Educated by Tara Westover
Published by Random House Audio on February 2019Genres: Memoir
Pages: 334
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought
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Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag". In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard.
Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent.
Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty and of the grief that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes and the will to change it.
Even if you haven’t read Educated, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve seen the very distinct cover of this NYT bestseller. It’s everywhere.
My bookclub’s August pick, this book was every bit worth the hype. And I never want to read it again.
Westover recounts her upbringing in extreme circumstances with a possibly mentally ill survivalist father and her quiet and devout mother. Along with her sometimes abusive brothers and sisters, she tells the story of how, with no formal education, she became educated and went onto earn degrees and study at some of the world’s top universities.
I don’t want to talk about it too much because the book really needs to be experienced. There’s a lot of uncomfortable and awful things that happens in that family. Physical and mental and emotional abuse, bullying, extreme health situations. It’s almost too crazy, like how is this even possible in this day and age? How did some of these people survive? This book brought out some real anxiety and deep feelings for me. I wanted to know what happened but at the same time, had a hard time picking it up over and over. If it wasn’t for bookclub, I probably would have stopped reading and shelved it for a while.
Westover is an interesting narrator. I felt for her but was also super frustrated by her and her family’s bad decisions over and over. The writing is solid, the story intriguing but it’s so sad, so uncomfortable I never want to read about it again. It’s like watchingg a train wreck in slow motion, but instead of the trains hitting once, they keep backing up and colliding again and again and again.
Educated is a very good memoir that should be read. It’s worth the hype.
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Kimberly majored in Songwriting and currently works full time in the music industry. When she's not listening to music, knitting or writing, you can find her outside reading her favorite genres: Young Adult, Adult Fiction, Mystery, and Romance.
“What other Memoirs can you recommend?” Patrick Leigh Fermor’s memoir in three volumes, which begins with “A Time Of Gifts.”
I will check that out. Thank you!
I’d seen this book, but never really read what it was about until your post. Wow! this book will be eye-opening to me, someone who thankfully has been blessed with a life so unlike this author’s. I can recommend My Life in France by Julia Child.
Oh that’s great. Thanks for the nice words. I hope you read Educated.
Also, thanks for the recommendation. I am fascinated by Julia Child but have not read her memoir yet. I will have to check that out! 🙂
I just read the book Audrey: A Cherished Memory that was great.