[Review #2] Educated: A Memoir of Worldly-wise Westover

"My life was narrated for me by others.

Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute.

It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs."

Started on July 1, 2020

Finished on July 8, 2020

Title: Educated

Author: Tara Westover

Year of Publication: 2018

Pages: 334

ISBN: 978-1-9848-5485-8

Genre: Biography, Autobiography

Language: English

• Reasons Why I Read This Book:

As I mentioned earlier in my last review, I had collected dozens of book titles. Educated by Tara Westover was one of them. I remembered the day when I was immensely intrigued to read this book as it was recommended by Maudy Ayunda, an Indonesian singer-songwriter and actress. I believe most Indonesians know her not only as a talented artist, but also as a smart cookie.

On the top of that, I was also intrigued by its excerpt which briefly explained Tara's myriad experiences being born into and raised by a family of Mormon survivalists, such as experiencing near-death experiences in car accidents and her father's junkyard, being able to set foot in a classroom for the first time when she was seventeen, and earning her doctorate from University of Cambridge.

• Impression:

The first time I looked at the cover, I was immediately amazed by the illustration: a ginormous tip of a red pencil with a hint of the mountains of Idaho and a little girl standing on the peak. By looking at it, I can see both images with implicit meanings: a pencil that is generally associated with education and Buck's Peak, Tara Westover's childhood home. Just so you know, the cover is illustrated by Patrik Svensson. If only I had a chance to meet him, I would thank him from the bottom of my heart for his brilliant and thoughtful illustration.

Moving on to the contents, this book is divided into three distinct parts: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three. The first part consists of 16 chapters that mostly narrate Tara's sorrowful childhood and adolescence. She used to be physically and verbally abused by one of her older brothers, Shawn, for no apparent reason. She also used to be emotionally abused by her parents as they never truly believed in her: her domineering father who raised her in an extremist mindset and her submissive mother who was too afraid of using her strength to dispute her husband. In this chapter, I knew that Tara and her six other siblings did not see a doctor whenever they got sick, no matter how severe their sickness was, as their father did not believe in modern medicine. Consequently, Tara had to stand in the sun with her mouth open in the middle of winter for 30 minutes a day in order to treat her sore throat. They also were homeschooled as their father believed they would get brainwashed if they attended to any school. Therefore, Tara had to teach herself algebra and trigonometry so that she could be well-prepared for the ACT (American College Test). It was definitely hard for her as she was mathematically illiterate, given she was not even familiar with the symbols. Nevertheless, she gave her best for the test, and she succeeded.

The second part consists of 13 chapters that highlight Tara's experiences throughout her four-year journey at BYU (Brigham Young University). In this chapter, Tara was like a fish out of water as she learned to fit herself in a totally opposite, diverse surroundings. Furthermore, she also went through her ups-and-downs in many aspects of her life, such as in education, fellowship, and romantic relationship. In education, she was not aware enough of her lack of study skills so that she found herself failing exams several times. She also desperately entailed a scholarship so that she could pay her tuition. Eventually, with her perseverance and hard work, she overcame her hardships. In fellowship, she often clashed with her roommates as she innocently ignored cleanliness and personal hygiene, given both issues had not been values of her family. In romantic relationship, she went out with Charles, the only bystander whom she used to depend on. Unfortunately, it ended very soon after he witnessed her being physically abused by Shawn.

The third part consists of 11 chapters that recount Tara's brightest yet chaotic journey of being far from her childhood home. In this chapter, Tara was awarded scholarships to pursue her master's and doctorate degree at University of Cambridge. In this foreign country and continent, she put a lot of effort into making herself happier by making real friends and stopping herself from concealing her background. On the other hand, she was also down and frustrated as her parents still did not seem to believe the fact that she and her older sister, Audrey, had been abused by her manipulative brother, Shawn. They also considered her being possessed by demons as she refused to get herself a priesthood blessing, given how far she had strayed from the way she was raised in Idaho. Luckily, she still had her other brothers, Tony, Tyler, and Richard; her professors, Dr. Kerry and Professor Steinberg; and her former boyfriend, Drew, who had always supported and believed in her.

In my opinion, this book was wonderfully written in many details as if Tara wanted to give a crystal clear explanation about her extreme background to common people. It also taught me to perceive things from optimistic perspective, such as being bold enough to be out of her childhood home for getting herself educated and involving grit and perseverance in pursuing her dreams.

Regardless of what makes this book so well-written and heart-wrenching, the book itself has at least two drawbacks. The first one is about how detailed her writing was so that it seemed a bit embellished, given those experiences happened many years before Tara began to write the book. Apart from her detailed and embellished writing, I would consider Tara to have a very good memory. She also mentioned that she wrote many parts of her life in her journal and asked her brothers to add their own details so that she could make the book as accurate as possible. The second one is about no further explanation for Shawn being brutally abusive to his sisters, both Tara and Audrey. Was that because of the terrible accident he was in? Or was that because of anything else?

• Final Thoughts:

1. To me, understanding Tara's style of writing is a bit of a challenge because of formal diction she used. I think her writing style is mostly influenced by her upbringing, given the only book she perpetually read was the Bible. In this memoir, one of her professors also commented on her "oddly formal and stilted" style of writing.

2. It is heart-wrenching to see Tara's parents and siblings never believed in her, claimed her she was dangerous and taken by the Devil. But it is also relieving to know Tyler will always have Tara's back.

3. I am amazed by how bold, persistent, and strong Tara was, and also by how articulate, confident, and peaceful she is now.

To sum up, her book is worth reading and eye-opening to me because from it, I can learn about courage, determination, independence, mental illness, and most importantly, the importance of education.

• Rating: 4.2