Tara Westover

Tara Westover grew up preparing for the End of Days, hoping that when the World of Men failed, her family would continue on, unaffected. She hadn't been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she'd never set foot in a classroom, and no medical records because her father didn't believe in doctors or hospitals. According to the state and federal governments, she didn't exist. As she grew older, her father became more radical, and her brother more violent. At sixteen, Tara decided to educate herself. Her struggle for knowledge would take her far from her Idaho mountains, 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

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 metal in her father’s junkyard.

Her father distrusted the medical establishment, 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 an older brother became violent.

When another brother got himself into college and came back with news of the world beyond the mountain, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. She taught herself enough mathematics, grammar, and science to take the ACT and was admitted to Brigham Young University. There, she studied psychology, politics, philosophy, and history, learning for the first time about pivotal 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 University. 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 from severing one’s closest 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.

A Memoir

kata

It was something behind her eyes, something in the set of her jaw — a hope or belief or conviction — that life is not a thing unalterable. I don’t have a word for what it is that I saw, but I suppose it was something like faith.

I thought I was finally being honest about the life I’d had before. It wasn’t the truth exactly, but it was true in a larger sense: true to what would be, in the future, now that everything had changed for the better. Now that Mother had found her strength.

The past was a ghost, insubstantial, unaffecting. Only the future had weight.

The future could be different from the past. Even the past could be different from the past, because my memories could change: I no longer remembered Mother listening in the kitchen while Shawn pinned me to the floor, pressing my windpipe. I no longer remembered her looking away.

Denisse Garcia Ramírez 

The decisions I made after that moment were not the ones she would have made. they were the choices of a changed person, a new self. 

You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal. 

Not knowing for certain, but refusing to give way to those who claim certainty, was a privilege I had never allowed myself. 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. 

To admit uncertainty is to admit weakness, to powerlessness, and to believe in yourself despite both. It is a frailty, but in this frailty, there is a strength: the conviction to live in your own mind, and not I someone else's. I have often wondered if the most powerful words I wrote that night came not from anger or rage, but from doubt: 

…I had begun to understand that we had lent our voices to a discourse whose sole purpose was to dehumanize and brutalize others because nurturing that discourse was easier, because retaining power always feels like the way forward.

…I had begun to understand that we had lent our voices to a discourse whose sole purpose was to dehumanize and brutalize othersbecause nurturing that discourse was easier, because retaining power always feels like the way forward.

…even if I had not, that it was better to fall fromn that great height rather than hope Dad would intervene. All my life those instincts had been instructing me in this single doctrine-that the odds are better if you rely only on yourself.

…but I think it was my father, or perhaps ny father as I wished he were, some longed-for defender, some fanciful champion, one who wouldn't fling me into a storm, and who, if I was hurt, would make mne whole.

Perhaps even he — charismatic gale of a man that he was — was temporarily set aside bty the force of her.

Kyler Phillips

The past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, & thus we don’t have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.

“Don’t you teach your children to wash after they use the toilet?” Grandma said. Dad shifted the truck into gear. As it rolled forward he waved and said, “I teach them not to piss on their hands.”

The skill I was learning was a crucial one, the patience to read things I could not yet understand.

All my life those instincts had been instructing me in this single doctrine—that the odds are better if you rely only on yourself.

The owl grew restless. When it began to refuse food, we opened the back door and let it escape. It wasn’t fully healed, but Dad said its chances were better with the mountain than with us. It didn’t belong. It couldn’t be taught to belong.

To admit uncertainty is to admit to weakness, to powerlessness, and to believe in yourself despite both.

Not knowing for certain, but refusing to give way to those who claim certainty, was a privilege I had never allowed myself. 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.

The most powerful advantage of money: the ability to think of things besides money.

At dinner I listened to the cheerful chatter of my friends while longing for the isolation of my room.

Whomever you become, whatever you make yourself into, that is who you always were. It was always in you. Not in Cambridge. In you. You are gold. And returning to BYU, or even to that mountain you came from, will not change who you are. It may change how others see you, it may even change how you see yourself—even gold appears dull in some lighting—but that is the illusion. And it always was.”

That image of my father will always stay with me: that look on his face, of love and fear and loss

Although I had renounced my father’s world, I had never quite found the courage to live in this one

My family was splitting down the middle—the three who had left the mountain, and the four who had stayed. The three with doctorates, and the four without high school diplomas. A chasm had appeared, and was growing.

