Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover was our fourth book for Quill Quotes Book Club! Nonfiction won the genre vote and Educated barely beat out the four other choices but I’m glad it did because this is a good one! The book is set up in three parts so we had three different discussions for book club. Everyone enjoyed this unbelievable true story. The group’s star ratings averaged together from the book club is 4.5 Stars!

Book Stats

• Title: Educated: A Memoir
• Author: Tara Westover
• Genre: Nonfiction, Biography
• Publication Date: Feb. 20, 2018
• Pages: 336
• Est. Reading Time: 8 hours
• Rating: 4 Stars
• Buy Now: Amazon or BAM!

Plot Summary of Educated

An inspiring true story about Tara Westover who earns a Ph.D. despite never receiving a formal education until college. Tara’s family lives in isolation on a mountain in Idaho. Her parents are survivalists and her dad is a doom’s day prepper who thinks the government is out to get them. Therefore, no one forced Tara and her siblings to go to school. After a couple of horrific events in her life and seeing one of her brothers get into college, Tara decided she wanted an education and applies for college.

Thoughts

From the synopsis, I knew the family was going to be very different and peculiar but I had no idea how much so! If this book was fiction I probably wouldn’t have liked it very much because I would have said there is no way this much could happen to one family. I would have found it too unrealistic and unbelievable. It blows my mind that this is a true story. This family goes through so much and has so many near-death experiences, it’s insane! Plus, all the hoops Tara has to jump through to even study, it’s a miracle she even got into college.

“Learning in our family was entirely self-directed: you could learn anything you could teach yourself, after your work was done.”

–Tara Westover, Educated

Once Tara is at college she struggles with balancing her studies, financial situation, and her family relationships. Soon she realizes having an education and still being involved in her family’s lives will not mix. The internal struggle she faces with finding herself is heart-breaking.

“First find out what you are capable of, then decide who you are.”

–Tara Westover, Educated

Educated touches on so many important topics including religion, femininity, family dynamics, mental health, and much more. Tara wrestles with all of these topics and has to decide if she believes what her family taught her growing up or what she is learning now from others.

“What a person knows about the past is limited, and will always be limited, to what they are told by others.”

–Tara Westover, Educated

Final Thoughts on Educated

I highly recommend Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. It’s definitely one you have to read to believe. The only reason this wasn’t 5 stars from me is that I would have liked a little more details about her undergraduate college education and more about her life after college. Otherwise, no complaints from me! If you would like to see my more in-depth thoughts and the book club’s discussion check out the Educated Book Club Summary Page.

Have you read Educated? Do you like to read nonfiction or memoirs?