Educated
by Tara Westover
4 stars
Tara Westover’s memoir focuses on her dysfunctional family life with a narcissistic bipolar father and a mother who was a classic enabler as she grew up in Idaho. The book is filled with many non-traditional and unconventional family stories that end up being dangerous because the parents are survivalists. Her stories are vivid, with excellent descriptions of her difficult upbringing. There was no homeschooling or unschooling –they just did not go. When the author tells of the accidents the family sustained while working in the junkyard from cuts and multiple car accidents, to burns from gasoline with no modern medicine, but rather treated only by her mother’s herbs and tinctures, I cringed inside. The abuse she suffered from her brother, Sean, was difficult. Mental illness seems to be all around. Her parents never seemed to notice Sean beating her up and would never intervene. Her ascent into higher education showed she had great resilience and her memoir takes you into her younger years that were less than wonderful, but she endured showing great loyalty and love for her family. An incredible read; I loved it.
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