Tara Westover’s book “Educated” is a distressing & discomforting - alarming & startling exposure of her Mormon fundamentalist family.

“Educated” is a memoir of nonfiction - but names and identifying details have been changed. Aaron, Audrey, Benjamin, Erin, Faye, Gene, Vanessa, Judy, Peter, Sadie, Shannon, Shawn, Susan, Robert, and Robin are pseudonyms.
Tara tells us in her authors notes:
“This is not about Mormonism. Neither is it about any other form of religious belief. In it there are many types of people, some believers, some not; some kind, some not. The author disputes any correlation, positive or negative, between the two”.
Yet....as I read this novel - I not only felt angry - sickened at times - but really conflicted too. I had duel thoughts from the beginning of this novel to the end. I ‘did’ think - in part this book was about Mormonism ( let’s call a spade a spade).
Tara and her siblings had backpacks filled with supplies to defend themselves ready to “head-for-the-hills” ....ready to run ( away from the government).
Her dad, Gene, feared that the government might one day try to intervene their lifestyle. They were living off the grid. The kids got no formal education, or medical care when sick or injured. Instead of going to the hospital when needed - thei mother, midwife/herbalist cared for them with alternative remedies.
The government might have even brought in social workers to evaluate the health their family. Abuse? YES! This family stayed hidden. Abuse in many forms was hidden.

Tara’s memoir-impart- also details ( summarizes) the transitions and challenges entering the academic world -Brigham Young University- Harvard- Cambridge ( PhD in History). Her educational journey was interesting — some of it maddening to me also ....
not faulting anyone - but it was painful for me to discover just how ‘much’ about the world - life changing world events a 7 year old knew - at age 17 she ‘didn’t’ know - yet somehow was studying at a University. I questioned ‘how was this even possible’? Amazing. Tara had great support from a church entering college...which was wonderful.

At times I felt frustrated ‘besides’ some greatly disturbing horrific frightening descriptions during Tara’s childhood.
Tara’s academic accomplishments were extraordinary—but I couldn’t find her voice. She seemed - fragile - and often so uncertain of herself.
This book is very well written - ( gloomy -perplexing - and wearisome at times from repetitive trips back home to seek validation from her family)- but it seemed her education brought her almost as much pain as it did inner fulfillment. Because Tara disputes any difference between negative and positive —admirable in ways —I had a hard time getting an experience of ‘HER’. I admit it’s my own frustration. This young girl had a childhood I could never fully comprehend- or know what scars remain...but the fact stands — she living proof that amazing change is possible. Tara calls that “an education”. Alright ....I agree....but I’m still sad and feel incomplete. ( it’s my problem - not hers).

There have been comparisons to this book and “The Glass Castle”. I understand that — but in reality they are presented very differently. Not only does Jeannette Walls not change any names in her book — she had just freedom to go on National television with her homeless mother. She didn’t need to hide or change identifying details. Tara Westover felt the need to keep names hidden. ( less freedom between the author and her readers for full- self expression). I understand- but a little less satisfying.

I DO FEEL THIS BOOK OUGHT TO BE READ ....
I DO SEE THIS BOOK’S IMPORTANCE....a story about an American family living by their own rules - ignoring others who don’t follow their beliefs.
WE SEE TARA WESTOVER’S SKILLFUL LYRICISM in this book....very impressive— one of the most inspiring aspects to me. With her achievements, education, and talent, we got a well-written fascinating SAD STORY.


I will think about Tara - worry & wonder about her in years to come. It killed me that Tara continued time and time again to seek validation - I’m not sure it’s over.
She kept going home to a place where her own brother tried to kill her —
She almost begged her mother to see her time and time again too— it was soooo painful to me that her mother rejected her ——but just as painful that Tara kept needing their approval. All so sad. I UNDERSTAND....yet I can’t see who she is through her own behavior.

Tara has an inspiring academic education— a relationship with 3 of her siblings but trying to regain a relationship with her parents - her violent brother - and even one of her sisters she was once very close to was like trying to get blood from a turnip....it just wasn’t possible. It made for very frustrating reading.

Why did Tara keep trying to fill her heart with the family that rejected her several times? And were abusive? And can a book education take that pain away? These are questions that lingered with me.

