Title: Educated: A Memoir

Author: Tara Westover

Publish Date: February 20, 2018

Publisher: Random House

Format: Hardcover

Page Count: 334 pages

Source: Library

Date Read: February 16-18, 2020

Review

I had no intention of reading this book on my own; it was my IRL book club pick. I read the glowing reviews from both book industry types and readers, yet I was convinced this book wasn't for me. I was right.

Educated is about Westover's life as a daughter of Mormon fundamentalist family living on a mountain in Idaho. Her life and family are just fucked up nutcases. It was hard to read about constant physical and emotional abuse of children who then grew up and continued the abuse or turned away from the family and upbringing. When Westover left at 17 to go to college, I did empathize with her when she was writing about roommates who were Mormon, but not "her kind" of Mormon and her money woes. But every time she made head way in breaking away and becoming her own person in the not fundie world, she raced back toward the mountain and her family, back to the abuse. This happened five or six times and it was exhausting to read and then just boring. She didn't want to break up with her family, even though her older brother did it earlier than her and was much happier living in the non-fucked up world. And because it took so long for the break up to happen and so many fucked up situations described just numbed me to having any sympathy for her. Personally, I don't think she is smart as she and glowing reviewers think she is. Educated sure, but she has a lot of learning to do still and I have no desire to read anything else by her.

I'm still going to work on finishing this like the book club meeting for it will eventually happen, but it definitely isn't going to happen on the planned date. My local public library has cancelled all events for at least the next couple weeks.

From the sounds of things, I'll probably be working from home soon, too. Although how I'll be doing that when most of what I need in order to do my job isn't accessible from home remains to be seen. At least I'm in a better position than the coworkers of mine who can't afford internet.

Okay, that was bizarre. Tara's dad (it feels weird to call her Westover in this particular update) lost it and told her she had to move out. I think she'd just gotten her SAT results? Her mom gave a token protest but finally agreed, telling Tara that she'd been moved out and about to marry Tara's dad when she was Tara's age. Tara said: "You were 16 when you married dad?"

It turned out that Tara's mom thought she was at least 20. Her dad probably thought the same. Tara didn't know her exact birth date and wasn't issued a birth certificate until she was 9 (or was it 10?), so it's not a surprise that they'd be a bit off on remembering her age, but four whole years?

On a semi-related note, this bit reminded me of a conversation I once had with my dad. He had trouble remembering his exact birth date, and I'd asked him why. His mom, my grandmother, had told him the wrong day for years. She was off by a couple months, if I remember right. He didn't find out his real birth date until he was preparing to move out and got a copy of his birth certificate.

It's impressive that Westover not only managed to leave home, but also write this book. The book would have been viewed as a huge betrayal by all or most of her family (and some googling indicates that this is likely the case for everyone except maybe Tyler).

I know there's more horrible stuff to come, but I'm already amazed Westover survived to adulthood. Not only did her dad not believe in doctors or modern medicine, he also had a habit of treating the kids like they were immortal.