April's book club selection was
Educated, by Tara Westover. It seems the Coronavirus has touched so many and in countless ways~ this month we found our little book club is no exception! So we put on our thinking caps and came up with a method to hold our meeting, just via the comfort and safety of our homes, over the phone lines, and through the mostly trusty World Wide Web. Hip hip hooray for the ability to still host the meeting, and "cheers!" to everyone who joined in the discussion~ we had a great turnout! Just a heads up, it's very possible we may be doing the same meeting format for May's book club rendezvous as well~ stay tuned!
In other news, Susan has collected all the book club ballots for this next year's reading list and will compile them soon into the appropriate timetable. They'll be sent out via e-mail and/or through the mail, as well as posted on the library's website~ let us know if we miss someone! In the meantime, May's book club selection is
The Night Birds, by Thomas Maltman (available on hoopla!), and it has been decided that June's selection will be
Little Bee, by Chris Cleave. Happy reading!
Here we go~
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was 17 the
first time she set foot in a classroom.
She prepared for the end of the world by
stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her
"head-for-the-hills bag". In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother,
a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's
junkyard. Her family was so isolated from
mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children
received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older
brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college,
Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge
transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to
Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she'd
traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
It's fair to say that our members found this book a heavy read, and thought it very similar to
The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls and
The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah. The majority of the group found the rife mental illness and subsequent abuse in this book hard to read, and difficult for some to understand how it went on for so long undiscovered and unchecked, especially in the late 1980's~ with so many bystanders looking on. It was frustrating at times to find Tara conflicted about whether or not to reestablish her family ties or to forge ahead on her own and build a new life with a new normal, free from the haunts of her home life. The choice seems so clear, and easy, for those of us who've thankfully never been in her situation. We found it a testament to the unparalleled child/parent bond, a common theme we've uncovered as of late. All that aside, we almost unanimously agreed that we're glad we read the book and considered it extraordinary for Tara to not only have escaped her childhood circumstances, but also to have worked as hard and to have come as far as she did on her own steam with very little support, encouragement, help, or acknowledgment. The group agreed this book was very well written and easy to follow~ two separate members added that they really liked the very last line of the very last chapter of the book... you'll have to give it a look to find out what it is!
At the
end of every book club discussion we ask three questions and track the average
answers:
Would we recommend this to another book club for discussion?
"YES"
Would we recommend this to a friend to read?
"YES"
Rate the book 1-4 stars with 1 being the
lowest rating:
3.5 stars (a lot of 3 and 4 stars were awarded, with a couple 2's mixed in).
