Book Review: Educated
Happy Friday!
I hope you’re having a good week so far. Yesterday I wrote about being nice and it was a lesson I had to take myself. I had a busy day at work and was in super early so I was excited to get out a little earlier than usual at the end of the day. It was a nice, sunny afternoon, and on the way home, I browsed in some shops on my street and wandered around a little. When I got to my building, I realised I couldn't find my keys. Then I remembered I had worn a jacket to work that morning and left it at the office, with my keys in the pocket. I tried to call Tj but he was in a meeting. I was so annoyed. I had to go all the way back to work to get them. I was super frustrated and irritated because getting to my work not in peak hours takes a bit longer. Once I was on the train I wasn't too cranky because I was able to get a seat for once and I used the time to read haha. I have so much more patience when I am reading a good book. About an hour and a half later I was finally able to get home.
Last weekend I finished the book Educated by Tara Westover.
Here is the synopsis from chapters.ca:
Tara Westover was seventeen when she first set foot in a classroom. Instead of traditional lessons, she grew up learning how to stew herbs into medicine, scavenging in the family scrap yard and helping her family prepare for the apocalypse. She had no birth certificate and no medical records and had never been enrolled in school. Westover’s mother proved a marvel at concocting folk remedies for many ailments. As Tara developed her own coping mechanisms, little by little, she started to realize that what her family was offering didn’t have to be her only education. Her first day of university was her first day in school—ever—and she would eventually win an esteemed fellowship from Cambridge and graduate with a PhD in intellectual history and political thought.
I'd been seeing this book everywhere and wasn't sure if it was for me, but Lauryn left it for me when she visited in January and said it was worth the read.
Immediately after I finished it I had so many questions. I started looking up articles and watching author interviews on YouTube.
Here are some of my initial thoughts:
The very beginning of the book describes a mountain, and I was worried that I was never going to get into the story.
I loved when she talked about getting a birth certificate and no one knew her actual date of birth so she picked one.
Her family had a lot of trauma and accidents. I can’t imagine the injuries they sustained and not getting medical attention
The most shocking thing to me when reading this book is that she is about my age and what different upbringings we had. When she talks about certain world events I remember what it was like when those things were happening.
I was fascinated when she described going to college and being so dirty and messy and not washing her hands. Her poor roommates!
I first realised she must be really smart when she went from failing to getting 100% on her exam.
I love when she got vaccinated!
Truth Time:
There were some parts I wanted to know more about that I felt she touched on but didn’t get into enough - what sparked her interest in going to college, how she started really succeeding in academics, how she recovered from her own mental breakdown, how the way she grew up influences her now.
Towards the end of the book she confronts her family about the abuse and they seemed clueless but from reading the book it seemed like they were around when it happened so I was confused by their reaction.
One of the most interesting things is when she describes how different family members remember different events in their lives very differently. I really enjoyed those footnotes, but it also made me question the book overall. This is her telling of how she remembers things but is it entirely accurate? Is there anything important she has left out? I wanted to know what her family thought and if they had anything to say about the book. I was also curious about their essential oil business that was making her family so successful.
Final Thoughts:
When I finished the book I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. When I was reading it I couldn't put it down but I didn't love the ending. But that's the thing about books. Sometimes they are pure entertainment and sometimes they can change you. And you don’t have to like a book for it to make you think about it.
There was one punchy line at the end about being educated that made me want to fist pump in the air — yes!
“You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal.
I call it an education.”
Education is powerful and can open doors, minds, and hearts. I like to think that people do better when they know better. And curiosity is a good thing. Exposing yourself to new things. When you make a mistake go back and see where you went wrong. I loved this story because it demonstrated to me how education can changed your life. How you can overcome your upbringing and build a better life for yourself. I hope Tara Westover uses her education to change the world. And I’m glad she is finding new relationships with family members who support her and believe in her.
Have a great weekend.
