Despite all Jeannette Walls has been through, she is still able to laugh at her life.

The Lenhart Grand Ballroom was filled with laughter, silence and other mixed emotions as Jeannette Walls, author of ‘The Glass Castle,’ came yesterday to share her story with staff, faculty, community members and students.

‘The Glass Castle,’ the common reading book and the community read for the city of Bowling Green this year, was chosen for being provocative and engaging and a book everyone can relate to, literature professor Brett Holden said.

‘This book is a wonderful example of a person who thrived under what most people consider impossible obstacles,’ he said.

The memoir, about the life of young Jeannette Walls and her family living in poverty-stricken environments from Arizona to West Virginia, has received varied comments from readers. These comments have dealt with the unique selfishness of her eccentric mother to the trying times of love and understanding from an alcoholic father.

Although this book might have been hard for readers, the pain and struggles were nothing compared to what Walls felt while writing.

Her mother encouraged her to be truthful, yet Walls still felt her world would come crashing down once people knew the reality of her homeless and poor background.

‘Once people knew the truth, I was going to lose everything,’ Walls said. ‘I’ve never been so wrong and never been so happy to be wrong.’

Walls said coming clean about her background and her story is the most emancipating experience in her life and she is constantly fascinated by reader reactions to her story.

Walls remembers two particular reader reactions, one from a cheerleader claiming she would never be mean to a poor girl at school and an Alabama teenager who told her, ‘This here is a fine white-trash story.’ Walls said this is the best compliment she ever received.

Walls believes that if a ‘white-trash’ boy can relate, and a cheerleader vacationing in the Caribbean can relate, that is the greatest gift she can give to her readers.

Empathy and relating to others in different circumstances were stressed by Walls as she discussed her childhood and growing up in Welch, W.Va. She considers herself scrappy because of this background, but acknowledges she couldn’t be like that all the time.

‘Being able to fight is good,’ she said. ‘But sometimes, it is okay to take off the armor, set down weapons and be vulnerable.’

This concept helped her understand the world is not only full of potential enemies, but potential friends and this helped her find compassion for people and be accepting of her past life.

Many of the lessons she learned in life, she learned from her parents.

From the memoir, she discusses her father helping her find ‘the demon’ hiding under her bed.

‘My father told me to look [the demon] in the eye and tell him I wasn’t afraid, he was really telling me to face my fears,’ she said. ‘My demon has been myself, it has been my past and the past has a habit of catching up to you.’

Her past is what has kept her going, through incredible odds, and although many believe she would blame her parents for her struggles, Walls credits them for helping her in her life.

‘I may not have had heat or food, but my parents would never make fun of my dreams,’ Walls said. ‘If your parents give you belief in yourself, the rest is gravy, if they love you and give you a sense of self, that’s all you need.’

Walls spoke on some traumatic events such as her dress catching on fire as a four-year-old, and how scars make a person who they are. Her husband told her not to be ashamed of scars, but embrace them as a sign she has survived whatever tried to hurt her. She hopes her readers will feel the same.

‘Scars give people texture,’ she said. ‘The texture may be slightly flawed, but flaws are the best thing and texture do not make you less of a person.’

In between the traumatic stories, Walls was always able to look positively on the experience and even make fun of herself, her parents and her situation. Something about her character which shocked and surprised sophomore Caitlin Keelor.

Keelor was blown away with what Walls had to say.

‘She is so light-hearted, I don’t know how she can look back on her story and laugh and be in such good spirits, I can’t compare to her life, or know how she can be so carefree and carry herself so well under the circumstances she faced,’ Keelor said.

Although anyone who read ‘The Glass Castle’ often wonders how Walls can forgive the people from her past, she is not looking for an apology and has come to terms with the past and is able to look on it with ease and laugh about many events.

‘When life gives you lemons, you should go all out and make lemon meringue pie!’