This is so outrageous that I keep waiting for smoking gun or some such site to tell us the story isn’t true (think A Million Little Pieces), but so far, I’ve heard nothing of the sort.  Ms. Walls and her siblings grow up and manage to lead “normal” lives as educated, stable adults despite an upbringing of extreme dysfunction which includes eating rotten food, living in the desert, receiving no formal education for years at a time, and taking care of a depressed mother and an alcoholic father.  Yet they also read, appreciate music, and engage in scientific inquiry.  It all depended on the mindset of the moment of mom or dad.  Weird.  It’s truly hard to imagine that kids could survive such a childhood.  You won’t be able to put this book down.  (non-fiction/memoir)