Book Review – Educated

Here Is A Brief Synopsis Of The Book Stole From Amazon:

Tara Westover wasn’t your garden variety college student. When the Holocaust was mentioned in a history class, she didn’t know what it was (no, really). That’s because she didn’t see the inside of a classroom until the age of seventeen. Public education was one of the many things her religious fanatic father was dubious of, believing it a means for the government to brainwash its gullible citizens, and her mother wasn’t diligent on the homeschooling front. If it wasn’t for a brother who managed to extricate himself from their isolated—and often dangerous–world, Westover might still be in rural Idaho, trying to survive her survivalist upbringing. It’s a miraculous story she tells in her memoir Educated. For those of us who took our educations for granted, who occasionally fell asleep in large lecture halls (and inconveniently small ones), it’s hard to grasp the level of grit—not to mention intellect—required to pull off what Westover did. But eventually earning a PhD from Cambridge University may have been the easy part, at least compared to what she had to sacrifice to attain it. The courage it took to make that sacrifice was the truest indicator of how far she’d come, and how much she’d learned. Educated is an inspiring reminder that knowledge is, indeed, power. –Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book Review

The review failed to mention the story of abuse the author suffered at the hands of her brother, making her achievements that much more incredible.

I’m glad I read this book and found what Tara Westover was able to achieve, in spite of her circumstance, pretty amazing. I did not find her to be the greatest story teller, which is not terribly surprising given that this is her first book but the story moved and I didn’t find it difficult to get through.

The book is a dark look into the effects mental health, extremist beliefs and abuse can take on the children exposed to it, it is also a testament to what the human spirit can overcome when we put our minds to it. I appreciated all the gray the book showed among difficult human relationships. Things are not always good or bad and right or wrong. We can love those that hurt us, we can remain loyal to those that don’t deserve it and we can have beautiful moments among the ugly ones especially when it comes to family dynamic. The book really highlighted this for me and I imagine it took a lot of courage to write.