Memoir is about handing over you life to someone and saying, This is what I went through, this is who I am, and maybe you can learn something from it.
Jeannette WallsShe wore tight corsets to give her a teeny waist - I helped her lace them up - but they had the effect of causing her to faint. Mom called it the vapors and said it was a sign of her high breeding and delicate nature. I thought it was a sign that the corset made it hard to breathe.
Jeannette WallsYou didn't need a college degree to become one of the people who knew what was really going on. If you paid attention, you could pick things up on your own.
Jeannette WallsAs I sat down, though, I realized that you can get used to certain luxuries that you start to think they're necessities, but when you have to forgo them, you come to see that you don't need them after all. There was a big difference between needing things and wanting things--though a lot of people had trouble telling the two apart--and at the ranch, I could see, we have pretty much everything we'd need but precious little else.
Jeannette Walls