Review of Educated by Tara Westover

*Educated* by Tara Westover (2018). Published by Random House.

Educated is a book I’ve heard so much about throughout the years, and this isn’t the first time I read it. I think I knew about the book first immediately upon its release, as I was a high schooler in a competitive creative writing magnet program and was trying to keep an eye on the publishing industry to see what was being put out into the world by big publishers.

I didn’t read it immediately then. I committed to my college, got into their honors program, and then our first assigned book to read for the colloquium was Educated. That was the first time I read the book, as it was something I literally had to discuss as my first assignment in college.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately, over six years later, about the privileges of getting an education, especially a decent one, and how in the United States education is under threat. So I found myself thinking about this book again, and returning to it as someone who now had the chance to get multiple degrees.

Anyways, I can ramble for quite a bit, so here’s my review!

Growing up with survivalist parents, Tara Westover had to find opportunities to receive an education.

Our narrator, and the author of this memoir, is Tara Westover. Tara grew up in a rundown house in the mountains of Idaho, and her parents are what we call extreme survivalists. Instead of relying on the modern world and even furniture, Tara had a sleeping bag and worked to help prepare for what they thought would be the end of the world.

Because of that, Tara, nor her other siblings, had an education. Their education was in the ways of the world and how to survive, and her father even forbid them from going to hospitals, even if they had a major injury.

Tara did not have a birth certificate until she was almost ten, and she spent her days helping out her parents with odd chores. None of them involved math or reading, which meant the kids had no exposure to learning materials outside of what their parents told them.

They did not interact with many people, leaving them little exposure to the outside world, even when one of Tara’s brothers became too violent and abusive. Eventually, she began to teach herself math and English, without the support of her parents and family.

She was 17 before she had been in a classroom, and she managed to be accepted to Brigham Young University in Utah. There, she ended up majoring in history, and a lot of the events and historical figures she was learning about in her classes would be the first time she ever heard of such things.

Her education made her realize the limitations of the world she had been raised with, and Tara began pushing herself more and more in school in order to learn more. She would eventually land at Harvard and Cambridge, putting her in places and institutions she had no idea existed until she went to college.

However, a key part of this memoir is the tension this creates within her, as well as her family. Considering their beliefs and how strict her parents were, they don’t really believe in educational opportunities. Tara choosing to leave home creates a certain kind of friction, one that she might grapple with for the rest of her life.

Overall Thoughts

Books like these are so important to read, as they show the opportunities people can get if they have the right resources and timing. Tara literally had nothing and had to teach herself—there are other young girls and women out there in the world in the same exact circumstances, unfortunately.

I think a lot of Americans take for granted the opportunities they have, especially if they don’t try hard in school. An education can be one of the biggest gifts, as it teaches you about the world and how it runs. Whether it’s science or history, they’re all critical fields.

I’m glad to revisit this, especially as I prepare to move to India. I think I’m going to be seeing a lot of circumstances different than what I am used to, and it reaffirms my belief to donate and help out whenever possible.

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