Educated by Tara Westover
Educated came highly recommended since I too am writing a memoir. Where all memoirs focus on some aspect of the family, mine seem to be a pussycat in relationship to Tara's.
Tara grew up on an isolated mountain in Idaho in a Mormon family. Her father created an even more narrow view of the world by his anti establishment views of government, schools, doctors and hospitals. Tara and her siblings were home schooled but that term is used loosely. She learned to read from the Book of Mormon. There wasn't any structured schooling going on at home.
As Tara grew to be a teenager, an older brother begins a pattern of tormenting her on a regular basis escalating to violent abuse. When confronting her parents about it, they determined she was lying. The abuse continued unanswered. Women had no status in this family.
That Tara was able to rise above the dysfunction at home is amazing to me. When she arrived at BYU, she knew so little about the world but also nothing about how to care for herself or fit in to society. It was heartbreaking to read. She succeeded however, even when her parents and siblings harassed and bullied her. But it wasn't until she became truly educated that she broke the grip that they held on her.
Educated is a gut wrenching and eye opening story. You will stop taking what you have for granted after reading this book.
Educated came highly recommended since I too am writing a memoir. Where all memoirs focus on some aspect of the family, mine seem to be a pussycat in relationship to Tara's.
Tara grew up on an isolated mountain in Idaho in a Mormon family. Her father created an even more narrow view of the world by his anti establishment views of government, schools, doctors and hospitals. Tara and her siblings were home schooled but that term is used loosely. She learned to read from the Book of Mormon. There wasn't any structured schooling going on at home.
As Tara grew to be a teenager, an older brother begins a pattern of tormenting her on a regular basis escalating to violent abuse. When confronting her parents about it, they determined she was lying. The abuse continued unanswered. Women had no status in this family.
That Tara was able to rise above the dysfunction at home is amazing to me. When she arrived at BYU, she knew so little about the world but also nothing about how to care for herself or fit in to society. It was heartbreaking to read. She succeeded however, even when her parents and siblings harassed and bullied her. But it wasn't until she became truly educated that she broke the grip that they held on her.
Educated is a gut wrenching and eye opening story. You will stop taking what you have for granted after reading this book.
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