Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"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."
- Tara Westover, Educated
This was one of those books I'd seen people read in airports, the front-row contender in the "self-help, memoir" row and now I know why. It's one of those books that, by the end of it, leaves you smiling and warm and transforms you into a different person than you were when you first started reading it.
This is a warning to stop and read the book (if you haven't already) and avoid the following spoilers (I 100% recommend it).
This is the journey of Tara being born in rural Idaho, to an orthodox family of Mormon survivalists. Her parents don't believe in public education, the government, or modern medicine. This resulted in Tara being "homeschooled", working in her father's junkyard. In this line of work, members of the family often got injured while working with heavy metals and machinery, and were treated with her mother's homeopathic remedies. Despite having no formal education and a violent, abusive brother, she strives to provide an education for herself, even if it means severing ties with her family. Her educational journey takes her from trying to learn algebra at 18 to BYU to Harvard and eventually getting a PhD at Cambridge. While perhaps easier to write on paper, it's a story filled with horrifying instances of violence, religious extremism and struggle and makes you wonder how one can take the seemingly little privileges in life for granted.
Impressions
Resonating with the Author
I had to remind myself multiple times that the book is not a piece of fiction. When I did remember it's a memoir, I had the urge to hug the author and tell her "I don't know you but I'm so proud of you".
As the only member of my family who's not a doctor, and as the only one who is seeking further education abroad with a vision of life that diverges significantly from my family's expectations, I find it hard not to relate to the feelings of 22-year-old Tara. Her journey reinforces my belief in prioritising my own path while still honouring my parents' perspectives and values, and one day - a fine balance will be struck.
Powerful Writing
Having gone through what Tara has gone through, she was strong enough to not just publish her life learnings but also do it in a way that projected no blame - only a factual recount of events. This has to be one of the strongest story-telling I've ever read, filled with humility and maturity.
I quickly fell in love with her writing. It reminded me of Daniel Keyes' style in Flowers for Algernon as both authors subtly convey the character growth through the protagonist's minute actions and slip ups, rather than explicitly stating them. As Tara witnessed the "outside world" more and more, the writing got more nuanced, and for the reader, all the more immersive.
Like I mentioned at the outset, it transforms you as a reader. Suddenly, cribbing about the assigned readings for your Global Management class feels trivial and frivolous.
Who Should Read It?
Unless you happen to be Rory Gilmore with Lorelai as your mother, I believe everyone should read Educated by Tara Westover. Regardless of your nationality, race, or generation, this book offered prized insights into the universal human condition. While the specific cultural and familial dynamics may differ, I'm sure the generational differences will resonate across diverse backgrounds.
My Top Quotes
"It's strange how you give the people you love so much power over you. 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."
"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."
"All my studying, reading, thinking, traveling, had it transformed me into someone who no longer belonged anywhere?"
"That night I called on her and she didn't answer. She left me. She stayed in the mirror. 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. I call it an education."