Autobiography

Educated

Author: Tara Westover

Average Rating:   4 / 5

Trigger Warnings:

As a child Tara Westover had never set foot in a classroom. She’d never tried Tylenol and ‘Holocaust’ was a strange and meaningless word. Born deep in the mountains of Idaho to survivalist parents, she was taught to prepare for the end of a world that she did not know. Stockpiling homemade and scavenged supplies, she spent summers gathering herbs for her mother’s home remedies and winters scrapping in the family junkyard.

It was hard and sometimes dangerous work, isolated as they were from medical facilities. Every illness was treated at home by her mother’s herbalism. Scrapes or bruises, all the way up to serious cuts, even injuries from explosions. There were no teachers, no doctors, and no social workers. No one to fight for Tara and her siblings, to make sure that they would be sent to school or to protect Tara from a violent older brother. 

Reaching the end of her limits, Tara takes hold of her life and education. She knows that the only road out of the hills will be the one that she paves for herself. Managing to teach herself enough to pass the minimum requirements, Tara is accepted to Brigham Young University where her eyes are opened to the world. She focuses on history and literature, exploring the world and important events such as the civil rights movement and World War II. Her insatiable appetite to learn will take her as far as Harvard and Cambridge. 

Only when she’s traveled across the ocean will she wonder how much her education cost. Is it still possible to go home? Educated is more than an impressive story of a girl who has never attended school becoming a young woman with a doctorate. Tara’s education will involve more than just book-learning. Join her on her journey of self-invention and as she learns how to carry the costs of fighting for your right to discover the world and your place in it.

Corinna : 4/5

I am writing this review years after I finished the book, so my thoughts will be brief, but that does not take away from the awe-inspiring story of Tara Westover. I vividly remember not wanting to believe that this was really someone’s childhood and being absolutely shocked that Westover was my age! It felt like this depiction of childhood couldn’t be in the same time period as my own life. I grew up in a fairly natural or “crunchy” home environment, but Westover’s family took it to the extreme, no medical care at all, even for serious injuries. She truly is a survivor. I wanted to reach through the book and take her far away from her life. Westover is so resilient and determined, and yet she overcame all of it by sheer will and determination, and the power of education. My only critique is that sometimes her use of descriptors did not match the subject and felt overdone or forced, but overall I would recommend Educated to anyone.

Lydia : 4/5

This book was extremely refreshing to read. Westover recounts her past, analyzes her present and explains what she wants as a future. I personally felt that this book was her truth which is what made it so captivating to read. 

Westover mentions a few times in the book that she isn’t sure if her memory of events were perfectly depicted and that her family members might tell a slightly different story. For this type of genre and book, I think that this fact only added to the story, as you try to picture different ways that the events that she is unfolding could have occurred. 

To be honest, a book like this would be so hard to write and I thought she did a great job at depicting every character as crucial to her evolving story. I also thought that she portrayed her characters very well. The development of them was phenomenal in that although there were “villains” in her life, she also told you the good about them, so that you found yourself sympathizing with her story more and even at some points, getting very emotional and frustrated with the different characters.

It had me hooked the entire time I was reading it and I can’t wait to read another book by her. 

Sharaya : 4/5

I’m so glad I read this for book club because this book needs to be discussed! There were so many things in her growing up years that filled me with fury, and it was absolutely fascinating to see the world through her eyes as she experienced things that I take for granted.  However, I did find that I was livid a lot of the time because of the abuse that she experienced.  It made me want to throw the book across the room more than once.  

One critique that I had is that Westover sometimes utilized overly flowery phrases.  In a book that was filled with such brutality, the attempts at overdone literary sentiments were jarring.  It felt forced, like she was trying to make the story what it wasn’t. The style did not match the subject matter.  

As someone who has struggled with self-esteem issues in the past, it was particularly difficult to read about her own struggles with self-worth. I completely understood where she was coming from, and I so wanted to slip into the pages to talk to her and reassure her of her value.

To access a printable list of 10 book club questions, please click here.