Educated

Last night my book club discussed Educated by Tara Westover. We all agreed that it had to be a memoir because no one would believe the story if it were a novel. This book has been on the best seller list for over a year and was listed as recommended reading by Barack Obama and Reese Witherspoon. I found it really difficult to read. I didn't want to spend the money to get a  hard copy. It isn't available in paperback unless you can read Spanish. I borrowed it from the Cloud Library as an audio book so I listened to it while doing chores around the house. Sometimes the sadness of the abuse Tara received from her brother Sean was just too much for me to listen to anymore and I had to shut it off and think about happier things. Growing up in a family like Tara's could not be easy but she seems to be doing well. She is brilliant and successful and lives in another country across the ocean from her family which is probably wise. We don't know if everything she claims is true was actually true. Even in my own family, my perception of people and events varies very much from other siblings. In this day and age truth seems more shaky than it did when I was young. Journalism has changed a lot. Photo editing is so rampant you can't believe pictures or even video. What will life be like for children born today in the year 2069? Our group agreed it is important to teach kids to use critical thinking skills and not believe everything they see or read or hear.