Tara Westover

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

Essence

Dr. Kerry said he'd been watching me. "You act like someone who is impersonating someone else. And it's as if you think your life depends on it."

I could tolerate any form of cruelty better than kindness. Praise was a poison to me; I choked on it.

…It was not that I had done something wrong so much as that I existed in the wrong way. There was something impure in the fact of my being.

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.

stephie

Never had I found such comfort in a void, in the black absence of knowledge. It seemed to say: whatever you are, you are woman.

“First find out what you are capable of, then decide who you are.”

No one could give me what I wanted, because what I wanted was to be remade.

Tyler stood to go. “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.”

“The longer you stay, the less likely you will ever leave.”

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 seed of curiosity had been planted; it needed nothing more than time and boredom to grow.

It would be past dusk by then—that moment just before night sets in, when the landscape is visible only as darkness and lighter darkness, and you feel the world around you more than you see it.

Anna Oeltjenbruns

“You are not fool’s gold, shining only under a particular light. 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 lights-but that is the illusion. And it always was."

#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University “Extraordinary . . . an act of courage and self-invention.”—The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award • Los Angeles Times Book Prize Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her 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 one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. 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. “Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover’s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?”—Vogue NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • O: The Oprah Magazine • Time • NPR • Good Morning America • San Francisco Chronicle • The Guardian • The Economist • Financial Times • Newsday • New York Post • theSkimm • Refinery29 • Bloomberg • Self • Real Simple • Town & Country • Bustle • Paste • Publishers Weekly • Library Journal • LibraryReads • Book Riot • Pamela Paul, KQED • New York Public Library

Aina

The thing about having a mental breakdown is that no matter how obvious it is that you're having one, it is somehow not obvious to you. I’m fine, you think. So what if I watched TV for twenty four straight hours yesterday. I'm not falling apart. I’m just lazy. Why it's better to think yourself lazy than think yourself in distress, I'm not sure. But it was better. More than better: it was vital.

When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?

"First find out what you are capable of, then decide who you are.”

Luoyi

Our parents are held down by chains of abuse, manipulation, and control…. They see change as dangerous and will exile anyone who asks for it. This is a perverted idea of family loyalty…. They claim faith, but this is not what the gospel teachers. Keep safe. We love you.

all this just for her to act like nothing happened 

I didn't understand the magic of those words then, and I don't understand it now. I know only this: that when my mother told me she had not been the mother to me that she wished she'd been, she became that mother for the first time.

The explosion transformed him from lecturer to observer. Speaking was difficult for him, because of the constant pain but also because his throat was burned. So he watched, he listened.

"It won't," I said. "There will be no scholarship. I'm not even going to pass." My voice was shaky now. "If there's no scholarship, there's no scholarship" he said. "Maybe I can help with the money. We'll figure it out. Just be happy, okay?" "Okay" I said. "Come on home if you need."

The truth is this: that I am not a good daughter. I am a traitor, a wolf among sheep; there is something different about me and that difference is not good. I want to bellow, to weep into my father's knees and promise never to do it again. But wolf that I am, I am still above lying, and anyway he would sniff the lie.

He’d said a lot more, of course, about how I was whoring after man’s knowledge instead of God’s, but I still decided to ask him about trigonometry.

He was deaf to the raucous music of our lives, and we were deaf to the serene polyphony of his.

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’ve never felt so understood by a book before. 

Olivia Rousseau 

Cannot recommend this enough. An amazing insight into a woman’s personal struggle with true knowledge and the values embedded into her by her family 

Melissa

Not my favorite, but I can appreciate the honesty that she just can't remember certain details in events. I don't enjoy this book, the setting is too far off from my familiarity, so I struggle to understand Tara.

catto fishu

This is one of my favorite books I've read this year. It purely captures the memory loss and questioning one's self that comes out of traumatic situations. The Stockholm syndrome many have in this book is unbelievable. This has well documented cases of how abusers worm their way into victim's and other's minds. Tara is so brave for writing this. She said what all survivors, of family and other types of violence, have wanted to say

‘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

Kerry McHugh West

A deep reflection on memory, identity, and our relationships with others. The book tells the story of Tara Westover, who, throughout her life, undergoes a process of distancing herself from her family and roots. It explores how, as she seeks a formal education, she faces a rupture with her past and the familiar, while redefining her own identity. Magnificent. 

