Book 7: Educated
Hi friends! How has your summer been so far? I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with our families and having Colton finished with grad school! Today’s post is book 7, titled, Educated (check out part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 if you missed them). In these reviews, I share a bit about each of these books, my thoughts, how many stars I’d give it (actually it is how many Jericho’s as I’m using his cute face in place of stars. ;) ), and what other books I've read that month. Educated was a fascinating story and I loved getting a glimpse into the life that Tara Westover lived. Have you read this book yet?
Title: Educated
Author: Tara Westover
Genre: Non-Fiction | Memoir
Page Count: 352
Short Synopsis: Educated is about Tara Westover’s story from childhood to adulthood living in an extreme survivalist family. Tara grew up in the middle of nowhere, Idaho with no birth certificate until she was in her teens and no formal education until college. Her mother is an unlicensed midwife, who has to be careful of not getting caught practicing medicine, and her dad is constantly finding new ways to prepare for the Days of Abomination.
Her dad, Gene, is a unique character in that he believes the government is out to get him; all hospitals are trying to kill people instead of save people; schools are in cahoots with the Illuminati; and that pharmaceutical drugs are an abomination to God. He is constantly afraid that the Feds are going to come after him. Due to these fears, he makes it his life goal to prepare for the end times. Guns are purchased; fuel is saved and stored underground; and food is canned. His dream is to find a way to tunnel water from the mountain to their own personal stores. Her mom, Faye, while not as extreme as her dad, unfortunately goes along with whatever her husband says instead of standing up for her children.
Although this family practices Mormonism, they take it to the extreme and become legalistic with religion instead of having a relationship with God. God cares more about the quality of our relationship than being perfect in our tasks. He has grace for our imperfections. Educated tells the story of Tara’s dysfunctional upbringing; the good, the bad, and the ugly, and how she became Educated throughout it all.
My Thoughts: Does anybody else hate starting books? It is the worst part of reading for me because I have to get myself acquainted with new characters and a new story line. Once I got into this book, I couldn’t put it down.
Growing up in Utah, I first-handedly experienced some of the Mormon traditions, such as creating a well-stocked food storage, no grocery shopping or any type of work being allowed on Sundays, and having to wear super-modest clothing. These aren’t bad things in and of themselves, they were just things I became familiar with growing up in a predominately LDS culture, so I was able to easily relate to this story and understand their culture.
I really enjoyed how Tara told her story in a linear manner while also dispersing personal stories throughout. One of my favorites was when her brother, Luke accidentally set his leg on fire while out working with his dad. It was his habit to tie his pants up with twine rope and to duct tape his shoes on. This made it difficult to take his clothes off when his leg was burning because he wouldn’t sit still enough to cut them off. Instead he was running around because of the pain. He ended up putting his leg in a garbage bag inside a garbage bin filled with ice-cold water. The garbage bin was too heavy to move to a shaded area and Luke wouldn’t take his leg out, so he donned a sombrero hat to block the sun and a wool blanket to stop the chills. While this story has a little bit of humor in it, I think the most impactful story that Tara described was how she went from having little to no education to being accepted to BYU and later on obtaining her PhD from Cambridge.
“‘There’s a world out there, Tara,’ he said. ‘And it will look a lot different once Dad is no longer whispering his view of it in your ear.’”
In the beginning, her mother, Faye, tried to “homeschool” when she first had kids, but as the years passed and more children were added to their family, it stopped. Ultimately, her parents believed that reading was all that mattered, the rest was just brainwashing. On the rare occasions when she did try to school her children, Tara would go to her room with the math book and would run her finger down the center page. She did this 50 times so she could tell her mom that she did 50 pages worth of math. Her mom was so impressed (also very oblivious) and believed that homeschooling was so much more productive than attending school.
When she was the age of a typical high school junior, Tara took the ACT test and got an acceptable score on her second try. She was accepted in to BYU having had no formal education. In one of her history classes, the professor mentioned the events of the Holocaust. Tara wasn’t familiar with the term “Holocaust” so she raised her hand and asked the teacher what that word was. Sadly, the teacher and the whole class thought she was trying to make a joke. This experience stuck with Tara throughout her schooling and made it difficult for her to speak up in the classroom.
Later on in a math class, Tara finds out that she is failing. If she doesn’t get good grades she won’t be eligible to receive her scholarship and thus will have to drop out of college. She pleads her case with her professor and he agrees that if anyone in the class can get a perfect score on the final exam, he will give that person an A in the class. Despite her struggles, Tara studies hard, and her determination gets her a perfect score!
Tara learned two important lessons in this book. Lesson one was that she let other people define her. Her brother, Shawn, always called her a whore, even for just wearing a little lip gloss. She internalized this and frequently thought of herself as a whore. Another time, her same brother accused her of being pregnant and she questioned if it was true, despite never having kissed a boy before. If we let them, other people can hold extreme power over us. When we decide to not listen to the voice of others and choose to only listen to who God says we are (loved, worthy, acceptable, etc.) then we avoid unconsciously giving our power to others. The second lesson Tara learned is that we are guilty of placing limitations on ourselves. When we do that, we aren’t able to reach our full potential. We have to step outside of our comfort zone and work towards the things that seem impossible. If Tara can go from no education to earning her PhD, what could be possible for you if you just tried?
“‘It’s strange how you give the people you love so much power over you,’ I had written in my journal. But Shawn had more power over me than I could possibly have imagined. He had defined me to myself, and there’s no greater power than that.”
I really enjoyed reading about Tara Westover’s unconventional family. Educated was an inspiring story and shows just how much you can achieve if you try.
What is something you’ve always wanted to do / achieve that you haven’t yet tried?
My Rating:
Other Books I Read in July: A Love Letter Life | Apple Turnover Murder | Cinnamon Roll Murder | Summer of ‘69 | China Rich Girlfriend | Blackberry Pie Murder | Rich People Problems