Tara had a sweet - warm- soft voice on NPR. Her interviewer called her dad a ‘character’. She agreed. All light and fluffy.
Tara share About MANY HAPPY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES on NPR. I was a little confused listening to her. Was she happy or angry? She seemed so happy about her childhood. Huh? Yet for years she suffered abuse which she tells us in her book.
On NPR:
She said the junkyard was playful and exotic, but was dangerous....but also fun.
She said the Mountain where she grew up was magical and beautiful.....but they were closed off from the rest of the world.

Duality....duality...duality ...... is a word that Tara used over and over again on NPR. Tara see’s two sides to her entire life. I felt a little “duality” in this story myself. I still feel Tara herself is hidden from this story.
Can’t put my finger on it. But one thing does hit home — we can’t meet the rest of her family like we were able to of Jeannette Walls. So - this is clearly TARA’S memoir....and I’ll respect it at that.

This is a valuable powerful read but I’m guessing there might be more to this story one day.

Thank You Netgalley, Random House, and Tara Westover ( congrats to you on your book - may you continue to find inner peace and happiness)

4.4 Stars

I enjoyed reading this book as the author is very intelligent, and was very good at describing how she felt emotionally at being raised by a parent who was obviously bipolar and paranoid. As a child, you want to please your parents but then as your world expands and you have a mentally unstable parent, you begin to rely more on your own judgement. I had a similar experience growing up, and you realize that it takes two to tango. My mother was just as guilty for participating in the relationship. It is lucky that the author survived her childhood and became successful.

Tara Westover was seventeen 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.

This was such a powerful, beautiful and enlightening read. I don’t read memoirs often, not because I don’t enjoy, but it affects me on such a personal level. It’s hard to review this book with positive words because I have such strong negative feelings against her parents and one of her brothers. I couldn’t even attempt to describe without giving spoilers. I will say, her father is a religious paranoid fanatic, and very volatile who hid behind his religion. Her mother didn’t deserve to be a mother and there is special place in hell for her brother Shawn.

I have so much respect for Tara, from overcoming adversity, extreme family obstacles and having the resourcefulness to leave a very unhealthy environment, to obtain an education and give herself a better life. I have watched a couple of her interviews and listened to a podcast, and I feel she is still kind of defending her father and giving excuses for his behavior. I am not saying this as judgement because I have no clue how I would react in this situation, but I just truly do not understand the defense of these people.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House and the author for a free advanced copy.

Some stories leave you speechless and leave a lasting impression on your heart and soul. It was one of those stories. It was Captivating, emotional, heartbreaking and at the same time uplifting , thought provoking and awe inspiring. Extremely well written. This story should be a must read for all.

I think my feelings about this book were negatively impacted by having read it so soon after Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone. Hannah’s fictional work covered some of the same themes as this memoir: a survivalist father suffering from mental illness, geographic isolation, an abusive family dynamic. I also was left with so many questions about how Tara Westover was able to close such an enormous educational gap with what appeared to be such limited support.

Educated was a hard to read, but so well written memoir. It was awe inspiring to read of Tara’s journey, especially once she started schooling. What an amazingly accomplished life she’s lead so far, despite the hardships she’s faced.

One of the best memoirs I have read in a long time. There were times when I was so angry at the way the writer was treated by her family. I rarely read a memoir that I could not put down, but this was as interesting as any thriller I've read. Her parents and brother treated her badly, but she did not seem to be bitter. I was glad when she decided to make a complete break from them. This is a case of extreme religion doing more harm than good. The book left me wanting to know more about the writer's life.

All through this book I just kept thinking: "How is this even possible?" The fact that you can have kids and nobody knows they exist, to be able to stay under the radar, unvaccinated and unschooled, it just sounds implausible, yet this fascinating personal history proves differently. It is also the best proof of the positive force education can be in a person's life. Mental health issues, abuse, and the Mormon religion are at the heart of this story, but first and foremost it shows that strength of character and intelligence will always come out on top. I enjoyed this book because the author's voice is authentic and because in spite of the incredibly difficult start in life she managed to become stronger and, however painful it was, she understood that sometimes you have to make a clean break with family. Definitely, something for my older students to read and learn from.

"My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs."

"My father and I looked at the temple. He saw God; I saw granite. We looked at each other. He saw a woman damned; I saw an unhinged old man, literally disfigured by his beliefs."

Educated is a memoir of Tara Westover's unusual upbringing in a fundamentalist Mormon household in rural Idaho. It is a heartbreaking, gritty account of life in a family who believes the Second Coming is near, who abandon formal education for homeschooling, Western medicine for essential oils and herbs, and the outside world for family. God, Westover's parents reasoned, would provide, and His will would be done without the perceived constraints of the external world.

