By Pilar Landon / Heights Senior StaffFor the better part of her adult life, Jeannette Walls had a secret. She hid it from her friends and coworkers. She changed the subject whenever people talked about family. She felt uncomfortable, sometimes even among friends. She was afraid that people would find out.
That secret - the trials of her challenging childhood - is now the topic of a national bestseller. And to her friends, coworkers, and millions of readers nationwide, Walls has become a symbol of perseverance and hope.
In light of her accomplishments as an author, as a journalist, and most of all, as someone who never gave up, Walls told her story to the Boston College community at First Year Academic Convocation on Thursday. As part of the fourth annual "Conversations in the First Year," the 2,250 incoming freshmen read Walls' memoir, The Glass Castle, prior to convocation.
"Writing the book [The Glass Castle] was a horrible, fabulous, excruciating, and cathartic experience," she said in an interview before her address. "We all know things about ourselves that we think we don't know."
Inspired by her mother's advice to simply "tell the truth," Walls delves into memories that are painful, tragic, shocking, and heartwarming. Her checkered past begins in the southwest region of the country, marked by frequent moves as her father bounced from job to job.
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