Educated by Tara Westover

A MEMOIR about Tara Westover's family and how the thirst for education has pushed her to leave their Mormon beliefs.

The book was a slow burner at first and I could not wait for the part when she finally leaves her family and start her life as a student. That happened in the middle part of the book and for me it didn’t quite satisfy. I wanted to read a lot about her struggles as a student and how she accomplished things but since the story revolved mostly on her family’s beliefs that even when she was already in the university, she still recounted some memories of the past, the “education” part, for me, was a bit stifled.

Some parts were hard to read especially the ones where her brother Shawn physically abused her to the point where he almost killed her, and her mother, even though she knew about it, chose not to do something. It was as if every member of the family has a mental illness especially her father (whom she confirmed in the latter part of the book as someone who had symptoms of bipolar disease).

I love the part about her life in school, the challenges she faced living with her dorm mates, and her academic life in general. It was just a bit confusing because she kept saying she didn’t have money yet she was able to do different things like fly in and out of the country to visit her family when she was sent to England on a scholarship. Maybe that was possible but I feel that a lot of things were left out of the book so the reader will be left with questions as this.

What Educated made me realize is how spiritual belief can easily turn into madness when humans do it by themselves. I mean, I am a Christian and I know that it is impossible for me to have faith without the help of God. God is the one who gave me faith. So when people do things on their own, like believe in the bible according to how they want to interpret it, it could lead to disaster. If it is a real relationship with God, then we would have to ask God to help us understand his word and do as he please, not understand his word and do as we please according to how we want to interpret his word.