Ainsley Jeffery

I found Educated to be one of the slower memoir reads I recently can remember. A large problem I had with the text is how it seemed to jump back and forth and I found it difficult to piece together her life. Despite these minuscule issues, the story was emotional and connective. 

A big question I found myself grappling with was "what if?", what if Tara had been raised differently what if she had left sooner, what if this never happened or that never did. Of course, that's not the case and not how life plays out. "... and of all the decisions that go into making a life- the choices people make, together and on their own that combine to produce any single event."" (pp. 40) 

In all her challenges, Tara still made a life with decisions that she is proud of and that holds true meaning to her. She found her capability and put it on display. "First find out what your are capable of, then decide who you are" (pp. 230)

Matt Eaves

A lovely read. I found myself at many times thinking this was a fiction, just to stop and remember the truth behind it all. An incredible story, with many incredible takeaways.

Erin G.

For anyone who loved Jeannette Winter's memoir The Glass Castle. I kept having to remind myself that this was non-fiction. Incredible, my favourite book of 2018 so far.

Angelyn Francis

Profoundly written. Her life makes for a difficult read and leaves me with questions about how we present fact and memory in dramatic ways. But despite having those questions, this is a memoir rich with theme, reflection and thoughtfully engages with memory.

Tara’s story is heartbreaking and I have nothing but admiration for her ability to tell it with honesty and compassion. This is such a real recounting of a very special woman’s life and what education allows you to do

Daphne Li-Chen

Sanjay Krishna 

Timeo Williams

I decided to read this book following Bill Gates' flowering review.

I found the first 2/3rds if the book interesting, but for the remaining 1/3, my brain doesn't quite comprehend what Tara is thinking. This book felt more like a written statement to her family then something for the public to read. 

However, the overall narrative is good.

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 metal in her father's junkyard. Her father distrusted the medical establishment, 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 an older brother became violent. When another brother got himself into college and came back with news of the world beyond the mountain, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. She taught herself enough mathematics, grammar, and science to take the ACT and was admitted to Brigham Young University. There, she studied psychology, politics, philosophy, and history, learning for the first time about pivotal 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 University. 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 from severing one's closest 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.

Cozy

| The amount of trauma Tara had to overcome is horrifying. But in a good way. I never knew that a person could overcome so much and still be accomplished. The amount of self-doubt, hatred, and gas-lighting she had to deal with is astounding. Some of it may have gone over my head but I hope that in the future I would be able to fully grasp the strength this woman has.

The Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling memoir

Ditipriya Acharya

The Story of a Transformation 

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.

Educated is so much more than just a coming-of-age memoir. It is the story of a young girl’s struggle to get away from her abusive family and her caged childhood, the story of a woman who finds herself through an education that she had always craved without knowing the importance of, and the story of mental illness, familial bonds and the lies we tell ourselves. 

Tara Westover, the author of the book is the youngest of seven children in a Mormon fundamentalist family. Gene, her father, is a self-declared prophet who lives in the constant fear that the world is coming to an end and forces his family to share his paranoia. His wife, Faye, starts out as a reluctant mid-wife who emerges as an essential oils guru who brings their family under the spotlight in their little town in Idaho. Westover’s parents do not believe in public schools and modern medicine. Instead, they live in the belief that being a part of such institutions is a definite way of being sucked into the schemes of the Illuminati. The result is that Tara and her siblings have to make a conscious decision if they want to study beyond the few tattered books available to them in their home.

Even before Westover begins to recount the abuse she faces at the hands of her elder brother Shawn, the stories from her childhood are grim. The constant struggle for money, her bipolar father’s refusal to create a safe working space for his children who are forced to work in a hazardous place like a junkyard and the family’s stubbornness when it comes to ignoring serious injuries, all lead to difficult reading. Parts of the book got me thinking that nothing worse could happen to Westover, but then I would turn to the next chapter and I was proved wrong. Some of the injuries in the book were so gruesome that it is truly a miracle (irony intended) that the family survived for her to tell the tale.

Whomever you become, whatever you make yourself into, that is who you always were.

