In November, my book club read Educated by Tara Westover. I think this book needs a trigger warning, so if you’re reading this, I’ll give it to you:
This book contains mental, physical, and emotional abuse.
Several other women in the book club wanted to chuck it after some of the ridiculous incidents. For two weeks after I finished the book, I operated in a kind of survivalist mode myself, trying to get my head back right.
But, Emily, surely you read the book blurb or description?
Yes, but I try not to read about a book too much before I start it. I don’t read book reviews until I’m done with the book. It’s like a movie trailer anymore when you can tell how everything is going to turn out. I also don’t want someone else’s opinion coloring my own opinion of the book.
Speaking of reading reviews, after I finished the book I went to Goodreads to see how other people felt about it. There were so many mixed reviews, and some people even think that Ms. Westover fabricated a lot of the story. I’m of the belief that life can be stranger than fiction, so I’m more likely to give someone the benefit of the doubt—especially since it’s her memoir. Who am I to tell her what did and didn’t happen in her life? We also remember things differently as time goes on, so that could be part of it.
Regardless, what Ms. Westover accomplished is awesome. The book makes it a point to state that it’s not an attack on religion or Mormon beliefs. Her family was just very extreme. They lived every day as if the government was going to come to their house and gun them all down. The family was this strange mix of extremely intelligent mingled with mind-blowing ignorance. The kids didn’t go to school. They worked their father’s scrapping business and had SO MANY ACCIDENTS. They were in two major car accidents! If you read it, you’ll just shake your head and wonder if there are people who really live this way.
They should all be dead.
But that’s what the dad kept coming back to: God will take care of us. God will provide. Hey, I believe that, too, but that doesn’t mean you do stupid.
Anyway, despite her extremely sheltered life and lack of formal education, Ms. Westover makes it into Brigham Young University where her eyes are opened to a lot of the paranoia her father fed them. She goes on to Harvard and Cambridge, gets her PhD for goodness sakes. But her super intelligence is at odds with her loyalty and ties to her family, and she keeps going back, despite being ill treated by her father, brother, and mother.
Ms. Westover’s mother really is a kick in the teeth. She’s the prime example of an abused woman (mentally and emotionally) who is so blinded and controlled that she does not protect her own children. Her actions (and lack of action) turned off all the mothers in the book club.
Life was tough for Ms. Westover, and by the end of the book she only had two other brothers on her side. (They also ended up with PhDs, by the way.) The rest of the family, which is doing extremely well because of an essential oils business—yes, we all Googled after we read the book—seems to have disinherited the three who went off on their own. It’s hard to cut ties with family, but I hope Ms. Westover has found a sense of peace despite all that drama.
4 STARS ON GOODREADS
I struggled between 3 and 4 stars for this book, but in the end I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads because I like how Ms. Westover was able to overcome so many obstacles.
Here’s my rating system:
5 stars: I love this book so much that I must own a physical copy of it. I’m definitely going to recommend it to people.
4 stars: This was a great book. I love it, but I don’t need to own a physical copy. I’ll definitely recommend it to people.
3 stars: This is a really good book. I was entertained.
2 stars: This book was fine. I don’t hate it or anything. It was fine.
1 star: This book wasn’t for me. It might be for someone else, though. There are probably a lot of reasons why it isn’t for me. I’m not hating, though.
0 stars: I’ve read it, or maybe I didn’t finish it. I didn’t enjoy it.
Comment below and let me know what you thought of this book!