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A review by emilynied
Educated by Tara Westover
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I listened to this book as an audiobook, which in my opinion, really enhanced the reading experience for this memoir. The reader is immediately thrust into Tara Westover's world from a small child to a young adult, and her world was far different from one that you or I grew up in. Westover has such a way of commanding her audience through words and keeping you engaged with her stories about preparing for the end of the world and singing in church.
I thought the pacing was done so well in this book, developing chronologically through the years and it really starts to pick up when Westover decides to attend college after a long and arduous contemplation. You feel the tension between her and her family, and her present self and her past self, in the words and sentences she strings together and with the anecdotes she recalls. I feel like an insider on the relationship between her and her father, and every time Westover details a return to her home in Idaho, you feel a part of your own heart break along with hers. She's incredibly honest, and despite my dislike of her family, she never quite hates them in the way that you think she should. I feel like that was the most honest thing she could have written. She reflects upon her past in such a beautiful way and the reader is along for the journey of self-reflection and growth. Westover is SO incredibly smart - she managed to attend college at BYU, goes across the country and then across the world to Trinity College. She goes from a homeschooled survivalist in rural Idaho to a PhD holder in intellectual history. I kinda feel honored to have read her story.
Like I wrote before, I think the "worst" part of this book was reading about Tara returning to her home again and again, even though the reader knows she might end up hurt, from her father, her brother or her mother. And I think the best part of the book is how honest she is about it. We know why Westover keeps returning home, because it's home. She's honest. Even though her family has done her wrong and she has persevered, she never really faults them for it.
I thought the pacing was done so well in this book, developing chronologically through the years and it really starts to pick up when Westover decides to attend college after a long and arduous contemplation. You feel the tension between her and her family, and her present self and her past self, in the words and sentences she strings together and with the anecdotes she recalls. I feel like an insider on the relationship between her and her father, and every time Westover details a return to her home in Idaho, you feel a part of your own heart break along with hers. She's incredibly honest, and despite my dislike of her family, she never quite hates them in the way that you think she should. I feel like that was the most honest thing she could have written. She reflects upon her past in such a beautiful way and the reader is along for the journey of self-reflection and growth. Westover is SO incredibly smart - she managed to attend college at BYU, goes across the country and then across the world to Trinity College. She goes from a homeschooled survivalist in rural Idaho to a PhD holder in intellectual history. I kinda feel honored to have read her story.
Like I wrote before, I think the "worst" part of this book was reading about Tara returning to her home again and again, even though the reader knows she might end up hurt, from her father, her brother or her mother. And I think the best part of the book is how honest she is about it. We know why Westover keeps returning home, because it's home. She's honest. Even though her family has done her wrong and she has persevered, she never really faults them for it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Emotional abuse