Educated by Tara Westover

Memoir, nonfiction   

There wasn’t a doubt about which book I was going to read for my required summer reading. After having been to about 37 states in the United States, Idaho being one of them, my mom encouraged me to read it without a second guess. She listened to the audio version while I read, and now I will go into grave detail about how intense this story was. For those of you who don’t know the synopsis, this story follows the life of Tara Westover and how she grew up in Bucks Peak, Idaho without stepping foot into a school before she went to college. It is an inspiring, deep, and twisted story that I can say with certainty, has struck me like no other book has. 

Tara never had a birth certificate until she was nine years old, until then she legally did not exist. She and her six siblings were taught how to live and strive when the world would end by their God-believing father. By the end of the story, Tara has earned her Ph.D., completed a fellowship at Harvard, graduated from Brigham Young College, and studied abroad in Cambridge. Before Tara entered the city and society, she has never heard of the Civil Rights Movement, the Holocaust, or the truth behind the N-word. It was astonishing how brainwashed one can be swayed when they are not able to confide in the true history of the world through the internet, books, and school. This is such an interesting and heart-wrenching story about growing up, leaving one’s past beliefs, and asking questions that society would shun for asking.   

When it came to Tara’s siblings, I really felt like I saw I piece of myself in Tyler through his love of music, education, and wanting to accomplish whatever he wanted, no matter how far it took him away from his roots. By the end of this book Tara and two of her siblings had gotten their Ph.Ds while the others stayed settled in Buck’s Peak, under the clouded filter of their father’s beliefs. From abuse to wanting to experience love without being reminded of what sin was, this story was beautifully devastating and more people need to read this. I think this story gives us an insight into the fact that society needs to learn how to see past one’s past or appearance to trust that they want no evil, only truth. 

I am so glad that I read this book and I am now on the hunt to find more similar stories or memoirs. Thank you to whoever reads these reviews and I hope that you have a good life! I will try to post a couple more reviews before my school year starts, yaaaaaaa.