Skip to main content

Educated by Tara Westover Book Review


Reasons for reading this book

Educated by Tara Westover has been on my want to read book list for over a year now and I just never read it because it was long and cost more money then I wanted to spend. Lucky for me I had just finished Daisy Jones & The Six when my mom came home with Educated as it was her book club book for July. For reference I read this book in the last week of June but am just now getting around to posting it as I have created so much other content prior to reading it. So simply I read this book out of convenience and to finally check it off my want to read list.

Content of the book

Educated is Tara Westover's memoir. It details her life as the youngest child of a mother who believed she could heal any injury or illness with tinctures and salve while her father was against the medical establishment and the government. Tara and her siblings were 'homeschooled' as their parents did not believe in the public school system. The family lived in an isolated homestead in the mountains of Idaho. At the age of seventeen Tara ventured into the world of education. She was constantly moving between the world of education and her families world where they were preparing for the end of the world. The memoir follows her life as she navigates living in both of these worlds while also discovering herself and what she wants for herself. Is cutting ties with her family the best option for her?

Themes of the book

Religion versus government. Family versus self. A coming-of-age story. Hunger for knowledge. What is love and what is family?

What I liked about the book

As a reader I found it very helpful to have the book sectioned into three parts. This helped to break up her life and not have the book feel so linear. Something that I have taken from reading past memoirs is that the author can struggled to write in a style that matches how they would have talked or thought at that time. Instead they reflect on it from a present self. Tara had herself both reflect in the moment and included segments from her journals and a reflection at the time of writing years later. She was also able to capture and execute her voice at each stage of her life. As she grew older and more educated her vocabulary expanded and became more refined. This is not only a reflection of her growth as a student but also of how excellent of a writer she is. This writing technique helped me to really immerse myself in how she was at each stage in her life. A complaint that I see for memoirs is that some parts become dull or less interesting as most people experience less crazy or exciting times in their life. For it being a memoir I never once felt like this happened. Whether this is attributed to how chaotic her life was or the choice of how to write the book, I was entertained from start to finish. There was constant action or problems to be solved or worked through. The visually descriptions in this book did not disappoint. There were points in the story that were so graphically described I was grossed out just reading it and not trying to visualize it. Tara was also very transparent with the reader what parts of the story were from her memories and what parts were told to her and that they might not be totally true to the real events. I appreciated her transparency. The last thing I liked about this memoir is how raw and open the Tara was with the reader. 

What I disliked about this book

Something that I disliked about the book, that is very fixable, is that as Tara became more educated she started using words that I did not know. As I was reading this in a hardcover form it was more work for me to look up the words than if I were to read it in an ebook form. This really is not a reason I disliked the book, but is more of a comment. Other that that I do not have anything that I disliked about the book. I personally found it hard to relate to this book, which can be a turn off for me, but I did not even think about that while reading because I was so engrossed in Tara's life story.

Would I recommend this book?

Hands down I would recommend this memoir. The reader experiences the ups and downs of Tara's life through an exquisitely written memoir. This book is also excellent for a book club because there are some many conversations that can be had about the book. 

Check out my book reviews for 2021!!


Check out my book reviews for 2020!!

Check out my book reviews for 2019!!



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reasonable Dorm Room Cleaning Schedule

Reasonable Dorm Room Cleaning Schedule After my first semester of college I have developed a cleaning routine that I have been able to keep up with. You can read my previous blog post about What I Learned In My First Semester of College . Over the past few months I have experimented and I am confident in the routine that I have created.  Personalize When it comes to personalizing the schedule you could add or take out the different chores. For example I also wash my retainers weekly and monthly my roommate and I decorate the marker board on the outside of our door. We also only clean our mirrors when needed since we have found that they do not seem to become too dirty regularly. Something that I would make sure you sanitize every week would be the surfaces that you are constantly touching. That means light switches, door handles, and your desk. By doing this I managed to avoid getting sick when my roommate and other floor mates go sick. Another task that you could add to y
93 comments
Read more

Bullet Journal Fitness and Workout Spread Ideas

If you want to purchase some of these spreads you can buy the digital bundle from my Etsy shop: Simply Paperless .  I had created six different bullet journal fitness and workout trackers/spreads. These spreads were made in my digital bullet journal using the GoodNotes App.   I highly recommend to use a stylus when using GoodNotes as a digital bullet journal. For this project I used the Adonit Dash 3 Stylus , which I highly recommend. I also recommend the Bargain Depot Stylus 2 Pack  from Amazon. Daily Workout Plan This first spread can be used to plan out what exercises you plan to workout each day of the week. I would recommend this spread for those who are just starting to workout. I did not created the workout that is used as the example for the content of this spread. The workout is from Pintrest Workout Plan .  Workout Tracker This next tracker is in the format of a monthly calendar. In order to track the different workouts accomplished throughout
63 comments
Read more

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus Book Review

Reasons For Reading This Book: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus was Jackie's choice for the month of October. Jackie is the host of The Readheads Podcast Book Club. This is a monthly podcast book club that I have been apart of since it was established in 2020. I love getting to hear the thoughts of the hosts each month.  Content of the Book: Elizabeth Zott is a chemist but is much more than meets the eye. She is not only beautiful but also extremely smart, confident, strong, and not afraid to beat to her own drum. Elizabeth is one of the only female chemists working at Hastings Research Institute. She is viewed as different by everyone there. It's there that she meet Nobel-Prize nominated chemist Calvin Evans. Calvin who falls in love with Elizabeth is described as a loner, grudge holder, and extremely brilliant. Fast forward a few years and Elizabeth is now a single-mother working as the host of the most watched cooking show, Supper at Six . With Elizabeth's ways of
2 comments
Read more