Educated: A Memoir

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover, 334 pages.

Westover tells the fascinating story of her life. She grew up on a mountain in Idaho, the daughter of two survivalist parents, who members of a very fundamentalist group of Mormons. Her father was a man driven to conform to the very narrow path that he believed God wanted him and his family to follow. The government in all its forms had a plan to control everyone, and school was a part of that plan, so Westover and her siblings were homeschooled. Well, not exactly schooled. More like left in a room with some books. Westover tells compelling stories of the hard work they did, helping their father scrap cars, buildings, and machinery, with her father making each job more difficult and more dangerous than it needed to be with his frantic energy and cost-cutting schemes. Cuts, minor amputations, falls, and explosions were all part of her young life. She also talks about her relationships with her siblings, all of them suffering under her father's strict rules. Westover's brother Shawn, bipolar, manipulative, and, to a degree, evil also made her suffer quite a bit. Westover makes some difficult decisions as she grows up, deciding to pursue an education that takes her from BYU to Harvard and to Cambridge. This path, and her confronting some of the realities of her family's actions strains her relationships with her mother and father.
A compelling book. Well-narrated by Julia Whelan.