A Blonde and 3 Boys

Welcome Back!

I just finished the non -fiction book
Educated by Tara Westover.

Tara Westover was seventeen 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 Tara’s older brother 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.

Oh. My. Word. One of the best books I have read. You have all the feels and all the emotions and all the questions.
I think my biggest struggle with Tara’s story is how her mother picked her “abusive (verbally), nonchalant, un-protective” father over her children. Her mom knows these things are going on,  but stands beside her husband while her children are longing for her to be a mom. Just when you think the mother is going to step up (finally) she lets Tara down once again. I kept thinking how the ones you love the most, hurt you the most.

This is just one of the many stories going on in this memoir. There’s the brother who turns violent on a dime and takes it out on his siblings. Again, the father wants proof, while the mother looks at the floor. (I wanted to punch the mom.) There’s the two brothers that “escape” the mountain and go onto college and encourage Tara to do so also. But the father and mother only recognize the talents of only one of the three  children. There’s the story of the sister who reaches out to Tara, but is threaten to be pushed out of the family, so reverses her story. Just so much going…and this book will stick with you for some time.

5 out of 5 stars