The general rule of movies is that you have to read the book before seeing the movie to fully enjoy and understand the film.

I broke this rule.

But I didn’t have a good excuse either. I was just too lazy to read it in time to see the movie by Friday night.

So I buy a ticket for the 7:30 showing of The Glass Castle.

Although I didn’t know what the movie was about, I did know that Woody Harrelson was in it.

That was enough to make me buy the ticket.

With my box of junior mints in hand, I sat down to watch the movie.

When I got home afterwards, I immediately went to the Barnes and Noble website and ordered the book.

Based on a true story, the movie recounts the life of a poverty-stricken family moving from place to place across the United States. The alcoholic father (Woody Harrelson), the neglectful mother (Naomi Watts) and their four children are all seemingly happy at times but are always moving from place to place, have no money and it’s not unusual for them to go a day or two without eating. Whether it’s the lack to love, attention, education, housing or a combination of all of the above, the relationships between the father and the children specifically are extremely strained.

From the perspective of the second oldest daughter Jeanette (Brie Larson), the movie goes back and forth between memories of her abusive childhood and her life in the present as an affluent and stable woman in New York City.

The father Rex — although an abusive alcoholic to the children and his wife — has tried throughout his children’s entire lives to show them the good of the world and how fortunate they are. He constantly distracts them with the wonders of the world and facts about the earth and stars to supplement for formal public schooling.

Rose Mary, a neglectful mother and aspiring painter, pretends to not see how abusive Rex can get when he’s drunk and even times when he doesn’t drink.

Rex has been fueling the kid’s imaginations their entire lives with this vision he has about building a majestic house made of glass for the family: glass walls, a glass staircase and the whole nine yards. But as time goes by, Jeanette begins to see that her father is just all talk and no action.

The Glass Castle is for all kinds of movie watchers: suspense, action, laughter, family, love and tears. Bottom line: anyone that has at least one brain cell should seriously consider seeing this movie.

In the meantime, I’m just sitting here waiting for my doorbell to ring and find a small package with a green Barnes and Noble sticker to show up on my doorstep. The delivery guy better be careful handling the fragile box; I’d rather not clean up broken glass.