Title: Educated    

Author: Tara Westover  

Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir       

Publisher: Harper Collins  

Format: Paperback

Pages: 352

Rating:5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her “head-for-the-hills bag”. In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father’s junkyard.

Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent.

Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty and of the grief that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one’s life through new eyes and the will to change it.

Review:

I typically like to read non fiction memoirs through audiobook format while I drive to work as I usually get bored with non fiction! But this one I didn’t get bored with and it was so good! This was another club pick and I’m thinking I should have my students pick my reads more often! Because this was so good!

Tara is a young girl who grows up with a family who prepares for the end of the world. They don’t trust the government and therefore the family uses herbalism for medicine and they don’t go to school. So the fact that the first time Tara went to school was at BYU for university is mind boggling! She then went on to get an undergraduate, masters, and then a PhD and then wrote this beautiful memoir! You can really feel the struggle she has with her family and she’s torn between loving them fiercely and resenting their way of life! This is such a beautiful read and I highly recommend it!

Happy reading!