一本好书，不仅带给你一个吸引人的故事，还有一些值得你深思的地方。
父母拥有百万美金的土地和凤凰城一大幢房子，却让四个孩子饥肠辘辘，住在废墟上，捡垃圾为生，遭同学耻笑，不可思议。
还好，四个孩子坚强勇敢，你说，父母这么做，孩子们该恨还是爱?
早上五点二十醒来，看书到八点半，竟然快把这本书大部分看完了。一直沉浸在故事中。且看主人公珍妮与他们一家是如何在贫困潦倒中寻找生机。
他们住在山顶，阳光照不太到的地方，夏天极其炎热，冬天滴水成冰。因为潮湿，夏天竟然比他们在沙漠还要难以忍受的炎热。镇上有游泳池，有些时段是免费开放给镇民，但是与他们Walls一家针锋相对的熊孩子们到处在泳池中散布谣言，说他们一家住在垃圾上，他们身上有细菌，会把游泳池污染，这次他们没有打起来，他们离开泳池。女孩到她黑人同学家，黑女孩说，你可以早上跟我们去，黑人上午用泳池，白人下午用，这是不成文的约定。女孩第二天跟着黑女孩去了，在换衣间，黑女人们瞠目结舌，最后她被接受了，度过了最美好的上午，不过这是唯一的一次，黑女孩再也没有邀请她，她也没有问，两个人心照不宣。过了暑假，她们去了高中，不再在一起，但是递纸条互通信息。女孩在高中，有很多跟她一样贫穷的同学，她不再是那个孤立的一个。
冬天，从十一月第一场雪，家里越来越冷，没有暖气，买不起最便宜的煤，没有电，水管里的水都冻住了，开始还可以烧一段木头让水管流通，最后怎么样也不能融化水管里的冰。他们不敢生病，拒绝承认自己感冒了，谁都想呆在学校干燥暖和的教室里一整天。
他们艰难得混过了冬天。
她有一天跟妈妈摊牌，要妈妈离开爸爸。社会福利署的人过问他们的情况，镇上一半的人都倚靠救济金生活，这样他们就可以有面包吃，有电，有暖气，可以洗澡，可以买衣服。妈妈大叫起来，没想到是你要我离开你爸爸，爸爸最疼的就是你。女孩说，那么你们就必须上班，否则家就要拆散了。
她妈妈找到一份离家二十里的教师工作，因为她有资格证。学校安排一个胖女人接她一起到学校，这个同事可以让她妈妈搭车上班，她们相互不喜欢，一路上不说一句话。她妈妈每个月是八百美金，应该可以够他们生活，但是拿到薪水第一天，妈妈买了很多跟生活必需品无关的东西，比如花瓶，妈妈说，他们要讲究生活品质，然后买了一大堆吃的。女孩盘算，离下个月发薪水，他们应该不再挨饿，但是事与愿违，每次不到月底，他们又没钱了，又开始挨饿。珍妮问妈妈钱到哪里了，妈妈说，她也不知道。女孩说，如果你可以让我管钱，我肯定让这个钱用到月底，妈妈说我相信你可以的，但是她从来都没有把钱交给女孩管理。
女孩来到高中，参与校报的编辑工作，到了十年级，她已经是这份报纸的总编辑，拜访到校的一个名人，爸爸的崇拜者，他们一起研究如何问有价值的问题，女孩成为学校的羡慕对象。女孩的姐姐劳瑞因为在学校表现好，暑假免费去了夏令营，妈妈去大学里进修教师课程，珍妮一个人带着弟弟妹妹，手里有两百美金要过两个月。她在珠宝店当助手，老板克扣她佣金，她偷拿了一块梦寐以求的手表，但是第二天还是偷偷还了珠宝店，她不能忍受被发现的后果，尽管老板克扣她的佣金不止手表的价格。爸爸三不六九跟她讨钱，她终于知道妈妈的钱为什么用不到月底，你没办法拒绝一个你爱的人。
暑假结束，姐姐妈妈回来，各自都很兴奋，一个可以每天吃到饱饭，洗热水澡，一个可以不再管四个孩子，有独自空间。姐姐劳瑞决定高中毕业到纽约，珍妮与弟弟都很赞同，妈妈也赞同，但是他们的妈妈更希望是她自己到纽约。三姐弟一起攒钱，姐姐帮同学画海报，珍妮去看护邻居孩子，卖报纸，弟弟捡瓶子，这样小猪罐里越来越多的钱，但是有一天钱不见了，姐姐非常颓废，觉得自己永远不能去纽约了。直到再一个暑假，邻居提出让珍妮跟他们到新家看护孩子两个月，他们给两百美元和回程车票。珍妮让你姐姐去，让雇家买一张去纽约的车票，他们同意了。
那一天姐姐劳瑞离开，她坐在车上，没有回头。妹妹说这是个好兆头，劳瑞不再回来。
珍妮十一年级，决定也去纽约，弟弟每天给她数着日子，她失踪几天的爸爸回来送她提着她的箱子，说，这是父亲应该做的。
"Sure."I followed him into the living room, where he spread the papers on the drafting table. They were his old blueprints for the Glass Castle, all stained and dog-eared. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen them. We'd stopped talking about the Glass Castle once the foundation we'd dug was filled up with garbage.
