Educated by Tara Westover
(by Amy Bunce)
I could not put this book down. It was an
eye-opening story about a world so vastly different from the one in which I
grew up. Tara Westover writes about her own life growing up in a house of
survivalist Mormons in Idaho. She is one of seven children. Her mother is a
herbalist and a midwife. Her father owns a scrapyard. Westover’s parents had no
belief in the Government nor did they register any of their seven children.
Westover registered herself at the age of nine. Her father’s survivalist
beliefs meant no doctors, modern medicine or hospitals. Despite some of the
horrific accidents recounted by Westover from the scrapyard, all ailments were
treated by her mother at home. Westover’s father had the family prepared for
the “End of Days” by stockpiling food and keeping emergency bags under their
beds. She paints a picture of an unusual, and at times disturbing, family
dynamic influenced by her strong-willed and dogmatic father.
At the age of seventeen Westover decides to
pursue an education. She takes on this challenge having never been exposed to
any formal education, let alone a classroom. She grapples with balancing the
obligations she had to her family and the obligations she has to herself. As
her determination to pursue education becomes stronger, so her understanding of
the world grows and she has to deal with “coming to terms with the depth of her
[your] own ignorance” (see interview here).
I am in awe of what Westover lived through and how far she has come against
unusual odds. She writes with complete transparency and respect for the faith
and people who raised her. She explores the role that education plays in our
lives and how it informs the way we make decisions in our lives. It struck me
how easily education can be taken for granted by those who are privileged
enough to receive it and how our understanding of the world is sometimes so
much bigger than we think.
P.S. If you do enjoy this, The Glass Castle
by Jeanette Walls is worth a read too.
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
A friend of mine recommended this collection of
short stories by Carmen Maria Machado to me when I was having a reading slump. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it as
this is not typically my go-to genre of book. Machado blends genres in this collection in
order to create her own of fantasy, horror, romance and science fiction. Her stories all have an overarching theme; the
everyday violences that women encounter. My favourite story was the first one in the
book, The Husband Stitch- which is
based on the children’s tale The Green Ribbon
and holds an eclectic array of ghost stories and tales throughout it, all the
while describing the relationship of a husband and wife, and his never being
satisfied until he can uncover what’s under her ribbon. As I enjoyed the first
story so much, the rest all fell flat for me; however from reviews that I have
read online, everyone seemed to have a different favourite story. The novella
in the centre of the book based on episodes of Law and Order: SVU felt too long and complicated, however I’m glad
that I pushed through and finished it. I’ve felt that all of the stories have haunted
and stuck with me for much longer than I thought they would, and it was great
to branch out of my comfort zone in terms of new genres and different writing
styles. I would definitely recommend this if you are looking for something
different or subversive.
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