Ponder: Unscripted

Unscripted ©2019 by Davis Bunn, is the fourth book in his Miramar series and the fourth I have read by this author. Unscripted was a huge disappointment; perhaps it should have had a subtitle of "and unedited" as well. It was incoherent. I give it two stars which in my system translates to Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it.  So what were these redeeming features that drew me on and what were the aspects that were lacking?

Redeeming features: 

1. Unscripted completed the Miramar series of books I previously liked by Davis Bunn.
2. There was an interesting aspect into learning what goes into making a movie, both in the technical and the financial skills.

There is a satisfaction in having read all the books in a series and I wanted to check that box. My expectation with an author is that he gets generally gets better as time goes on, but not so with this book. It was difficult to follow because the main characters were to move forward and act based on trust. The reason for them doing so is repeatedly withheld from them, presumably under the excuse of "no time to explain right now". This writing technique does create suspense since the reader is drawn on in an attempt to develop understanding. Unscripted is so titled because it is about the production of a movie for which the script has not been written, the funding has not been secured, the cast has not been contracted, and forward progress in hindered by a sinister undertone that some giant in the film industry wants this endeavor, spearheaded by line producer Daniel Byrd, to fail. From this I did manage to glean a sort of sequence that need to occur in the creation of a movie but I needed to ferret out that process from between the lines.The general conflict is of the David and Goliath variety. Los Angeles lawyer, Megan Pierce, formerly from a high-pressure, hot-shot law firm, manipulates the financial and legal aspects of producing the film. There is an underlying, unsubstantiated romantic interest developing between Daniel and Megan. Throw in a mysterious anonymous inheritance with a heart-rending betrayal by a close friend/partner, and the stewing soup of question marks continues to swirl and confuse. 

Aspects lacking:

1. It was incoherent
2. Characters did not become real or endearing to me
3. Previous reviews had been misleading

Included are three misleading reviews from the introductory pages of this Unscripted. True, a book will never have on the introductory pages, "This book is mediocre - do not bother reading it,". However, these praises are so far from my experience that I had to comment on each.

I did read this book with the hope of getting a better insight in the making of films. But there were so many characters, with first and last names, sometimes referred to by a first name, sometimes by a last name, depending on with whom in the pecking order they were speaking, that I became totally befuddled. The world of lawyers and bankers is not my realm and this book did little to enlighten me. Portrayal of the behavior of prima donna movie stars seemed stale and did little to dismiss or validate stereotypical impressions.

"Eyes damp twice and throat constricted...?" Hardly! If anything my eyes burned from trying to keep them open while forging on with the hope the book would get better. There was little to no emotional connection with the characters for me in Unscripted, unlike Bunn's previous three books in the series. To quote myself from my Jan 12, 2020 post about the first three books in the Miramar series

The first three all bear the author's soft urging style that encourages the reader to turn page after page, not necessarily because of some climactic event, but rather because of a genuine caring for the characters and a yearning to see how their lives unfold.

This reviewer probably had to reread the book to find out what the &^%&% was going on!

So why did I put so much effort into this review? I think I had to convince myself there was something more there that I was missing. I even made the effort of a special library request to borrow this book through an interlibrary loan, so engaged was I with the first three books. Alas. My efforts were for naught. Davis Bunn is a very prolific writer but I will most definitely give his books a rest before seeking out others. Two stars. Not worth your time. I over-invested.

Ponder: Educated

Educated ©2018 by Tara Westover is a strong, very well-written book. This non-fiction memoir of a women raised in a survivalist Mormon family has accrued many accolades; a subset of them as listed in a Wikipedia entry for its author are

• Named the Book of the Year by the American Booksellers Association
• One of the New York Times's 10 Best Books of 2018
• Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Autobiography
• Amazon Editors' pick for the Best Book of 2018
• President Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year list
• Bill Gates's Holiday Reading list

First off, before addressing the content of the book I call attention to the cover art. The jacket illustration is by Swedish artist Patrik Svensson. I loved how he portrayed the mountain on which Tara Westover grew up as a the tip of a pencil. A sharpened No. 2 pencil screams school to me and recalls to me the line from the movie You've Got Mail, attributed to Nora Ephron, where Tom Hanks writes to Meg Ryan

Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

Tara is the youngest of seven children: Tony, Shawn, Tyler, Luke, Audrey, Richard, Tara. Presumably being homeschooled, there is no dedicated time for study. They are often pulled from lessons or book-learning to work in the family's scrapping and junk yard business or else to stock up supplies (gasoline, ammunition, preserved foods) for when they must be totally self-sufficient at the point in time where the world about them "inevitably" disintegrates and ceases to function. Their parents permit no medical care for them other than the mother's herbal remedies, leaving their healing from sickness or a myriad of serious accidents "in God's hands". It is intimated that the father suffers from an undiagnosed bipolar disorder. The mother is subservient to the father. An older brother Shawn has violent tendencies. It is a wonder that Tara "escapes" this environment. Note here that my choice of word "escape" is in itself pejorative, as if I am insinuating superiority to a chosen life style.

Tara Westover, who never went to grade school or high school and never earned a GED (General Education Development) certificate was ultimately able to receive advanced higher education degrees: a BA from Brigham Young University, MPhil from Trinity College, a visiting fellow at Harvard, and a PhD in history from Cambridge. Was she able to do this without alienating her family? That is a struggle. A good, pious Morman woman's place is in the kitchen of her home tending to husband and children. Two of Tara's five brothers earned doctorates, Tyler and Richard. There is no memoirs for them to discern if their familial struggle as males was any less difficult.

This book haunted me in a way that I sought out other reviews on the book and supplemental information about the author and her family. There was a YouTube clip of Tara's visit on the Ellen Degeneres Show that gives good overview of the book. Interesting enough, Tara's brother Shawn and her brother Tyler each wrote contrasting reviews on Amazon. 

A YouTube conversation between Tara Westover and Bill Gates gave me true pause for thought. I have heard the divisiveness in the United States can be attributed to the conflict between "poorly educated" rural America and the "cluelessly educated" urban America. The "upset" in the 2016 presidential election was reputed to be a cry from struggling Americans in places like the rust belt to be heard. Tara Westover makes a statement in her conversation with Bill Gates that she thinks of "education as a great mechanism of connecting and equalizing but it can be a little frightening when education become an instrument of division." Not understanding the beliefs of those in a different socio-economic situation or different religious beliefs can be harmful to cohesiveness.

The writing style is easily absorbed, the true life characters are many-dimensional and engaging, the storyline is impressive, and the emotional involvement of the reader is inevitable. Based on quality, I have to reluctantly rate it five stars which in my personal  rating system translates to Great! Read it!. Why reluctantly? While reading it, I was appalled at some of the practices and injuries experienced by the characters; so, in all honesty, I cannot say I enjoyed Educated. 

• If you are reading for enlightenment or for probing mental stimulation, this book is a gem.
• If you are supremely curious what all the buzz about this book is, then definitely invest your time.
• If you are reading for a pure, pleasurable past-time, this memoir is too intense and heart-wrenching. 

I do not at all regret reading it, but I will admit that seeing the suffering of the siblings as well as that of the father and the mother was hard to take.