Tara grew up in rural Idaho in a Mormon family where her father was bipolar, and her mother overlooked all sorts of really terrible situations that her seven children were exposed to.
Facts of Tara's life: her mother is an herbalist, and they were not allowed to go to the doctor. For anything. Broken bones, burns--nothing. Her mother was also an unlicensed midwife and suffered brain damage in a car accident.
Her father is a survivalist hoarding weapons, gasoline, water, food, etc. The family owns a junkyard and Tara and her siblings were required to work in it. Safety was of no concern, and this is where many of the accidents happened, but "God would protect them."
Her older brother was physically abusive, and no one seemed to care.
They were not allowed to go to school. Their homeschooling was nonexistent, until Tara decided, at the age of 17, to study and pass the ACT so she could go to college.
While reading this, you keep thinking, "Don't go back!" Why would you want to subject yourself to the danger and instability of life at home? But Tara returns, again and again, even trying to crawl back after her entire family, and extended family, have disowned her. It's easy to think she was stupid, but I'm reading this having grown up in a "normal," safe environment surrounded by friends and family that were neither mentally ill, nor religious fanatics. My family was easy to love.
It borders on disbelief. But even if some of what she remembers isn't entirely accurate (and she admits this at times) it paints a picture of where her mind was, and is, and how her extreme changes in mindset came about after years of education and some counseling.
So what struck me after reading Educated is that everyone needs family or some type of substitute family. We crave it. We are compelled to return to our roots. And for Westover, this was the source of turmoil that took her years to overcome. I'm sure she is still working on overcoming it.
The narrator, Julia Whelan, is excellent. I believed that this was Tara telling her story.
Fans of memoirs of difficult childhoods (ex: The Glass Castle) will enjoy (well, that might not be exactly the right adjective) Educated.
Published by Random House, February 20, 2018
Audiobook obtained from the library
352 pages
Rating: 4/5
This sounds like an incredibly moving memoir; I wasn't interested in reading it before now, but you've convinced me. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI want to read this book so bad. The waitlist is massive. I’m glad you liked it! It sounds strange and harrowing.
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I thought this book was very good and felt the same way you did about family. I, too, kept thinking, "don't go back!" every time she talked about returning to the family home. It's difficult to imagine that it held something for her after all the awfulness, but obviously it did or she wouldn't have gone back.
ReplyDeleteI want to read this book with a book club. I listened to the audiobook, too, but desire a good discussion over it.
ReplyDeleteI've heard great things about this book. I definitely need to read it soon. Glad it was an interesting read for you.
ReplyDelete