Nothing is sugar coated. Jeannette Walls tells it all. You feel sorry for her and her family but at the same time you wish you were as free spirited and independent as the Walls family. Rex Wall's stories reminds me of my Dad's tall tales about how nobody could whoop him. The description of Welch is exactly the way I remember it when my Mom would take us to Welch in the late 60's early 70's. Excellant book and good reading. Hard to put it down.