Will I love Educated?

An engaging story of how a person can transform her life through travel and formal education.

While teaching English at a community college, I assigned this memoir to my students. Many of my students came from disadvantaged backgrounds and could identify with the childhood hardships and abuse experienced by Tara Westover.

I was delighted to share a story that resonates with my own life and demonstrates how a young person, even against overwhelming obstacles, can overcome insecurities, transform personal views, and navigate beyond the limitations imposed by one’s childhood.

Since I spent part of my childhood living within an hour… show more.

Raised in a survivalist family that rejected formal education and medical care, Westover never entered a classroom until age 17.

Her journey from rural Idaho to earning a PhD from Cambridge is a remarkable story of transformation through self-education, resilience, and the pursuit of truth, even when it means questioning your origins.

Like Westover’s father, my father held very strong beliefs separating us from others. But we both instinctively know there was more to life.

This was one of the first books I read about cults to which I could totally relate. Because I raised my children in a cult, I could understand the end times mania, making children work in dangerous situations, and the thought that governments are not working for our common good.

I found myself cheering Tara as she lived a certain hell but managed to escape it, get a proper education, and go on to write her story. Reading Tara’s story made me realize that the life I had lived could have gone down that road, and it almost did. 

Frankly,… show more.

I listened to this audiobook motionless, with my eyes closed, forgetting that I needed to sleep, drink, or do chores. It’s easy to forget who you are when you are so immersed in a book. Sometimes, I would catch myself in a horrible or elated mood and then realize that I was unable to separate myself from what I listened to or read in the morning.

That's how this book affected me. It was very easy to identify with this story, as it also centers on a dysfunctional family like mine. I also loved the transformative power of knowledge portrayed… show more.

Westover’s memoir is a fascinating exploration of the clash between ignorance and enlightenment, with a plot twist that involves her eventually realizing she was raised in a real-life survivalist cult. Her journey from a sheltered, isolated upbringing to earning a PhD is nothing short of extraordinary.

But what really hooked me was her biting wit and the way she grapples with the contradictions of loving a family that’s as endearing as they are exasperating. It’s like watching someone untangle a lifetime’s worth of emotional knots, one revelation at a time, and somehow finding humor in the most unexpected places.

The survivalist family drama, paranoia, and isolation seemed an impossible life for Tara Westover to escape. This memoir had a suspense and thriller aspect that I loved. I could not put it down.

Her ability to stand up to her parents and an abusive older brother without means showed true grit. She is an admirable and inspirational human being. I love stories where humans overcome great adversity.  

This book shattered me open with how raw and honest the author spoke about the frequently excruciating events of her childhood. From being raised far outside the norms of society to reckoning with familial abuse as a young adult, she masterfully articulated things I, too, had experienced but, up until that point, had never been able to find the words to explain.

I felt so powerfully seen! Westover’s bravery and skill in sharing her harrowing journey–from a child stuck in survival to a grown woman strong in her own right–will forever inspire me. 

I’m always astonished and grateful when someone who has lived through extraordinary events also has the skill to describe them brilliantly.

Tara Westover’s gorgeous writing won me over before I could even begin to appreciate the strange, dangerous, and ever-shifting terrain of her childhood. Her descriptions of growing up in a fundamentalist, survivalist home with no formal education, and no official record of her existence, never stopped surprising me as I gobbled up the pages.

I was amazed and inspired by her determination to forge her own path as an adult and to see the world for herself rather than… show more.

I was deeply moved by Tara’s experience of emerging from the oppressive environment of being raised in a fundamentalist, anti-government, anti-education compound in the mountains of Idaho. Against all odds, Tara overcomes countless obstacles, ultimately achieving her PhD from Cambridge University.

Her indomitable spirit inspired me, but it was her writing style that had the biggest impact on me. I saw how much more powerful storytelling can be when it’s understated, allowing the reader to arrive at their own conclusion. I can’t recommend this book highly enough!   

I identified with Tara Westover while reading her memoir because of her secluded and restrictive upbringing. Like her, my upbringing made me feel left out, “other,” different from normal kids, not allowed the usual activities that other kids could do and kept from learning and growing in my own way.

I didn’t understand how these rules affected me until I saw my angst in her own words of isolation, yearning, and rebellion. It gave me hope that our desire for self-fulfillment and actualization is universal and stronger than the people who try, for good reasons or bad, to keep us… show more.