WARNING: Neither this book nor this review is about Mormonism. Tara Westover herself clarifies this on the very first page of her memoir. To claim otherwise is to deliberately misrepresent both her intent and mine.

How much should our family define us? And how much should we define ourselves? Nebulously phrased as these questions are (sorry), they are ultimately fundamental questions that anyone must deal with while growing up. It’s not a black-and-white matter, where one has to veer completely toward one side. Tara Westover has truly succeeded in revealing the painful and complex decisions that she had to make when presented with the choice between loyalty to her family and to herself.

#BookReview: Educated by Tara Westover

A not-so-spoiler-free synopsis: (is any memoir entirely spoiler-free??)
Tara Westover was born into a survivalist family in an isolated farming county in Idaho. The seven siblings received little to no homeschooling while spending most of their time scrapping on junkyards with their father Gene, or making herbal remedies and homeopathics with their mother Faye. The Westover instilled in their children a pathological fear of anything government-related (fear of the Medical Establishment and fear of public schools) and made them prepare for a supposedly imminent apocalypse by storing fuel, canning peaches, and installing water pipes from the mountains. Gene is the family’s patriarch, presiding over all its workings with unquestioned authority, while purveying his radical survivalist world views, from whose lens the children looked at the world beyond. But certain incidents, and that Tara’s eventually decided to go to college, were to change her perceptions forever.

Personal opinion:
First off, I want to set one thing straight: contrary to what many may think, Educated is not a simple tale about a woman escaping from her “ignorant” family to collect all those illustrious scholarships and degrees and diplomas. Her life is much more complex, as most human stories are. For Tara Westover, education is an act of self-invention, of defiance, by learning to see the world through her own eyes rather than her father’s. It helps her overcome family abuse and manipulation to truly chart a path best for her future. This memoir is a truly powerful coming-of-age story, a must-read for students and for anyone who want to take back the ownership of their lives.

In terms of themes, the memoir tackles serious matters: from family abuse to manipulation, masculinity to misogyny, mental illnesses to blind idolatry, it gives a truly authentic account of how the author deals with these perennial yet topical issues. (It certainly helps that she’d been writing journals since she was ten; that really explains how the narrative is crisp and clear, even more so than the things that happened to me just 2 days ago haha). Tara Westover’s struggles, sufferings, and eventual growth is believable and, most of all, inspiring.

In terms of writing, it’s one of the most gorgeous prose pieces I’ve read. Maybe that’s why I prefer reading memoirs of less famous individuals (at least less famous at the time they wrote the books): Tara wrote with grace, but also humility and tenderness, unlike some celebrity memoirs that play up their exploits and, obviously, recount stories that are often unrelatable to most readers. The traumas Tara underwent are brought to life unsettlingly real, and she fact-checks her memories with her brothers and provides footnotes where needed. That’s what we can expect from a historian! 

But best of all must be the nuances of her psyche. Tara Westover didn’t make a simple, swift change to the “better” and “modern way” of Cambridge and Havard. She shows raw emotions, vulnerability, as she  straddled the two sides of her life (her family or herself), and even then I would argue she didn’t completely choose herself in the end. It’s complicated, authentically so: vestiges of her early life with her family, one that has abused, manipulated, and defamed her, still cling to her throughout the entire journey. That said, it’s also the same family that still loves her, however warped it might be, and one that she still longs to reclaim. 

The memoir is naturally open-ended, for the author still has a long life ahead of her. Hopefully, Tara Westover will eventually make amends with her family only when it has learned to accept and respect her true humanity and identity.