Educated - Tara Westover

So.. I've been recently disappointed at quite a few best sellers, both Korean and American, and I think that's really sad especially because I've been reading less than 5 books a year (hahaha). It makes it a bit harder and harder to go back to reading when the recent experiences are mediocre at best.

I loved reading when I was young though, and I would love to relive those moments of escaping reality, completely being sucked into the text, building fantasy lands inside my head (as a kid I always had my head up in the clouds). Before my age reached a two-digit number, reading really was a haven, my own little magic shop. But after 12 years of public education (do you see the irony haha), it seemed like my love for reading has given its way to youtube, twitter, netflix, and other more instantly-gratifying forms of entertainment. And I realized, strangely enough, those media were somehow not as de-stressing as reading. I felt numb after watching a lot of TV, a feeling that was certainly different from being relaxed.

So my journey continues to restore my enthusiasm for reading. I actually came close to finishing one book in January (I finished it on 2/10), so maybe I can read 10 books this year, fingers crossed. My first book was this memoir 'Educated' by Tara Westover which had some explosive reception last year, and, behold, I finally had my "mind-fucking-blown" moment from reading a best seller.

I think there's something about the genre itself that appeals to me. It provides the leeway to be personal and subjective all the way, and that ironically makes the rhetoric so so powerful. And as rare as her life experience can be, I think her writing leaves at least one token of empathy for every reader with any possible life paths. I mean, if an Asian immigrant raised under the roof of education-obsessed parents could empathize and cry with her, I believe anyone can.

I don't feel like going into what the book is actually about - because summarizing as an activity is boring and adds no value to this world - but I want to say that I loved how she deals with the concept of memory. It was often discussed in terms of 'reality' instead of memory, but still, I thought her approach was thought-provoking, humble, and yet potent at the same time.

I'm just gonna share the last sentence here.

You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal.
I call it an education.