This unabridged audio books was 30 hours long. It took me over 3 weeks of listening in the car on the way to and from work. The amazing thing is that the story was quite captivating – all the way to the end. The narration was excellent as if the original character were speaking the words – which is rather rare for audio book unless it’s narrated by the author himself/herself.

As an immigrant to US in my teen, I was exposed to very little American History and I didn’t do that good in the history class because I was still struggling to “understand” English much less appreciate the contents of the American History textbook. This book goes into great details of the life, ambition and sacrifice of John Adams and his love affair with his wonderfully witty and understanding wife, Abigail. I speculate that John Adams wouldn’t be the accomplished John Adams as we know him today or even John Quincy Adams (John Adam’s Son), without her wife Abigail.

David McCullough, the author, portrayed John Adams more of a stubborn, visionary patriot than a politician, which is quite understandable as the country was still fighting for survival from British military force and then French military force. He didn’t want to play the bipartisan game because he feared the division it may cause to the country. This may have spelled the end to his one-term presidency (2nd US President). He was definitely no contest to the sophisticated, conniving Thomas Jefferson, an Adam’s on-again, off-again and on-again “friend.”

Here are a few interesting contrasts of the life in 1776 today’s life :

The intimate, eloquent love letters between John Adams and his wife Abigail were especially moving. Their fidelity to each other though separated by the Atlantic ocean and years at a time was unimaginably long and difficult by today’s standard. Both made great sacrifice for the greater good of this country.

Overall, I utterly enjoyed this book. A great book if you want to understand the heart and soul of a true American patriot in the purest form. We American owed a great deal of our prosperity to John Adams, who shepherded the birth and the first critical toddler years of this country.

Wow! I never knew there are parents out there that are so irresponsible for their children. They have so many issues of their own. Being children to those parents got to be tough when the basic food and shelter are not certain. I don’t know if that can be compensated or made up for by having an exciting life – constantly on the move as if it’s one big adventure. Moving around or having to adapt constantly does make one receptive to changes. Furthermore, it’s amazing how resilient kids can be if left to their own survival and how readily they accept the status quo without much complaint. It’s when they finally grow up they realize how different they are. I also wonder how much we’re influenced by our childhood experience. Sometimes being tough growing up could develop good virtues, common sense and good gut feel (street smartness). The author’s youngest sister did not subject to the same level of survival issues, thus did not fare well as she grew up. Children do look up to their parents as it’s the only way to look at life. Having a broad perspectives and teaching them accordingly can help develop their well roundness as the author’s parents have done.

Without judging, there are certain kinds of people (like author’s parents) out there that simply do not conform to common sense. Being normal is not real “life.” Perhaps, the issues are related to alcohol or personality or something else but I must say they have “character.”

The author wrote the story with very little emotion except at the end when she had to deal with their homeless parents. Perhaps, I speculate she has been traumatized such that they would not have children of their own. She did blame herself for not being there for her younger sister.

What a wonderfully-written memoir! The author did a great job capturing the details of her childhood and yet wrote in an almost journalistic approach, allowing the readers to make their own judgement.

The Glass Castleat Amazon.com