Educated
Wow! I just finished the incredible true story of Tara Westover, a touching yet tragic story that should be hailed a classic. The memoir has been out for a few years, but I was just recently made aware of it.
Educated was a tough read for me—because of the injustices Tara experiences as a child. In truth, it is one of those page turners that I had to put down—often.
There are scenes so painfully described it's difficult to imagine how someone who grew up in such circumstances could write about it with such brilliance and grace.
"...more than any other, that makes my family different: we don't go to school."
In the book, Tara's father, who has an extreme apocalyptic survivalist mentality, forces her and many of her siblings to work in their scrapyard while forbidding them from attending school.
He utilizes his religious convictions to manipulate and dominate his family into living a different kind of lifestyle that is driven by religious superiority—paranoia, and a demand for devotion from the family.
Tara leaves home at the age of seventeen, encouraged by a brother, to attend school and eventually secures a PhD degree from the University of Cambridge. Still, she longs to be reunited with her family, and relentlessly pursues their approval, although normalcy will never exist.
In the end, I wasn't sure if she truly found the redemption she searched for. But you'll have to read and decide for yourself.
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