Right at the beginning of the book Westover announces that in no way is her story about Mormonism. Though the religion is a constant part of the story; through her father’s sermons, her brother’s definition of modesty and her own exploration of the principle of polygamy, not once does she attempt to explain or criticise the religion itself. Her story instead explores the idea of the American dream, in terms of how opportunities, knowledge and dreams can be forbidden for someone while living in the centre of the country.

At 16, when Westover decides to finally rebel against her father and pursue her dream to get into college, her eyes are opened to just how vast the world really is. Ideas that were fed to her through the prejudiced perspective of her father, suddenly seem changed to her. Through reading, learning and experiencing she realises things about herself and the limitations of the life her family led. She explores the ideas of feminism as she struggles to shake off the label of ‘whore’ that her brother has given her, she attempts to understand the concept of freedom and identity as she questions the lack of both in her own life and she realises the extent of her own ignorance even as she makes her way from BYU to Cambridge and then to Harvard, working towards her PhD. Her transformation can be seen in the way that she goes from refusing to change herself, to craving conformity and then lastly to accepting the fact that she stands out from the rest.

Through Educated, Westover, also questions her own memories. She tries to make sense of the discrepancies in her recollection of events in the past and those of her family. The book also provides a sensitive portrayal of the self-doubt one faces when pit against those they love, the confusion that is inevitable when the place that one calls home is also the place where they were hurt the most and she highlights the idea: how is one supposed to treat their paranoia when their paranoia is what’s stopping them?

Educated is terrifying in places, as Westover’s brother hands her a bloody knife after she accuses him of abusing her, infuriating in other, as everyone around her goes back on their word and the tables are turned on her, and hopeful in places, as she works towards a better life by letting go of the toxic familial bonds and forming new ones with others around her. Most importantly, it left me shocked that this was a true story. 

In the course of the book, without any proof of her existence, formal education or financial means Westover makes the journey from Buck’s Peak, Idaho to Harvard. She exposes painful details of her life and looks at the lies she told herself in order to survive. But, somehow, I was left with the feeling that there are things about her life she hasn’t dealt with yet and with the kind of life that she has led, she can't be blamed. Westover’s Educated is an extraordinary story of one woman’s transformation that needed to be told and, in my opinion, deserves all the praise that it has received since its release.

It’s strange how you give the people you love so much power over you.

I wish I could hug Tara. The things she had to endure growing up are gut-wrenching and her parents failed her so hard, another case of how religious fanatism is one of the most dangerous things. The way religion is one of the most beautiful but can become one of the most horrific things never fails to amaze me. 

The dad, the mom, and Shawn deserve jail. Tyler, her friends and professors and bfs deserve a little kiss, love them. 

As a kid growing up in a super religious household, many things resonated with me and this book made me reflect on my own experiences (although not nearly as bad as hers). A must-read, and a book that connected with me to the point it will stay with me forever. 

I wish I could hug Tara. The things she had to endure growing up are gut-wrenching and her parents failed her so hard, another case of how religious fanatism is one of the most dangerous things. The way religion is one of the most beautiful but can become one of the most horrific things never fails to amaze me. 

The dad, the mom, and Shawn deserve jail. Tyler, her friends and professors and bfs deserve a little kiss, love them. 

As a kid growing up in a super religious household, many things resonated with me and this book made me reflect on my own experiences (although not nearly as bad as hers). A must-read, and a book that connected with me to the point it will stay with me forever. 

Gigi V

I picked this up because I heard so
Much about it. I am glad I read it. It was a look into a life so far from my own. That’s what reading is about. Being exposed to other people’s lives and cultures. You don’t have to like it, but at least you are aware.

‘An amazing story, and truly inspiring. The kind of book everyone will enjoy. IT’S EVEN BETTER THAN YOU’VE HEARD.’ – Bill Gates Selected as a book of the year by AMAZON, THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, NEW YORK TIMES, ECONOMIST, NEW STATESMAN, VOGUE, IRISH TIMES, IRISH EXAMINER and RED MAGAZINE THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER A Book of the Decade, 2010-2020 (Independent) ________________________ Tara Westover and her family grew up preparing for the End of Days but, according to the government, she didn’t exist. She hadn’t been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she’d never set foot in a classroom, and no medical records because her father didn’t believe in hospitals. As she grew older, her father became more radical and her brother more violent. At sixteen, Tara knew she had to leave home. In doing so she discovered both the transformative power of education, and the price she had to pay for it. ________________________ · From one of TIME magazine's 100 most influential people of 2019 · Shortlisted for the 2018 BAMB Readers' Awards · Recommended as a summer read by Barack Obama, Antony Beevor, India Knight, Blake Morrison and Nina Stibbe

The international bestselling memoir

Good story, very dark but insightful into her family and those who follow the Mormon faith. 