Had I not spent the last 9 years in Idaho, I might not believe that some of Westover's story could possibly be true. Reading about how Westover's parents eschewed hospitals when their children had severe injuries and burns, ripped seatbelts out of their cars because God was in control, and avoided public schooling because they perceived the government as corrupt and sinful was not shocking or surprising to me. The extreme remoteness of much of Idaho's geography allows radical groups to flourish and go unnoticed by local authorities, giving them complete control and reign over their children and sometimes even local communities. For Westover this meant that any abuse she suffered at the hands of her parents and brothers would stay within her household until she could pry her way out of it tooth and nail.

The most miraculous part of Westover's story doesn't involve God but rather Westover's sheer will to access education and break free from her family's toxic household. In order to access college, she had to carve out time to study books on the ACT, a college entrance exam. Her father makes this hard, forcing her to work in his junk yard during the day, salvaging and sorting through brittle, dangerously sharp metal to be resold. Westover has to petition the county clerk for a formal birth certificate since she and her siblings were born at home; her mother cannot remember what year or month she was born.

Westover's admittance to the Mormon Brigham Young University is met with familial disdain. In one instance, her parents throw all her clothes out in the rain when they find out she is heading back to college. When she comes home in between breaks at college, her father tries to assert control and authority over her as does her abusive and violent brother, Shawn. Both want her to be back in the fold, and try to manipulate her to stay through both emotional and physical violence. Ultimately, her choice to pursue an education forces her to make a choice between her parents and the siblings who work for them and the siblings who have left her family's homestead for education and a life beyond their purview. Her parents convince her uneducated siblings that Westover has been turned by the devil, and tell them she is not welcome back home.

It is education (hence the title of the book, "Educated") that thus creates a vast chasm between Westover's siblings and parents; two of her brothers left home and managed to get Ph.D.s, both of whom choose education over their family, and both of whom become lifeboats for Westover. Education makes Westover realize just how much of her inner world was controlled and conditioned by her father and mother. Like a number of fundamentalist groups in Idaho, Westover's father preached that slavery was good, "that slaves in colonial times were happier and more free than their masters, because the masters were burdened with the cost of their care." Westover discovers how anti-Semitism colored her understanding of the past when she takes an introductory course on Western civilization at Brigham Young. Her parents never taught her about the Holocaust, leading to a series of intellectually embarrassing moments for her at college.

Because Westover was deprived of what many Americans consider common knowledge, the outside world is daunting for her. Westover was not merely deprived of a formal education; she was also deprived of the very knowledge she would need to survive in daily life. Since her parents were anti-government and believed that the Illuminati had infiltrated the US government, she had no idea how any sort of formalized processes worked. Her parents didn't have auto insurance. They didn't register their cars. They avoided hospitals at all costs. Westover has to learn to navigate everything on her own. Visiting a doctor for the first time is terrifying. She has never done it before, so she takes a friend with her to help. When she's prescribed antibiotics for strep throat and mono, she's scared to take the medicine:

"I thought of Mother, and of the many times she'd told me that antibiotics poison the body, that they cause infertility and birth defects. That the spirit of the Lord cannot dwell in an unclean vessel, and that no vessel is clean when it forsakes God and relies on man. Or maybe Dad had said that last part."

For readers unfamiliar with extremist religious groups, this is an eye-opening tale of personal redemption and struggle amid a violent, abusive upbringing. This book offers more than just a shocking account of life in a fundamentalist household, however. It is breathtakingly written. Passages like the one below make the story come to life and feel as though you were in the author's shoes:

"For two days we explored Rome, a city that is both a living organism and a fossil. Bleached structures from antiquity lay like dried bones, embedded in pulsating cables and thrumming traffic, the arteries of modern life."

Thank you to the author, Tara Westover, the publisher, Random House, and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of Educated.

I don’t usually read memoirs, but I couldn’t put this one down. It first appealed to me because I work in education, but Westover’s story is a good read for anyone. At times, I caught myself asking, “why didn’t the author do this with the story?” Then I had to remind myself that it is because it is a memoir and not fiction. That’s how incredible Westover’s story is. I think that Educated was intended for an adult audience, but I would also recommend it for young adults heading out into the world. Educated is a reminder of what grit and determination can mean for one’s life.

