A review by comrade_stina
Educated by Tara Westover

5.0

I finished this about a week ago and I’m still thinking about it. This book made me really think about a lot of different things. Things aren’t black and white, people are not good and evil (although some come close).

Tara’s family clearly love each other and value family loyalty but there’s no doubt it’s an abusive family. Again they aren’t evil but not good either. I struggled to fully fathom the emotions going into play here. For me my big take away is the role of ignorance

People are not born to fear or to hate, and it’s not necessarily taught either. It is the lack of knowledge that causes these emotions. Ignorance begets intolerance. At one point Tara’s brother spends a summer referring to her as “nigger” because she was so blackened by grease. That summer Tara didn’t care, she even laughed about it. However once we went to college and learned about the civil rights movement her entire view of the world changed. That summer when he calls her “nigger” she’s upset and tells him off. It is only through being educated can she rise above. It is education that makes our world bigger, we see outside of ourselves and grow