Educated

I am going to keep this review simple, of all the books I have read, and of all the books I have logged and rated on here, this is the only book I feel deserves 5 stars.

Powerful story of self-authorship, grit, resiliency, and the diaspora that can be created within a family due to the choice to live your truest and most authentic life. For most or all first-generation students, you may find a lot of yourself reflected in some of the challenges that are addressed in Dr. Westover’s account. The journey to self-understanding is a long and hard road and Educated makes that journey a little easier.

I press 5 stars here because I don’t really know how else to “rate” this book, and I feel like I don’t even really have the right/authority to do so. It feels too intimate to slap a rating on, so clearly someone’s deeply personal story in a way I don’t ever remember feeling from reading any other memoir.

This was a difficult read, yet, as many said before me, one you can’t put down. (I know that I’m late to this memoir, as most of my friends read it at its peak in popularity a couple years ago.)

Some of the author’s most striking words to me were ones I found in the notes following the memoir itself: “We are all of us more complicated than the roles we are assigned in the stories other people tell. This is especially true in families.” (https://a.co/idd8KBH) The controversy surrounding this book only further deepens its meaning for me—it screams out how real these people are and how this is truly part of the present. These are real people’s lives.

It is, at its heart, a poignant story of overcoming the fiercest of obstacles. It leaves you both heartbroken and inspired—it leaves you with both shame and pride to be a member of the human race. Tara Westover’s voice will not soon leave my mind.

Man, what a book. Westover chronicles her upbringing in a fundamentalist Christian family which, if it is not quite survivalist enough for some readers, is more than enough to be going on with for those of us who were raised secular suburbanites.

Her father’s undiagnosed bipolar resulted in recklessness with heavy machinery around the children, and intense paranoia about the End of Days.

There are several frightening accounts of her brother’s physical and verbal abuse towards the entire family; and her mother tries to placate her but never takes the step of going against her father.

Even in a childhood bereft of medicines and schooling, in a perpetually cluttered house, there are bright spots: her brother Tyler leaving her his music, for instance.

Even though she’s probably exceptionally intelligent - most of us aren’t destined for Cambridge - Westover’s eventual emancipation feels like a triumph.

An amazing account of how education truly shaped one woman’s life. I’m not normally one who reads memoirs, but I found that I could not put this book down. Heartbreaking at times, I cannot begin to imagine what Tara must have gone through and how strong she is. Highly recommend this book!

I have decidedly mixed feelings about this book.

It generated a lot of buzz when it was published, so some of you might already be familiar with it. I haven't dug into the general impressions about this book but I believe there might be a bit of controversy surrounding it, and specifically how Tara chooses to tell her story.

It's the biography of a young woman who grew up under a fundamentalist, survivalist, and extremely paranoid Mormon father in the rurals of Idaho, so cut off from society that the first time she heard about the Holocaust was in a college classroom, and that only after years of hardship and heartbreak as she worked to free herself from her parents' control.

It's written in a frank, open, but eloquent style that doesn't hold back, and it asks some hard, honest questions and prompts a great deal of thought. It wasn't easy to read (or, rather, to listen to), but it was incredibly intriguing.

Wow! What a beautiful and powerful memoir about the cycle of abuse, self-determination, and the power of education. Tara paints a raw picture of what her childhood was like and the emotional ramifications of trying to cope with it. It was dark and frustrating to read at times. How can so many oblivious and incompetent people around them enable this sort of behavior?

Inspiring and emotional, Educated is a book that will stick with me forever.

Too forgiving of organized religion

"dwarfed by the mountain, hushed by the wind"

A strong 3.8 of a book, insane family dynamic that almost permanently altered her life and thought patterns. Makes you more aware of the psychological reactions people have towards their authority figures.

I really didn't want to read this book. I'm not usually a fan of memoirs and I thought this book had way too much hype. But, my book club picked it out and since I started the book club, I figured I should be a good sport. I was blown away. I can't imagine growing up the way Tara did and still managing to earn a PhD. I think I hated nearly everyone in this book for enabling abuse and ignorance and chaos. Tara has extraordinary strength and self-conviction.

I was so fascinated by this book, I gave play-by-play recaps to my husband, my hair stylist, my coworkers, my relatives, my friends, random people at the grocery store. I also googled all the family members and their essential oils business. What can I say? I'm nosy.