Ana Collados

This is my first read this 2022 and the first time I read a non-fiction book. Reading this book made me change my perspective of a different world. I'm just proud of what she has become. The words are well-written. I may not have met her or know her but she has inspired me to keep on believing in myself.

ezra 

I used to wonder why I’d see this book all over media, libraries, bookstores, etc. but after reading it I absolutely understand why. Reaaalllyyy makes me think about all of the people in the world whose ceilings are so high but lack the means (of all sorts) to get there. Makes me think uncomfortably long about my OWN ceilings and what I can or can’t do. There’s dozens of themes in this book I could go on about but I think I’d need to write an entire textbook at this point.

probably one of the best memoirs ive ever read - poignant, FRUSTRATING, triumphant, difficult, heart-wrenching and meaningful. i know i just dumped a bunch of adjectives but this book genuinely made me feel so much. 

ignorance is one of the most powerful things that sets humanity backwards. i know thats a debatable sentence, but i strongly believe that knowledge is power and the more we know the more we can better connect with the world around us. this book articulated the importance of knowledge in a way i've never experienced before.

tara's experiences sometimes had me on the verge of tears. there is no way i could ever understand what she went through. despite all that adversity however, she ended up in such wonderful places. this being said, she also lost a big portion of her family to the paranoia, habits, bipolar, confirmative bias of their faith.

this book was disturbing at times but through that discomfort i found a profound gratitude for my education and access to knowledge. i also found solace in what it means to be a woman, the value of money (not having to think about money) and a truly alchemist idea that if you really want to do something the whole world will conspire to help you achieve it. 

memoirs are visceral because sometimes its hard to seperate fiction from reality. but this retelling, and the nature of stories has shown me that no retelling will ever completely depict a person, or an experiment - there are only close attempts. she made a beautiful retelling that didn't feel accusatory, biased (although it always will be), or angry even to the greatest evils in her life. it felt like she was just merely articulating her inner essence in a clarity id never experienced.

so grateful to have education and to continue learning how to think for myself. i think that might just be the most important skill to have in the world.

Ashna Nirula

probably one of the best memoirs ive ever read - poignant, FRUSTRATING, triumphant, difficult, heart-wrenching and meaningful. i know i just dumped a bunch of adjectives but this book genuinely made me feel so much. 

ignorance is one of the most powerful things that sets humanity backwards. i know thats a debatable sentence, but i strongly believe that knowledge is power and the more we know the more we can better connect with the world around us. this book articulated the importance of knowledge in a way i've never experienced before.

tara's experiences sometimes had me on the verge of tears. there is no way i could ever understand what she went through. despite all that adversity however, she ended up in such wonderful places. this being said, she also lost a big portion of her family to the paranoia, habits, bipolar, confirmative bias of their faith.

this book was disturbing at times but through that discomfort i found a profound gratitude for my education and access to knowledge. i also found solace in what it means to be a woman, the value of money (not having to think about money) and a truly alchemist idea that if you really want to do something the whole world will conspire to help you achieve it. 

memoirs are visceral because sometimes its hard to seperate fiction from reality. but this retelling, and the nature of stories has shown me that no retelling will ever completely depict a person, or an experiment - there are only close attempts. she made a beautiful retelling that didn't feel accusatory, biased (although it always will be), or angry even to the greatest evils in her life. it felt like she was just merely articulating her inner essence in a clarity id never experienced.

so grateful to have education and to continue learning how to think for myself. i think that might just be the most important skill to have in the world.

Incredible story! Couldn't put the book down.

Elsa Saks

When I saw this book listed in the New York Times Readers' Choice: Top 10 Best Books of the 21st Century, I knew I had to get it. Two chapters in, I was already hooked and engrossed. I simply couldn't put it down. Throughout the book, I was furious, annoyed and disturbed.

I grew up with my nose perpetually in a book. The thought of being denied going to school and deprived of even the most basic education rendered me speechless. I've read numerous materials that have the same underlying tones of not being able to obtain education due to circumstances such as poverty and citizenship. But reading this and knowing that Tara's story was because of her family's distrust towards the education system had me exasperated.

Overall, it's a thought-provoking book. I often found myself thinking and just trying to make sense of it all. Definitely a book worth reading!

When I saw this book listed in the New York Times Readers' Choice: Top 10 Best Books of the 21st Century, I knew I had to get it. Two chapters in, I was already hooked and engrossed. I simply couldn't put it down. Throughout the book, I was furious, annoyed and disturbed.

I grew up with my nose perpetually in a book. The thought of being denied going to school and deprived of even the most basic education rendered me speechless. I've read numerous materials that have the same underlying tones of not being able to obtain education due to circumstances such as poverty and citizenship. But reading this and knowing that Tara's story was because of her family's distrust towards the education system had me exasperated.

Overall, it's a thought-provoking book. I often found myself thinking and just trying to make sense of it all. Definitely a book worth reading!

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.

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. 

Denisse Garcia Ramírez 

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.

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???

Educated

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