CW: family abuse
"Tara Westover was 17
the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the
mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling
home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag". In
the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in
the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard.
Her father
forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and
concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with
herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there
was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to
intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent.
Then,
lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught
herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young
University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about
important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights
movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over
oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then
would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way
home.
Educated is an account of the struggle for
self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty and of the grief
that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight
that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal
coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and
what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes and
the will to change it."--Goodreads blurb
This was an absolutely engrossing memoir of a child making her way through to adulthood despite family trying to keep her where they thought she belonged. Some of Westover's story seemed almost fantastical, the way some things just worked out for her, but you also know she deserves it from both her hard work and just from taking so much abuse from family. Psychological and physical abuse make you cringe in this story, and make you want to punch people and wrap her in your arms. Beautifully written.
