A Journey of Self-Discovery: Book Review of Educated by Tara Westover

In Tara Westover’s Educated she unlocks her memories and takes you on a roller coaster of her early life growing up in the Mormon culture.

Tara is the youngest of seven children born to Gene and LaRee Westover. .

At Buck Peak’s somewhere in Idaho, she looks over the princess, a mountain. She wonders what lies ahead past that. The only world she’s ever known off is that built by her family. Where seeking an education would lead them to be infiltrated by societies such as the Illuminati and forget the norms of Mormonism and dress as a tiny harlot while at that.

Funny thing is that Tara was allowed to drive and work at a certain grocery shop. It’s not until her elder brother Tyler, took an interest in wanting to seek an education outside from the little homeschooling that they had been taught by their mother, is when Tara also gained interest.

She recalls of how she would lie at the feet of Tyler in his room, listening to some of his music while he studied. The only texts that Tara had ever read was the Holy Bible and those of John Smith and other Mormon leaders.

Tyler passed his General Education Development (GED) test and went ahead to study at Brighton Young University (BYU) where Tara would equally follow suite years later.

Tara’s mother was the type who always stood by their husband. She was a midwife and also a herbalist. The family alongside with other Mormons did not believe in hospitals or modern medicine. The unveiling of several accidents including two road accidents, which left her mother recovering at the basement for months, Luke’s leg getting burnt and her father being blasted and most of his skin scarred, all these cases were treated at home.

A rift with Tara and her father began when one day her brother Shawn got an accident and instead of bringing him home to mother for treatment, she called an ambulance instead to the hospital.

However, Tara excels in her university education earning her Masters and PhD from Cambridge University.

Finally, she manages to break from the shell of her family. This was after exposing, the physical and emotional abuse that Shawn had subjected her too. Nobody believed aside from her brothers Richard, Tony and Tyler. Everyone else completely cut her off.

It is a story of strength and liberation. Seeking her own self, world, identity outside of the norms of Mormonism. Also a story of loss and grief as she struggled to accept that her own family chose to disown her instead of believe her. But most importantly it is a story of great courage and seeking better for oneself, an education.

A cacophony of transformation, metamorphosis, falsity and betrayal.