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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
A memoir that almost reads like a thriller. About truth and education and lies.
Like others here, I had trouble rating this book. For the first 2/3 of the book, I would probably give a four. For the last section, a one or two. I admit to skimming some of the parts in the last third.. imagined conversations with various characters… ugh.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Thank you to Scribner and Net Galley for the eARC. This book is set to publish in June of 2023.
I had to sit a moment and think about the review for this text. While it can certainly be categorized as a memoir, there is a fair bit of philosophical discussion that dominates the text in a way that I believe detracts slightly from the story of Viren's life. The memoir is composed in two parts: first discussing her memory of her experience in Dr. While's class and the second about the sexual harassment allegations made against her spouse and eventually, herself. I had read the New York Times Magazine article that Viren composed in anticipation of this full-length memoir and some of the writing style that I loved in the shorter article did not translate to the longer piece.
Since I teach a memoir class, I loved Viren's discussions about the nature of truth, especially in connection to nonfiction. In the wake of "fake news" and #MeToo, the nature of what constitutes truth and for whom is something I repeatedly bring up in my classes. As much as this book is a book about truth, it is also very much about teaching. Viren examines her own educational experience as well as her teaching philosophy.
While I don't think this is necessarily appropriate for my high school classroom, I would love to see this book in collegiate-level courses, especially for writers of memoir. On the whole, I liked it, but I didn't love it as I expected to after the initial article read.
I had to sit a moment and think about the review for this text. While it can certainly be categorized as a memoir, there is a fair bit of philosophical discussion that dominates the text in a way that I believe detracts slightly from the story of Viren's life. The memoir is composed in two parts: first discussing her memory of her experience in Dr. While's class and the second about the sexual harassment allegations made against her spouse and eventually, herself. I had read the New York Times Magazine article that Viren composed in anticipation of this full-length memoir and some of the writing style that I loved in the shorter article did not translate to the longer piece.
Since I teach a memoir class, I loved Viren's discussions about the nature of truth, especially in connection to nonfiction. In the wake of "fake news" and #MeToo, the nature of what constitutes truth and for whom is something I repeatedly bring up in my classes. As much as this book is a book about truth, it is also very much about teaching. Viren examines her own educational experience as well as her teaching philosophy.
While I don't think this is necessarily appropriate for my high school classroom, I would love to see this book in collegiate-level courses, especially for writers of memoir. On the whole, I liked it, but I didn't love it as I expected to after the initial article read.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
reflective
tense
fast-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
reflective
slow-paced
I was somewhat okay with the book until the last part. Those imagined conversations and philosophical imaginings had me almost dozing off and most of the time, it entirely went over my head. Still, the mystery that the author talked about in her life made me extremely angry on her behalf. Though, this book was not necessary for that single reason, and I do not understand the reason for this book to exist much. The narration was nice, but the whole storyline really left me baffled.