Educated by Tara Westover

A MEMOIR about Tara Westover's family and how the thirst for education has pushed her to leave their Mormon beliefs.

The book was a slow burner at first and I could not wait for the part when she finally leaves her family and start her life as a student. That happened in the middle part of the book and for me it didn’t quite satisfy. I wanted to read a lot about her struggles as a student and how she accomplished things but since the story revolved mostly on her family’s beliefs that even when she was already in the university, she still recounted some memories of the past, the “education” part, for me, was a bit stifled.

Some parts were hard to read especially the ones where her brother Shawn physically abused her to the point where he almost killed her, and her mother, even though she knew about it, chose not to do something. It was as if every member of the family has a mental illness especially her father (whom she confirmed in the latter part of the book as someone who had symptoms of bipolar disease).

I love the part about her life in school, the challenges she faced living with her dorm mates, and her academic life in general. It was just a bit confusing because she kept saying she didn’t have money yet she was able to do different things like fly in and out of the country to visit her family when she was sent to England on a scholarship. Maybe that was possible but I feel that a lot of things were left out of the book so the reader will be left with questions as this.

What Educated made me realize is how spiritual belief can easily turn into madness when humans do it by themselves. I mean, I am a Christian and I know that it is impossible for me to have faith without the help of God. God is the one who gave me faith. So when people do things on their own, like believe in the bible according to how they want to interpret it, it could lead to disaster. If it is a real relationship with God, then we would have to ask God to help us understand his word and do as he please, not understand his word and do as we please according to how we want to interpret his word. 

Camilla by Madeleine L’Engle

CAMILLA is a story about a fifteen year old girl who lived a sheltered life until her parent’s marriage started to crumble. During the time of this challenging part of her life, she met Frank, her best friend's brother. Frank is the one person whom she could talk about anything, her dreams, her beliefs, her fears. He also introduced her to different kinds of people, which opened her eyes to a wider world than the one she was brought up in.

The Man of the Crowd by Edgar Allan Poe

THE STORY opened with the narrator sitting in a cafe somewhere in London. He observed the people going about their day. In his mind, he categorized them according to how they were dressed and how they behaved in the crowd. Out of nowhere, an old man of about sixty to seventy years old caught his attention. A great craving to know more about that man came upon him so he stood up from his chair and stalked the old man.

The story took us to where the old man went which was nowhere. Instead, he roamed the city, as if in a daze, he went to different shops neither touching nor buying anything. He spoke to no one. At one point, he turned around and retraced his steps back to the where he was first seen in the story and then he went on about the city again, turning at corners, without definite destination.

This continued on until the curious man gave up as yet another evening fell upon them. The story ended with a quote “er lasst sicht nicht lesen” which is translated to “it does not permit itself to be read”.

Page 215
Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
(Published by Doubleday & Company, Inc.)