I really enjoyed this dark, gothic book! I loved the narration and that the main character was a young, spunky child. This choice added depth and voice to the tale, helping me truly feel for the characters. At times this book was filled with the lightness of childhood and others extreme darkness. I also was swept away by the setting, truly feeling the south and craving summer days. The characters in this book were so varied! From captivating, frustrating horrifying and endearing, they all had st...

Jeannette Walls wrote two fabulous memoirs – The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses. I devoured them both in a couple of days. Half Broke Horses is the tale of her incredible grandmother, and The Glass Castle is the tale of Walls’ own life, growing up with her “eccentric” mother and alcoholic father. Both books were extremely well-written and fantastic reads, despite the sad and unnerving stories of the emotional abuse. So I was quite excited to be reading an advanced copy of her new book, a fic...

I’m a fan of Jeanette Walls. Her memoir, The Glass Castle, is a book that keeps popping up into my consciousness every now and then at very odd times. I think that is a mark of a really great book. Though I really enjoyed The Silver Star, I don’t foresee the same thing happening.Sisters, Bean and Liz Holladay have the misfortune of being the daughters of a supremely flakey mother, Charlotte, who doesn’t see a problem leaving a 12 and 15 year old home alone for weeks at a time. She has to find he...

3.5 stars. A good story by a gifted writer, but I expected much better. I liked Bean a lot but the rest of the characters seem pale by comparison and the story feels almost too easy.

I am huge fan of Jeannette Walls (hence the generous three stars), but this book fell flat. It seemed contrived and predictable. From the characters, to the plot, the entire book read like a symphony composed of only one note. There was nothing special, surprising or unique about this book. I still love JW and will read her next book. If you read this one, borrow it from a friend or check it out at the library.

After having read Ms Walls' first two novels, this one was a disappointment. The writing and the story telling was simplistic and probably makes for an ok YA novel. This author does seem quite focused on someone being a bad parent and one would guess after the experiences she and her siblings went through that that makes sense.This was certainly an easy quick read, however, it was not very inspiring. On the plus side, it did show the resiliency of sisters and one of family ties that oftentimes s...

It’s been a weird year, you guys. I bleached my hair blonde again, and if I haven’t mentioned it before, people say the most ridiculous stuff to blondes. It’s crazy. It’s like people are standing in line to make idiots out of themselves if you have blonde hair. Blondes, you guys have to dye your hair brown for a while. Just do it to see what life is like on the other side. It’s real different. You can go places and not have people be asses to you. Samples of some of the weird things people have

3.5 stars This was a very quick, enjoyable read. It definitely gave me similar vibes as The Glass Castle and White Oleander, but my one complaint is that it seemed to lack the depth that those books had. Though it approached serious topics with care, it didn't seem to analyze them enough for me. It felt very surface-level. Nonetheless, I enjoy Walls' writing style and it would be a good pick for people who read a lot of YA and might want to tread into adult literary fiction.

I read the book in a day and was left longing to know more about the sisters lives as they grew older. Mrs Walls has again given me a book that keeps me thinking about the people you meet in life and their story. I had the great opportunity of hearing Mrs. Walls speak a couple of years ago, she encouraged everyone to write their story.....what an inspiration she is!

The Glass Castle is one of my favorite books and I enjoyed Half Broke Horses, but I was not a fan of Silver Star. In my opinion, the further Jeannette Walls strays from telling a story that is her own, the worse the story. While I know she has gone through some terrible situations in her own life, I don't think creating new ones through fiction is her strength. She did a great job of creating the characters in Silver Star and the problems that went with the characters, but the book never really

Curiosity kicked in when I first read the title of this book and I included this right away in my to-read list. I've read some not-so-good reviews here regarding this book, but it didn't stop me from reading this and enjoying the story. Liz and Bean's mother, Charlotte, totally irked me for being so irresponsible. It is her fault why her daughters decided to left and went to Virginia; they faced several serious problems such as money, bullying and harassment. At least the girls were still lucky

For the first time in recent memory, I find myself not giving four or five stars to a book that I read very quickly, in a couple of days. Which is not to say that I disliked it. In fact, I did like it, sometimes a lot, sometimes just in an okay kind of way. But the book ultimately is a letdown from Walls's The Glass Castle, as all of her future works are probably destined to be. How can you match the excellence of a book that still maintains a solid perch on many national and worldwide bestselle...

There is a strong undercurrent of To Kill A Mockingbird lurking in The Silver Star. I wonder how many people who have read TKAM understand how the title relates to the work. While there are no mockingbirds in this novel there are emus and a silver star and their symbolism is as strong as the mockingbird. I found the novel powerful in many ways. Like Scout, the narrator of TKAM, Bean is a twelve year old girl with a strong personality. It is Bean that provides an anchor and a moral compass to the...

Wow! I loved this book. Glancing at the other reviews, I liked it a lot more than most of the other reviewers.I'm a big fan of Jeannette Walls' writing and as soon as I saw she had a new book out, I had to read it. This one is definitely a novel and not based on her life or any of her relatives.The book opens with two sisters (they are really half sisters who share the same mother, but have different fathers), Liz who is 15 and Bean who is 12. The year is 1970 and they live in a small town in Ca...

I had high hopes for this novel. It's definitely a beach read, as in, very easy to read and not necessary to pay particular attention to details. It's a story of how adults control the lives of young children. It does remind the reader how far we've come as a society since the early 1970's with regard to children's rights and care. The story is narrated by Bean who is 12 years old. Her mother uses her artistic needs as an excuse to neglect her children. Bean's older sister, Liz, is the caretaker...

Let me preface by saying I adored Jeannette Walls' memoir, The Glass Castle, so I have been looking forward to this novel for a long time. I may have built it up in my mind a bit too much. If Goodreads allowed it, I would have given it 2.5 stars instead of 2 stars as it was a sweet story. My problem with the book was that I felt like the characters were pretty cardboard and unoriginal. The precocious, spunky female tween protagonist, the mother who was a larger than life, flaky, aspiring superst...

Oh, this started out so well. I was mesmerized for the first two or three CDs. We've got the tough older sister watching out for the thoughtful younger sister because the mom can't really do the mothering thing. We've got a trip cross-country to see a barely-known uncle. We've got smart moves and new towns and a big, bad villian!And then it all fell apart.I hate feeling preached-at, I absolutely hate it. I felt preached-at for a good quarter of this book. It was like little 12-year-old Bean went...