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compostable_human 's review for:
Educated
by Tara Westover
slow-paced
First and foremost, there is a section of this book where the author chooses to use a recognized racial slur over and over and over and over and over again. It is, at best, woefully neglectful of the trauma that it causes to Black people. Regardless of our own lived experiences of trauma, as white women we must actively disarm and deflate the language of oppression and degredation. ESPECIALLY AS WRITERS!
As a gifted writer who so carefully lays out the vulnerabilities of the narrator, exposing the ways trauma weaves itself into every nook and cranny of our brains and thoughts...it was lazy writing. There were so many other ways that could have been explained without the repeated use of that word. The narrator's discomfort and anger at the use of the word was undermined by the authors use of it. So she was mad that her brother said it (because she had just learned about the Civil Rights Movement) but not angry enough to use her command of language to describe the experience in a way that doesn't cause further racial trauma? Yikes.
I urge white readers (especially white women) to read this book through the lens of anti-racism. When we do, it is a stunning example of white privilege, and how that plays out in the United States each and every day.
As a gifted writer who so carefully lays out the vulnerabilities of the narrator, exposing the ways trauma weaves itself into every nook and cranny of our brains and thoughts...it was lazy writing. There were so many other ways that could have been explained without the repeated use of that word. The narrator's discomfort and anger at the use of the word was undermined by the authors use of it. So she was mad that her brother said it (because she had just learned about the Civil Rights Movement) but not angry enough to use her command of language to describe the experience in a way that doesn't cause further racial trauma? Yikes.
I urge white readers (especially white women) to read this book through the lens of anti-racism. When we do, it is a stunning example of white privilege, and how that plays out in the United States each and every day.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Gaslighting