So this book is billed as being along the same lines as The Glass Castle

My little nothing opinion falls around something like this.


Tara grows up in a different kind of family. Her dad knows that the end of the world is coming and makes sure his family is always ready. He has them preparing food constantly, digs a shelter, does not believe in association with anything government (including doctors)...mom is a midwife that practices with herbal cures. The family has strong beliefs that center them on their mountain and away from worldly things. Including school. Technically, the story is that the family is homeschooled...but there is not a whole lot of schooling going on. Unless you count working the family junkyard. (That might get you killed.)

The family for the most part is okay with all this because of the simple fact that they just don't know anything else. Their dad is a force and his beliefs are held strong in the family. Tara had never heard of the Holocaust until she was almost an adult.

Tara decides she has to escape from some of her family pressures unless she wants to end up pregnant and following her meek mothers footsteps. Plus, she has an older brother that is so abusive that he turned my stomach.

So why didn't I fall all in love with this book? For me it repeated itself so much that I didn't think the story was ever going to move on. Some parts were just mind bogglingly boring and I almost threw it aside.
But then there were parts after the first half of the book that I couldn't read fast enough.
Go figure.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

Educated

by Tara Westover

Very few books leave me speechless, but Tara Westover’s memoir Educated is one of them. Well written, this is the author’s very personal story of growing up in a dysfunctional family with abuse of various types from several family members and later betrayal by others. Tara lived a secluded and physically difficult life with a large family dominated by an authoritative father with mental issues. He was an extremist Mormon with an antigovernment, end times, survivalist fixation.

Tara was supposedly homeschooled, but her education was basically nonexistent. She and several of her brothers in turn realized their only escape was through education. Self-taught, Tara scored high enough on her ACT test to qualify for admission to Brigham Young University as she turned 17. She was unprepared mentally and socially for a college experience. She did not even have basic hygiene skills.

Over the course of her academic education, she was confronted with multiple instances where the foundations of her beliefs from childhood were shattered by learning the true version of events. She was lied to, put in danger, and manipulated time after time. Tara’s journey to mental health and a new normalcy happened slowly and only after many confrontations with her family. Eventually she was forced by them to choose with whom her loyalties would lie and the direction of her life as an adult.

Educated is a powerful memoir and emotionally very difficult to read. Its focus on education, relationships, and faith results in a painful tale as Tara journeys from Idaho to Cambridge with forays to New England, Paris, Italy, and the Middle East—all places she could not even dream of because she previously knew nothing about them. This is a story that needed to be told, and one I am glad the author shared.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Random House for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Memoir

Notes: links provided by Random House

LISTEN to Tara’s NPR Fresh Air interview: https://www.npr.org/2018/02/20/587244230/memoirist-retraces-her-journey-from-survivalist-childhood-to-cambridge-ph-d
 
WATCH Tara’s CBS This Morning segment: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/tara-westovers-journey-from-off-the-grid-childhood-to-cambridge/
 
DISCUSS the book with your book club: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/550168/educated-by-tara-westover/9780399590504/readers-guide/

Publication: February 20, 2018—Random House

Memorable Lines:

I’d never learned how to talk to people who weren’t like us—people who went to school and visited the doctor. Who weren’t preparing, every day, for the End of the World.

“There’s a world out there, Tara,” he said. “And it will look a lot different once Dad is no longer whispering his view of it in your ear.”

It’s strange how you give the people you love so much power over you, I had written in my journal. But Shawn had more power over me than I could possibly have imagined. He had defined me to myself, and there’s no greater power than that.

In that moment part of me believed, as I had always believed, that it would be me who broke the spell, who caused it to break. When the stillness shattered and his fury rushed at me, I would know that something I had done was the catalyst, the cause. There is hope in such a superstition, there is the illusion of control.

Westover and her siblings weren't homeschooled or even unschooled, this was straight-up educational neglect (combined with abuse and shocking medical neglect). She followed her own desire to learn, pushed through the twisted religious messages she was surrounded by, fought to get an actual education, battled imposter syndrome, learned to set boundaries. Westover has a gentle, articulate, matter-of-fact writing style that makes a difficult read bearable. You can't help but cheer her on as she frees herself from those speaking over her and gains control of her own life.

Tara Westover's memoir is at times shocking, terrifying, and heartbreaking. But most importantly, it's inspiring, reminding readers that knowledge gives us the courage to pursue our individuality and the power to respect each other's paths. I highly recommend this one!

