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YOU DON’T HAVE TO LOOK HARD TO FIND AN INSPIRING INSIGHT INTO A LIFE VERY UNLIKE YOUR OWN
A NEW PERSPECTIVE NIC BOTTOMLEY delights in astonishing memoirs, which have the ability to transport the reader into different worlds
W
e often read novels to inhabit an entirely different space to our day-to-day life. If a character is welldrawn then you sit on their shoulder each time you pick up the book and are transported to what might be a different place, time or even dimension and so distract yourself from your own life and concerns for a while. The thing is, though, a well-written memoir can do this just as well as a novel. There are so many astonishing lives being led, so much adversity being overcome, that you don’t have to look too hard to find an inspiring insight into a life very unlike your own that will keep you entertained and inspired. Tara Westover’s life story is told in her astonishing book Educated (Cornerstone, £14.99) which I was lucky enough to interview her about a few weeks ago. Tara was raised in rural Idaho in a family of survivalists who believed that schools and the medical establishment were part of a government conspiracy. She spent many summers preparing for a Day of Judgment which would be a sign of God’s wrath, but might also take the form of a shootout with authorities determined to force her parents to obtain birth certificates for their seven
kids or put them into school. Add into this mix the necessity of working in the family’s scrapyard, where no heed was paid to health and safety – even though their frequent injuries had to be treated at home – and the physical and emotional threat of an older brother, and you have a recipe for an unorthodox and challenging childhood. Be clear though, Educated is no misery memoir. First of all, Tara is very clear that her childhood was not all bad and, to her, many of her father’s unorthodox views of the world were the norm which she shared until well into her 20s. Secondly, a tale can’t be miserable when it’s this inspirational. Aged 17, Tara left home and took up a place at Brigham Young University and ultimately excelled so much that she received scholarships to Cambridge and Harvard and now has a PhD in history amongst many other academic qualifications. The second half of the book focuses on this incredible journey, looks at the meaning of home and reveals the very real grief she suffered as a result of gradually becoming estranged from some members of her family. Adam Kay’s working life will be all too familiar to anyone who has spent time working in the NHS, but that doesn’t make it any less eye-watering to the rest of us.
For years he worked as an obstetrician and gynaecologist in various hospitals, working his way from a newly qualified House Officer to a Senior Registrar carrying massive responsibility for the lives of his patients on every single shift. Kay’s book This is Going to Hurt (Macmillan, £8.99) documents his career and reveals that the one constant throughout his incident-packed time as a doctor was the thankless and brutally underpaid working hours. The book is, in the main, played for laughs which reflects Adam’s second career as a comedian and scriptwriter. The shocking working conditions faced by doctors and other medical staff in the NHS, though, is never far from the narrative and it’s not difficult to work out why he is writing as an ex-doctor rather than a current one. In fact, the mystery thrown up is how he (and every other doctor) puts up with this highstress job and a complete lack of personal life when asked to exercise his skills on no sleep thanks to working up to double the contracted hours. The political edge to This is Going to Hurt is, though, just that: an edge. The body of the book is an irreverent, often hilarious and invariably utterly revolting account of life as a doctor. If you prefer not to know the vast myriad of items that the British public manage to wedge into their bodies and how a doctor might go about removing those items, then stay away from this one. Similarly, if you have even the remotest plan of being involved in childbirth in the near, or distant, future then you might want to steer clear. In between anecdotes, Kay does offer some sage advice on choices around giving birth, but some of those anecdotes may just put you off the whole shebang. Of course if Tara Westover and Adam Kay’s life stories are all a bit dramatic and frenetic for you, there’s always bookselling. Just sit back, grab a copy of 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff (Little Brown, £7.99) and you’ll immediately occupy a sedate and civilised world where bookish international friendships can magically flourish.
Nic Bottomley is the general manager of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, 14/15 John Street, Bath; 01225 331155; www.mrbsemporium.com
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