Book Review: Educated

Educated is a memoir written by American memoirist and historian Tara Westover.  The book serves as a thorough recounting of Tara’s life growing up with her Mormon survivalist parents and six siblings in their farmstead in Clifton, Idaho. It’s a deeply personal book which Tara takes great effort to reflect on the unusual childhood she lived through before she eventually defied her parents’ extreme beliefs by pursuing a formal public education. Tara’s life growing up was unlike anything a typical kid would come to expect, with her parents being against any form of government-funded service, Tara spent a lot of her early years at home being home-schooled by her mother and forced to do manual labor work by her father. It wasn’t just her parents that she had a complicated relationship with either, as Tara goes to great effort in reflecting on the good and bad relationships, she formed with her siblings growing up.

On a fundamental level, this may be one of the best memoirs I’ve picked up and read in my life.  The way Tara recounts her life comes off as genuinely transparent.  I find too many memoirs can feel emotionally-fuelled in the way the author recounts their life and while that’s not an unjustifiable approach, it does lead to a slightly biased and one-sided experience. In Educated’s case, Tara makes it clear that she holds no resentment or hatred for the life she endured growing up.  She recounts these moments and ponders on the perspective and justifications she formed at the time but never goes out of her way to tell the reader how to feel about it.  The kind of life Tara lived isn’t something any kid should have to endure, but it says something for Tara’s resolve as a human being that she was able to go through the experiences she did and come out of it as a better person.  The way she presents these moments to the reader with all the context she can afford and asks them to form an opinion on it; is what all good memoirs should strive to be.

It’s an excellently structured book too when you look at the way Tara presents her life within the confines of the 352 pages.  She gives each moment of her life just the right amount of time to expand on and establish for the reader to get a firm impression.  The way Tara writes is worthy of praise also, she clearly shows that she has obtained a major level of academic education with the way she is able to formulate segments and references throughout the course of the book.  She treats this recounting more as an impartial essay that easily allows the reader to get the best kind of perspective on her life without the risk of being emotionally winded by it.  Don’t get me wrong, there are emotional moments to this book which will draw major responses from you, but it’s never because Tara wants to emulate the same response she had.  That’s the pure brilliance behind the writing and structure of this book, it is able to provide you with so much to experience but never for one moment tells you how to feel, it lets you ultimately decide on that point.

I loved my time with this book and can clearly see why it sold so many copies and earned a plethora of awards.  Tara Westover’s life is a mix of tragedy, perseverance and determination when you really look at it.  She was able to live through a life no ordinary kid should have and be able to use that experience to better herself and share it with others in hopes of bettering them. It’s a testament to the fact that our lives are not defined by our upbringing or our worst moments; the have influence surely, but as Tara Westover proved with Educated, you can strive and obtain a better life for yourself if you believe and make those first steps.