The a huge role in the movie.

The Glass Castle book and movie in my opinion were both good in their own ways. Obviously, since The Glass Castle book was a memoir written by Jeannette Walls herself, the details of each story told were spot on to her memory. The different adventures throughout the book all played into the main part of the story, which was when Jeanette moved away to New York City. The Glass Castle Movie didn’t touch on as many of these stories that I felt had some importance to Jeannette’s demeanor and values. Although Jeannette and her dad’s bond was tight at times, I feel that the movie played a much more heavy emphasis on Jeanette’s relationship with her Dad then the book did. I think this is because the movie producers wanted something that would tug on people’s heartstrings, and the way that they portrayed Jeannette and her dad’s relationship could do just that.

In the movie, Jeannette’s husband was named David, and he played a huge role in the movie. David caused tension between Jeannette and her parents, and he was part of the reason that Jeannette told her parents that she didn’t want anything to do with them anymore.  In contrast to the book, Jeannette’s husband was named Eric, and he played a very small role in the book. I believe that the movie producers put more emphasis on David/Eric’s role was because it set up a good piece of the plot. Since David caused conflict between Jeanette and her parents, specifically her dad, it was probably much more powerful to see Jeannette leave David to go and be with her dying father rather than have it play out the way it did in the book.

Re-writing the story this way also seemed to make more sense in the whole picture of the movie.      In the movie, Jeannette was a gossip writer, and we didn’t hear really anything at all about her prior writing experience and how she’d got to that point. In the book, we hear about most of Jeannette’s prior writing experiences and we learn how she’d progressed her way up from a small newspaper in Brooklyn to an editorial assistants job. I think that some of these jobs and experiences were left out of the movie because they may have become too repetitive to a viewer.

I also think that they only showed that Jeannette was a gossip writer because it showed that Jeannette had strayed away from some of her family’s values, and it became more powerful when she finally went back to her parents and reconciled with them.      In the movie, Jeannette’s Park Avenue apartment is mentioned quite often. In the book, the Park Avenue apartment is barely mentioned. I think that the apartment is over-emphasized in the movie because it shows again how far Jeannette has strayed away from her humble beginnings and how far she has grown away from her father, who believed the things such as writing a gossip column and living in an upscale apartment were soft. Once her and her father reconcile, it again  has the possibility to create a strong emotional connection between the viewer and the film.       In the movie, Jeannette learns how to swim at the local pool, and they go as a family during the time that was designated for the African-American people to swim. In the book, Jeannette learns how to swim at the Hot Pot Spring and she only ever went to a pool in Welch with Dinitia. I think that these events were somewhat different in the movie because it shows just how out-of-line her dad tended to be and how he played by his own rules and raised his kids his own way.

I think the purpose of these events was to show some of how Jeannette inherited her determined attitude.      In conclusion, The Glass Castle movie and book were, in my opinion, both very good. I feel that each portrayed Jeannette’s life story very well. If I had to choose between the two, it would be tough. I think I would have to choose the book over the movie only because of the extra added details that the book included, but the movie didn’t.