the Bronx but they have regular heat, water and electricity and minimum-wage service jobs. It's leagues better than Welch.

* PromotionToParent: Since their parents are usually stuck in their own problems, Jeanette and Lori are the ones who act as the parents of the house once they get older.

* SecondLove: Jeanette divorces her first husband, Eric, because she thought he wasn't the right man for her. Later on she meets John, who [[BirdsOfAFeather shares plenty of the same interests and life experiences as she does.]]
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Jeanette is worried that she'll marry a reckless guy like her father. Therefore, she only shows interest in [[NiceGuy nice, normal guys.]]

* TeenPregnancy: [[spoiler: Jeanette's temporary BlackBestFriend, Dinitia, gets pregnant.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodSandwich: Jeanette doesn't get why kids in her school toss out all their perfectly good food which she would retrieve for herself to eat when girls threw their food away in the girl's bathroom.
* WomanChild: Rose Mary. Jeanette mentions how much her mother cries like a five-year-old and how she doesn't act the way a mother should.

* WomanChild: Rose Mary. Jeanette mentions how much her mother cries like a five-year-old and how she doesn't act the way a mother should.

** Rex joined the airforce to leave his mother and his town only do end up an alcoholic, abusive parent and be forced to move in with Erma in Welch. It's at that point he seems to give up.

It was announced in 2013 that Creator/{{Paramount}} had bought film rights to the book, which would be actress Creator/JenniferLawrence's first producing endeavor in addition to her signing up to play Jeannette Walls. She later dropped out of the project and was replaced by Creator/BrieLarson. Creator/NaomiWatts and Creator/WoodyHarrelson are playing Rose Mary and Rex Walls respectively.

It was announced in 2013 that Creator/{{Paramount}} had bought film rights to the book, which would be actress Creator/JenniferLawrence's first producing endeavor in addition to her signing up to play Jeannette Walls. She later dropped out of the project and was replaced by BrieLarson. NaomiWatts and WoodyHarrelson are playing Rose Mary and Rex Walls respectively.

It was announced in 2013 that Creator/{{Paramount}} had bought film rights to the book, which would be actress Creator/JenniferLawrence's first producing endeavor in addition to her signing up to play Jeannette Walls. She later dropped out of the project and was replaced by Creater/BrieLarson. Creator/NaomiWatts and Creator/WoodyHarrelson are playing Rose Mary and Rex Walls respectively.

It was announced in 2013 that Creator/{{Paramount}} had bought film rights to the book, which would be actress Creator/JenniferLawrence's first producing endeavor in addition to her signing up to play Jeannette Walls. Creator/ClaireDanes and Creator/MarkRuffalo also have been cast as Rose Mary and Rex Walls respectively.

It was announced in 2013 that ParamountPictures had bought film rights to the book, which would be actress Creator/JenniferLawrence's first producing endeavor in addition to her signing up to play Jeannette Walls. Creator/ClaireDanes and Creator/MarkRuffalo also have been cast as Rose Mary and Rex Walls respectively.