Hello dear Readers,
Below my book review of Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover.
Title: Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Genre: Biographies/Memoirs
Author: Tara Westover
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: February 20, 2018
Publication Date: February 20, 2018
Language: English
Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University
Book Club Pick for Now Read This, from PBS NewsHour and The New York Times
“A coming-of-age memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
“Tara Westover is living proof that some people are flat-out, boots-always-laced-up indomitable.”—USA Today
“The extremity of Westover’s upbringing emerges gradually through her telling, which only makes the telling more alluring and harrowing.”—The New York Times Book Review
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.
My Thoughts
Not only one of the best books I have read in 2018 but in my life.
Tara, and whoever decides to tell their story publicly, I have always found that to be brave, honest. It is not just about what you decide to tell but how you tell it, and in the case of Educated, Tara does a fantastic job at telling her story.
This book made me sad, angry, frustrated, in awe at times but also happy, made me laugh, gave me hope, and made me think about my life and about humans and the world in general. I think when an author can make you feel this way, all these emotions and feelings by telling their story, that is when you realize how powerful and the impact a book can have in your own life. That is how I feel about Educated.
I love Tara's writing, the pace, the way she tell us about her life and all the difficulties she faces, how as she does we the readers also try to make sense and understand why all those things are happening to her. I was so fascinated and intrigued as to how things were going to turn out, by this story in general. Some things in life you never think of or that can happen until you read about them, and I absolutely appreciate the author's work on sharing her life experience, a very difficult one, but her openness and honesty about it makes this book a masterpiece.
Educated, a must read.
Wendy
Not only one of the best books I have read in 2018 but in my life.
Tara, and whoever decides to tell their story publicly, I have always found that to be brave, honest. It is not just about what you decide to tell but how you tell it, and in the case of Educated, Tara does a fantastic job at telling her story.
This book made me sad, angry, frustrated, in awe at times but also happy, made me laugh, gave me hope, and made me think about my life and about humans and the world in general. I think when an author can make you feel this way, all these emotions and feelings by telling their story, that is when you realize how powerful and the impact a book can have in your own life. That is how I feel about Educated.
I love Tara's writing, the pace, the way she tell us about her life and all the difficulties she faces, how as she does we the readers also try to make sense and understand why all those things are happening to her. I was so fascinated and intrigued as to how things were going to turn out, by this story in general. Some things in life you never think of or that can happen until you read about them, and I absolutely appreciate the author's work on sharing her life experience, a very difficult one, but her openness and honesty about it makes this book a masterpiece.
Educated, a must read.
Wendy
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