Colleen W. (communicatrix) reviewed on 7/15/2011 + 2 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

The fascinating-cum-harrowing story of the Walls family: two bohemian/artist parents and the four children they raise in highly unconventional style (to put it mildly). While it's pretty readable from the get-go, it becomes compulsively so a little under halfway through, when a downturn in the family fortunes sends them back to rural West Virginia. Not sure what the takeaway here is, other than "boy, people are resilient" or maybe "boy, people can sure be different"a reveal about Walls' mother toward the end of the book blew my doors off. And perhaps some of one's fascination is purely of the morbid variety. But if nothing else, if you come from some flavor of screwed-up, middle-class, whitey background, you'll walk away with a much keener appreciation for your own particular blessings. Like, say, running water.

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