Educated by Tara Westover is so difficult to read. I didn’t pick it up at first because I thought it was a book by a celebrity of some sort. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I just don’t have any particular interest in those kinds of books. But then, I think I came across this book on Reddit and realized it might not be what I thought it was. (Huh, what a timely thing to say, considering this book is all about realizing things aren’t always what they seem.)
So I decided to read it, and I suffered with her in each chapter. But it’s also impossible to put down. As you might have guessed, I did finish it, and well… I like it.
But it feels weird to say I like it because this is a memoir, and the things that happened to her aren’t something to be liked. This story is about Tara Westover, who grew up in a Mormon family. They are survivalists, meaning they believe the end of days is coming and that they must do everything to prepare for it. So Tara did not really enjoy her childhood (my assumption) because they always had to work their butts off, even at a young age. Plus, her dad had a deep distrust of the government, so they didn’t believe in modern medicine and instead relied on home remedies, even after huge car accidents and other serious injuries. Tara was also badly mistreated by her brother, which was really, really painful to read.
What I like about this memoir is that it doesn’t try to convince you to believe her, or to like her, or to take her side. Tara is not cruel, and you can see this in the way she tries her best to understand her father and why he believes in the things he does. She struggles between forming her own thoughts and making up her own mind, while also trying to follow her family’s wishes and stay connected with them rather than be cast out.
And these things are just so hard to grapple with. When she started going to school at age 17, her first formal education after being inconsistently and informally homeschooled, she had to wrestle with the reality she had known from her father versus the world telling her otherwise. The way these new ideas affected her relationship with her family was just devastating.
It’s wild. Big. World-breaking. Questioning yourself all the time about what to believe, while trying to absorb everything outside the world you grew up in, and figuring out what you think is real. I relate to this kind of dilemma because I felt really sheltered too, and when I went to a big school for college, it was overwhelming. But Tara’s experience is on a whole different level, and I can really feel the weight of it.
I also feel like this memoir is honest. I read Crying in H Mart, which felt like the author couldn’t decide where she stood, whether to hate or not to hate her mother. It felt like she was trying hard to look like a good kid while still venting and ranting about her mom, trying to make sure people wouldn’t dislike her for it.
This one doesn’t have that kind of back-and-forth. Tara is a thoughtful writer, and she makes it clear when her memories are blurry or when she’s unsure if something happened exactly the way she remembers it. She helps us sit with that uncertainty, which I think is so important in a memoir. Because memories shift, time changes how we remember things, and the emotions we carry can affect how we tell our story. I really, really like that.
This book is heartbreaking. Intense. And I genuinely hope Tara is living a peaceful life now. Maybe even a family reunion someday where things get talked out instead of ignored or buried.
Such a powerful reading experience. A great memoir. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something honest and striking. Just a heads-up though, it’s a heavy read, and it touches on a lot of difficult topics that might be upsetting for some readers.
Have you read this book? If you have, share your thoughts in the comments! If not, let me know if it’s on your list! ❤️
Leave a Reply