Review: Educated by Tara Westover

Educated
by Tara Westover [Biography Westover]

I found this memoir to be a little slow-moving at times. Nevertheless, I was completely intrigued by Tara Westover’s story of her childhood and young adult years, and how she managed to survive and flourish despite a very odd upbringing. Sometimes, you hear about extreme survivalists, getting ready for the “end times.” But I never thought I’d get such a clear inside-view of what the preparation and day-to-day lives of those people would be like.

Knowing, from the very onset of the book, that Westover grew up in a very strict Mormon family, I assumed it was going to be a story of polygamy and of being betrothed at an early age to some crusty old man who already had three other wives. (I’ve read a few of those, and they’re always sad and disturbing.) But this was nothing like that at all. This was a story of people living almost more the way I always picture Amish people living–not many of the “comforts” of the modern world as we know them… not utilizing the advantages of modern medicine, etc.

Despite several experiences in Westover’s life where she very easily could have been horribly maimed or killed, due to stupid accidents and the aforementioned resistance to modern medicine. Somehow, though, Tara survived and went on to not only escape this lifestyle–she went on to become very successful and well-respected in an area that her family was dead-set against: public education.

This was well written and kept my attention throughout the entire story…

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Escape, by Carolyn Jessup, or Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs, by Elissa Wall.] [ official Educated page on the official Tara Westover web site ]

Recommended by Tracy T.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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