爸爸拿起他们的蓝图，玻璃城堡的蓝图，他们不知修改了多少遍，他们梦想的城堡，四周都是玻璃，沐浴在阳光之下，每个房间采光很好，他们已经不记得他们最后一次什么时候看图纸，女孩已经不记得了，自从他们挖的沟渠堆满垃圾，他们不再讨论他们的玻璃城堡了。
"I think I finally worked out how to deal with the lack of sunlight on the hillside," Dad said. It involved installing specially curved mirrors in the solar cells. But what he wanted to talk to me about was the plans for my room. "Now that Lori's gone," he said. "I'm reconfiguring the layout, and your room will be a lot bigger."Dad's hands trembled slightly as he unrolled different blueprints. He had drawn frontal views, side views, and aerial views of the Glass Castle. He had diagrammed the wiring and the plumbing. He had drawn the interiors of rooms and labeled them and specified their dimensions, down to the inches, in his precise, blocky handwriting.
I stared at the plans. "Dad," I said. "you'll never build the Glass Castle.""Are you saying you don't have faith in your old man?""Even if you do, I'll be gone. In less than three months, I'm leaving for New York City.""What I was thinking was you don't have to go right away," Dad said. I could stay and graduate from Welch High and go to Bluefield State, as Miss Katona had suggested, then get a job at The Welch Daily News. He'd help me with the articles, like he'd helped me with my piece on Chuck Yeager. "And I'll build the Glass Castle, I swear it. We'll all live in it together. It'll be a hell of a lot better than any apartment you'll ever find in New York City, I can guaran-goddamn-tee that.""Dad," I said, "as soon as I finish classes, I'm getting on the next bus out of here. If the buses stop running, I'll hitchhike. I'll walk if I have to. Go ahead and build the Glass Castle, but don't do it for me."Dad rolled up the blueprints and walked out of the room. A minute later, I heard him scrambling down the mountainside.
女孩说，爸爸不管你盖不盖这所玻璃城堡，但你不要说，这是为我而盖。
When we got to the station, Dad turned to me. "Honey, life in New York may not be as easy as you think it's going to be.""I can handle it," I told him.
Dad reached into his pocket and pulled out his favorite jackknife, the one with the horn handle and the blade of blue German steel that we'd used for Demon Hunting.
"I'll feel better knowing you have this." He pressed the knife into my hand.
The bus turned down the street and stopped with a hiss of compressed air in front of the Trailways station. The driver opened up the luggage compartment and slid my suitcase in next to the others. I hugged Dad. When our cheeks touched, and I breathed in his smell of tobacco, Vitalis, and whiskey, I realized he\'d shaved for me.
"If things don't work out, you can always come home," he said. "I'll be here for you. You know that, don't you?""I know." I knew that in his way, he would be. I also knew I'd never be coming back.
Only a few passengers were on the bus, so I got a good seat next to a window. The driver closed the door, and we pulled out. At first I resolved not to turn around. I wanted to look ahead to where I was going, not back at what I was leaving, but then I turned anyway.
Dad was lighting a cigarette. I waved, and he waved back. Then he shoved his hands in his pockets, the cigarette dangling from his mouth, and stood there, slightly stoop-shouldered and distracted-looking. I wondered if he was remembering how he, too, had left Welch full of vinegar at age seventeen and just as convinced as I was now that he'd never return. I wondered if he was hoping that his favorite girl would come back, or if he was hoping that, unlike him, she would make it out for good.
I reached into my pocket and touched the horn-handled jackknife, then waved again. Dad just stood there. He grew smaller and smaller, and then we turned a corner and he was gone.
爸爸送女儿一把匕首，告诉她，如果外面不能待下去，家永远在这里。
女孩坐在大巴里，回头挥手，爸爸一直站在那里，直到看不见为止。
珍妮开始了新的生活，崭新的开始，等待她的是纽约的豪华繁荣还是光怪陆离，只有她知道。