Alex Shinsky

Sandrin

what a wild but ultimately sad ride.
throughout the book i kept thinking about something i heard just the day before, that our parents love us but they will never understand us, not fully, and we shouldnt take their lack of understanding as a lack of love. 
the way the author captured the chaotic nature of her cruel but loving family was hypnotizing and enthralling. It proves that no one is just black or just white, we are all (at different times) varying shades of gray.
side note: kept thinking how the hell are these bastards still alive? like how many times can you dodge life threatening situations???

Trip Dunham 

wow. A phenomenal book that I think really captures a truly unique insight into the life of a young girl that is able to pull herself up from the craziness of family. 

Naveen Sheik

Pamela Koh

Absolutely gripping. Best memoir I’ve read in a long time.

faye

An outstanding memoir that shows how much education could change your life. It is truly amazing how Tara, coming from a family so distant from the society considered 'normal' could achieve many great things later in life, but this book shows how it isn't easy too, how it need many tears and blood to gradually change for the better. 

But it's no doubt that a huge part of this book shows the cruelty, the sinister behaviours on people you call 'family.' At some point, the Westover parents (esp. the father) probably just want to 'save' their children, but their ways of 'saving' is far too dangerous, manipulative, and abusive and it just really boils my blood and sometimes i need to take a break for a minute reading those scenes. 

And the ending, it honestly seems realistic. Well, it's a real story after all.

Francesca Starecheski

Somehow I have found what words I have been trying to convince myself of, somehow I can now believe them. Who I am now is not who I always will be, but who I become will be who I always was. Thank you, Dr. Westover, for letting me feel raw.

hileahrious

An incredibly well-written book. I know it is the content of the story that really matters, but literarily I am blown away. I so thoroughly enjoyed the aesthetic of the language used - usually in a memoir you don't expect such literary prowess. 

In terms of the story, it will move you and I believe you'll find yourself relating to Tara more than you'd expect. I feel as though it were written in a voice similar to my own, despite how different my upbringing was compared to Tara's. That could be for a number of subjective reasons, however, one of the main reasons I think is due to the focus on the discovery of self based on memory. Obviously, it's a memoir, but how she continuously thrusts her own memory under the magnifying glass, questioning her sanity, questioning her identity throughout, is what I think will truly touch all readers. What makes us who we are? What is our truth? What is our reality? Can we ever really know?

Rosie Vulaj

this was soooo good. reads like fiction but it was actually REAL

Tara's father really remind me both of my parents.. This book wrapped it so gently, so free. Her eyes that full of desire and adventurous, I somehow see my reflection. You might see it from the day she was born until get the time she got degree to persuade her career. One of the book that lead me to dig into more of memoir books afterwards. They wouldn’t lead you to several method to study or such.. but it showed you of how education in need for people and how the privilege came across all the same. If It's my first non fiction this month and it really educated me! in so many ways!

"Positive liberty is self-mastery—the rule of the self, by the self. to have positive liberty is to take control of one’s own mind; to be liberated from irrational fears and beliefs, from addictions, superstitions and all other forms of self-coercion."

Katarina

Reading this book is not merely about being amazed by Tara's story on how abusive and violent her environment was and how she survived, made peace with it. But it is also about the determination to value oneself. The courage to break down the walls. Educated is a powerful, magnificent, and touching memoir I've ever read. It gives me lessons about families, womanhood, and self worth. Importantly, it teaches me how we can forgive someone and still not allow them back to our life. This book isn't an easy read for me. But its journey is very worth to go through.

Quinn Tenorio

Typically I don't read memoirs or autobiographies, but after reading Crying in H Mart, I had this on my list to read next. Wow! What a great book. Tara has a way of writing that makes it hard to stop. I definitely could feel her emotions and how she evolved through her time in school. It's also crazy to believe the experiences she was a part of and how that shaped her life. Definitely a solid book and easy to read, despite it being on the longer side.

Allie Reynolds

Wow, what a life Tara grew up in. Glad she was able to overcome so much and make a life for herself.

Educated

Reviews

Highlights