Educated: A memoir

Title: Educated: A Memoir

Author: Tara Westover

Format: Audiobook

Narrator: Julia Whelan

Source: Public Library

Rating: 4.25

Wow, I am not sure where to start on this review.  This story reminded me of Jenna Hill’s book Beyond Belief. The whole time I had to keep reminding myself that Westover is only a few years younger than me.  She grew up in a small town in Idaho with a Mormon family.  Westover’s dad was a conspiracy theorist and didn’t trust the government, doctors, or really anyone but himself.  His wife was an herbalist and they homeschooled their children.  Westover was cut off from the world.  Homeschooling was more or less just looking at a book, her science book was that was for small children.  Her older brother Tyler helped her find a love in music.  When he left for college her life was never quite the same.  But she found she could sing and started singing and then performing.  One problem was her dad was a zealot.  So when she had to wear a dress she was then labeled a whore.  She also had a tumultuous relationship with her brother Sean who was given to violent fits of rage.  Sean also loves to dominate.  He treats a young girl who likes him with utter indifference as he makes her go get him candy bars.  Tara sees this and understand.

As Tara goes away to college which is something her father disapproves of because colleges are organized by socialist who turn women into whores.  Tara finds out quickly how much she does not know.  Having a father who did not teach her about the world but about his form of domination through religion, and how to prepare for end times Tara has so much to learn.  Not knowing basic things like the Holocaust and how to actually prepare for a test college does not come easy.

Tara finds the line between this new world and the world of her family turning into a wall.  She wants to still connect with her family who she loves dearly but wants them to come to her understanding of the world.  As she confronts her family they push her away.  This story is at times heartbreaking, unbelievable, and eye-opening all at the same time.  If a third of what is discussed in this memoir is true, most of us have had a very normal easy life and really need to stop complaining so much.