Holy molly Tara girl, I need you to help yourself a little. Charles and her roommate are doing so much for her, but at some point, she has to realize that she has to let go of her family.

No one can save her except herself.

I have mixed feelings about Tyler

Also, I was disgusted by her lack of showering and basic hygiene.

Happy February! We're excited to kick off this month's read along of Rebecca Fallon's debut novel FAMILY DRAMA.

US readers, keep an eye out for a chance to snag a copy through a giveaway launching this week!

Tara mentions that in learning to parse out abstract religious doctrine she acquired her real education. That in doing this she learned the crucial skill of being patient when reading things she could not yet understand.

I find it interesting that Tara actually writes little about her early education. Her mother is barely mentioned but surely must have contributed something. Brilliance can only carry you so far, and I would have liked to know more.

I know, this is talked about all the time (or maybe I think it is, because I still can't wrap my head around this), but I'd like some input.

So, I come from a country where homeschooling is illegal, yes, you face repercussions that can end in a jail sentence, on the basis of neglect. The child has to stay in some sort of education until they turn 18. It is far from perfect, and there is still a lot that can be improved up on, which is why I can see where homeschooling can benefit a child: being able to focus on one or a handful of people, being able to chose what you teach and different curricula, getting to set a pace which can benefit your child, but from what I could gather there is really no baseline? Every state seems to have different mandates on what you need to homeschool a child (as a parent or guardian), there don't have to be any tests after a certain amount of time, or no topics that a mandatory? how do you get books? especially if your family isn't well of to invest into supplies? additionally, I feel like socializing your child is important, how would they know who they are, what interests them, what they don't like? I could also see this in Tara's story, when she talked about her and Tyler listening to music together for the first time, she didn't even know if she'd like it and then she became obsessed, besides the fact that she didn't even speak a lot with her brother because of his speech impediment. this also does not factor in the way homeschooling can make abuse easier (and also maybe more likely) to take place, since the child (or children) don't have a way to flee their environment, or worse, they don't even know what is happening to them is wrong. This for me can also be seen in the way their father is forcing the boys to do all this labour intensive, hard work, to the point they are losing fingers. while this may not be factored in as "classical" abuse, it clearly is to me. Tara's brothers weren't even doing it on their own volition (see: Tyler stealing away, so he can get in some sort of education until his father finds him) and all of them eventually leaving the home to pursue their own life. Tara has the problem that she was too young to even get to go to primary/elementary school, she does not know what it is like to be in education and to be educated (her mother had long given up on trying) and a few chapters earlier, when she talked about how her grandmother tried to get her out of it she was (understandably) scared.

I understand that Tara's experiences are unique, and not every homeschooled child feels this way, but I would like some different percpectives, especially if you were homeschooled, or know someone who was? what are your thoughts, are you more pro or against it? what especially benefited you? do you think there could be a nation wide mandate? have parents/guardians do courses before they are able to homeschool? homeschooling groups?

Cameron's aunt: "What happened to the jewelry I gave you? I thought for sure you'd have pawned that by now!"

Well, at least we're all fully aware and on the same page about Cameron being a complete piece of shit 💁🏻‍♀️

I can see from posts/reviews here that the general consensus is that Cameron is annoying and useless, but frankly I'm really enjoying his chapters.

It's not often you get absolute-loser-who-can't-get-it-together-to-save-their-life representation in books