I shouldn't be surprised anymore when deeply flawed humans have children and end up being deeply flawed parents. I can usually chalk it up to doing the best we can with the gifts and faults we have and hope that kids can offer grace as they get older to realize their parents are, ultimately, human.But then I read a book like The Glass Castle (you can read that review here), or now, Educated and I realize, yeah that's mostly true, except when it's not and parents make choices so fundamentally flawed that it's is or is almost criminal in nature. Neglect. Growing up in Southern Idaho, Tara and her siblings were given access to text books but no instruction to read them. Extremely mistrustful of the government and paranoid about the ramifications of being "dependent" on the government, the parents don't even apply for birth certificates for Tara and her younger siblings. From an early age, the children are expected to assist their father in the junkyard at the base of the property. Metal scrapping in dangerous conditions thanks to their father's love of shortcuts and eschewing of safety precautions, many of the children are deeply injured. Any decision to work elsewhere is seen as a betrayal of the family. So when Tara decides she wants more in terms of education, she has to figure it all out herself. She takes the ACT and fakes her way into BYU claiming she completed "home school". The first year is a rough education for Tara who was unaware even of what the word "Holocaust" meant. And she comes to realize some of the deeply troubling beliefs held by her father and the pervasive racism it engenders at home. Tara manages to go on and graduate from BYU with a prestigious Gates Scholarship to Cambridge University in England. And she does this all while trying to inform her parents that her older brother was physically and emotionally abusive toward her. Her parents refuse to acknowledge this truth and a rift forms. It's troubling and upsetting and even today far from over. There's something about a memoir that really reaches into the shared humanity of us all and life can sometimes be stranger than fiction. I wish Tara the best and hope she continues on a path of healing.
4.5/5
I think I've lost my objectivity when it comes to Donna Tartt. The Goldfinch was such a spectacular book (you can read that review here) - the best I've read in ages, that I'm willing to give her leeway on meandering plots or superfluous details. The Secret History is so wildly different from The Goldfinch, it's hard to know where to start.The main protagonist is Richard Pappen, an unhappy California youth who does what many young people do, goes to college as far away from his parents and home as he can get. In this case, to Hampden Vermont. As a transfer student, he steps into established sociological webs and connections and tries to find a place for himself. The place he singles out is with an enigmatic and intriguing Classics professor who only takes a few students on each year. Julian hand picks and then guides each student personally through coursework he himself designs and teaches. Originally denied entry to this group, Richard seeks to impress the other five students - genius Henry Winter, twins Charles and Camilla, dashing Francis, and gregarious Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran. He succeeds and is soon admitted to their circle. But no matter how close he gets to the group, he remains slightly on the periphery. So it comes as quite a shock when he discovers a secret about the group and their extracurricular activities. In an effort to show he is part of the exclusive tribe, he agrees to hide their secret, even to the extent that it means killing Bunny Corcoran, who threatens to expose the others. Bunny becomes wildly unpredictable and unhinged and so the group believes Bunny must be taken care of. Even though Richard tells the reader early on that Bunny is killed, the series of events leading to Bunny's death are so intriguing that the dramatic tension still exists, even up to the point where Bunny tips over the edge of the ravine to his death. The aftermath and its effects on the group - through the eyes of Richard is fascinating. The one weird element is that it is never really clear why Richard is telling this story. The events he imparts are so volatile that naturally one would imagine Richard would never tell a soul, so playing the narrative device out to its fullest extent is inexplicable. This niggling detail detracts from some of the enjoyment of the book. But Tartt's writing carries the rest through.
4/5 Stars.
