Teacher Man

"What is education, anyway? What are we doing in this school? You can say you're trying to graduate so that you can go t college and prepare for a career. But fellow students, it's more than that. I've had to ask myself what the hell I'm doing in the classroom. I've worked out an equation for myself. On the left side of the blackboard I print a capital F, on the right side another capital F. I draw an arrow from the left to the right, from FEAR to FREEDOM" p.253

One word for this book by Frank McCourt. Love-hate. Seriously, it was not an easy read for me, as a matter of fact I found it frustrating sometimes reading his self-loathing which was really prominent in the first half of the book. It's like "Shuddup already!" To be fair, he was being honest, because the book is really about the autobiography of a man's teaching experience, from ground zero till the end. And I can't stand whingeing, at least not too much of it, so this book was really testing me.

But like a relationship, it needed time to grow, and it grew on me.

Description of self-loathing, misery aside, the book is honest. And honest is always good. He was really trying to tell his story, and yes, his story might not have the juicy bits a lot of fiction have. As a matter of fact, although this was meant as a story, I wouldn't count it so much as fiction. More an autobiography; hence, it was basically a first person narrative. 

What I especially liked about the story was how it was consistently about miserable experience but as the story unfolds, there was a different perspective attached to the miserable experiences, you can actually feel him grow and actually feel thankful he is growing. Perhaps that's the quiet attraction of the book, it's an everyday story of you and mine, but so much of life lessons when put down in writing as a whole. 

The saving grace of the book was its ending, probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it. The moment I read it, I had a huge grin on my face and I closed the book with satisfaction. Shan't spoil it for you, you may not even think it's an ending ;)

Overall, I think the book requires a certain patience to read. It was lovely company over my two weeks trip in Europe. Nevertheless, still a good book I would recommend. Engage in it, and you'll soon realise the quiet significance of its bits and pieces.

(Image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/92/Teacher_Man_(Frank_McCourt_memoir)_cover_art.jpg/200px-Teacher_Man_(Frank_McCourt_memoir)_cover_art.jpg)

"Find what you love and do it. That's what it boils down to. I admit I didn't always love teaching. I was out of my depth" p.255