"Educated" by Tara Westover

For Christmas I received Educated by Tara Westover from my friend Jeanne. She knows I like memoirs and off-the-grid. This book was off-the-grid in more ways than one.

Tara grew up in rural Idaho with a survivalist father, herbalist mother and older brothers and a sister. Their piece of the family ranch was now a scrapyard, and her father, who was extremely paranoid, was actively preparing his family for the End of Days.

Tara's young life was tough. Her father, who most likely was mentally ill, kept a tight rein on everyone. Home schooling (mostly no schooling) was used to keep his children hidden from a government he perceived to be dangerous.

While the book's main theme was Tara's drive to become educated, the backstory depicted an abusive home life for herself, her siblings and mother. Even after such a difficult upbringing, it was hard for Tara to separate from her family.

Tara wanted to go to school, but her father wouldn't allow it. She was needed to work in the family scrapyard. Her brother Tyler went to Brigham Young. Raised as devout (if not radical) Mormons, it was a logical choice. Plus, BYU accepted home-schooled students who passed the ACT. He encouraged Tara to try and she was accepted.

What follows is Tara's journey through becoming educated from nothing at all, through self-teaching, through university and ultimately to earn a PhD in history at Cambridge. Tara persevered through many challenges, so many it seems difficult to understand how she survived, let alone received an education.

The book was hard for me to read because of the harsh conditions Tara recounted from growing up. Unfortunately, that has been a common theme in other books published recently.

The memoir North of Normal follows Cea Sunrise Person from the Canadian wilderness to a nomadic urban existence with her mother. Cea's search for "normal" first led to becoming a supermodel, then a rewarding life with children of her own.

The novel The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah follows a similar theme with an abusive father, mental illness and isolation on a remote Alaskan property paralleling recent memoirs about coming of age and self-actualization.

At Amazon, Educated is available in three formats: hardback, paperback and Kindle. It is also widely available on bookstores and at other online booksellers.

What have you been reading? What about something fun and uplifting? -- Margy