This is a graphic and thought-provoking story about what happens when parents with radical views isolate their children from mainstream society until adulthood. However, it does give hope that children raised in racist and science denying family compounds can find enlightenment if they can clear a path to a college education. I was totally wrapped up in this memoir from beginning to end and even missed a couple of mealtimes, and some sleep, because I couldn't stop reading. I recommend this book to everyone, and am grateful to the author for sharing her personal story.

The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls) meets Leaving the Saints (Martha Beck).
Beautifully written yet gritty memoir of Westover's off-the-grid family and her desire for an alternate life.

Podcast review at https://anchor.fm/kidelo/episodes/Educated-by-Tara-Westover-e13drk

This memoir about growing up in a radical family of religious fundamentalists on a remote Idaho mountain is stunning. A father who runs a scrapyard, an herbalist midwife mother and 7 children birthed at home are living completely off the grid.

Tara did not see the inside of a classroom before the age of 17 because her paranoid parents did not believe in public education. They believed schooling was a plot by government to brainwash. This survivalist family spent entire summers canning food and preparing in other ways for Armageddon.

Despite the abusive world she grew up in, Tara ultimately rebels, going away to college and achieves a Phd from Harvard. Her world opens up beyond her family’s distorted reality; She is an inspiration.

There was so much Tara shared that hurt my heart. I cannot comprehend growing up in this kind of dysfunctional atmosphere. What a brave soul for sharing such intimate details of her family life. I devoured this book and can’t recommend enough!

When I picked up Educated by Tara Westover I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. The premise was intriguing; a girl who had never been formally educated eventually earning her PhD from Cambridge University. Wow! I was expecting Tara's story to be one of inspiration but after devouring the book in less than two days I realized the road to her doctorate was paved with pain and abuse, and all at the hands of her family.

Growing up, Tara was always told she was special but she didn't feel special. She always knew that her family was different, but it wasn't until she made the bold move to pursue a college education at the age of seventeen, without any prior formal education, that she realized just how different, and dysfunctional, her family really was.

Tara's dad is a Mormon preacher, with bipolar tendencies, is highly paranoid of the government and owns a junkyard. Her mother follows everything her father says, and is a midwife and herbalist. They are a survivalist family that lives on an Idaho mountain, incredibly isolated, with no socialization except for a few family members. They did not believe in modern healthcare so there were no immunizations and they used homeopathy to deal with symptoms of very serious injuries and illnesses that should've been dealt with in a hospital. They were all born at home and Tara didn't technically "exist" until she was nine years old when she received a Delayed Certificate of Birth. Her mother didn't even remember her actual date of birth, so the date of birth on her birth certificate is an educated guess.

Their Mormon faith was supposedly the most important aspect in the family but the more you read about Tara's journey the more you get the feeling that their "faith" is used as a manipulative tool and that the "truth" they lived by did not come from the Bible, but from Tara's dad, who would lecture incessantly on certain subjects. I do not know much about the Mormon religion but I cannot see any faith being ok with what was allowed in this family: the manipulation, the lies, the abuse. Tara's mom actually witnessed Tara being physically abused at the hands of her older brother Shawn, but tried to rationalize it instead of helping her daughter. The abuse from her brother never happened in front of their father and when Tara came to her dad and accused Shawn of this abuse her father wanted actual "proof" of what she was accusing him of. Her parents eventually turned the tables and actually convinced Tara that she herself was insane, saying that her memories were false, and she began to doubt everything that she thought was real in her life, which led to a mental breakdown, and eventual estrangement from half of her family.

Educated was incredibly hard for me to read and yet at the same time I couldn't put it down. To read of the physical abuse that she endured at the hands of her brother, and the psychological abuse from her parents and siblings made me sick to my stomach, and brought back memories from my own abuse. I felt angry that Tara had to go through what she went through, but I am so glad that she fought for herself and her education, and got herself out of a horrible situation. Her memoir gives hope to those who feel like they are in hopeless situations and proves that you can overcome any obstacle, no matter how big.

Though tough to read, I do believe that everyone should read Educated. It is hands down one of the most powerful and well-written memoirs I've ever read.

This is a very special book. Tara Westover has a captivating writing style that pulls you in and keeps you as she journeys through the events of her life that have impacted her to this day. It is heartbreaking and beautiful and resilient like herself. A must read.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2258753583?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1