On the highway below, the school bus rolls past without stopping. I am only 7, but I understand that it is this fact more than any other that makes my family different. We don’t go to school. Dad worries that the government will force us to go, but it can’t because it doesn’t know about us. Four of my parents’ seven children don’t have birth certificates. We have no medical records because we were born at home and have never seen a doctor or nurse. We have no school records because we’ve never set foot in a classroom.
Educated is both a tale of hope and a record of horror. We know from the first page of her book that Tara Westover is a bright woman, a gifted writer with an impressive, poetic command of language. But her early life offered no clue that she would become a Cambridge PhD or a brilliant memoirist. She was the youngest of seven children born to Gene and Faye (not their real names) Westover, fundamentalist, survivalist Mormons, in rural Idaho.
Tara Westover – image from her The Times
We had a farm which belonged to my grandfather, and we had a salvage yard full of crumpled-up cars which belonged to my father. And my mother was a – she was an herbalist and a midwife. And as children, we spent a lot of hours walking on the mountain, gathering rose hips and mullein flowers that she could stew into tinctures. So in a lot of ways, it was a very beautiful childhood. – from NPR interview
The children constituted his workforce in Gene’s scrapyard. Father was the law in their household, but it was a rule informed as much by significant mental health issues as it was by his ardent religious beliefs. In a less rural, less patriarchal, less religious community, theirs could easily have been deemed an unsafe environment. The scrapyard was a particularly dangerous place.
…he just didn’t have that bone in his head that said, this is dangerous; don’t do this. And he had a really hard time understanding injuries even after they had happened and how severe they were. I just – I don’t know what it was about the way his mind worked. He just wasn’t able to do that. – from NPR interview
Ruby Ridge had occurred when Tara was five, and fed her father’s paranoia. Everyone had to have head-for-the-hills bags for when the government, Deep State, Illuminati, choose your own boogeyman, would come for them. He had a profound distrust of the medical profession, believing that doctors were agents of Satan, intent on doing harm. He saw the herbalism Faye practiced as the only true, righteous treatment for one’s ills, calling her products “god’s pharmacy.” And he practiced what he preached, for himself as well as for his children, even after suffering a devastating injury. Maybe not an ideal way to make sure your kids reach adulthood in one piece.
View from Buck Peak – image from Westover’s site
Home schooling was also less than idyllic, with mom’s attention spread not only over seven children but to her work as an herbalist and later, in addition, a midwife. Luke had a learning disability, frustrating mom, who really had hoped to educate them all. Dad undermined this, dragging the kids out to do chores and learn practical skills. Eventually mom gave up. Education consisted of Faye dropping them at the Carnegie Library in town, where they could read whatever they wanted. Dad rustled the boys at 7am, but Tyler, who had an affinity for math, would often remain inside, studying, until dad dragged him out.
…there was not a lot of school taking place. We had books, and occasionally we would be kind of sent to read them. But for example, I was the youngest child, and I never took an exam, or I never wrote an essay for my mother that she read or nothing like kind of getting everyone together and having anything like a lecture. So it was a lot more kind of if you wanted to read a book, you could, but you certainly weren’t going to be made to do that. – from NPR interview
Successful schooling or not, Tara acquired a desire for and love of learning. Tyler, a black sheep, not only loved books but music, as well. This was a major tonic for Tara, who was smitten with the classical and choral music her brother would play on his boom box. Not only did she find a love for music, but she discovered that she has a gift for singing. Being a part (often the star) of the town musical productions gave her greater contact with peers outside her family than she had ever had before. It formed one pillar of her desire to go to school, to college, to study music. (I included a link in EXTRA STUFF to a music video in which she sings lead, so you can hear for yourself.)
At age seventeen, Tara Westover attended her first school class, at BYU, clueless about much of what was common knowledge for everyone else, resulting in her asking a question in class about a word everyone, I mean everyone, knows. Oopsy.
Her intellectual broadening and education forms one powerful thread in her story. How her natural curiosity emerged, was nurtured, discouraged, and ultimately triumphed. The other thread consists of the personal, emotional, psychological, religious, and cultural challenges she had to overcome to become her own person.
The world in which Westover was raised was one in which a powerful patriarchy, fed by a fundamentalist religious beliefs, applied its considerable pressure to push her into what was considered the proper role for a young woman, namely homemaker, mother, probably following in her mother’s dual careers as herbalist and midwife. And what about what was the right course for Tara? There was some wiggle room. Once dad sees her perform on stage, he is smitten, and softens to her musical leanings. Male siblings had been allowed to go to college. But every step outside the expectations, the rules, came at a cost. Do something different and lose a piece of connection to your family. And family was extremely important, particularly for a person whose entire life had been defined by family, much more so than for pretty much anyone who might read her book.
Westover as a wee Idaho spud – image from the NY Post
A piece of this proscribed existence was a tolerance for aberrant behavior. Father was domineering, and was feckless about physical danger, even as it applied to his children. And distrustful of the medical establishment. His solution for infected tonsils was to have Tara stand outside with her mouth open to allow in the sun’s healing rays. Severe injuries, including Tara having her leg punctured by razor-like scrap-metal, a brother suffering severe burns on one leg, and even dad himself suffering catastrophic third-degree burns in a junkyard explosion, were to be treated by home-brew tinctures. He was also extremely moody, a characteristic that carried forward in some of the family genes.
Tara’s ten-years-older brother, Shawn, was a piece of work. She felt close to him at times. He could be kind and understanding in a way that moved her. He even saved her life in a runaway horse incident. But he had a reputation as a bar brawler, as a person eager to fight. Sometimes his rages turned on his own family. And it was not just rage, sparked by trivialities, but cruelty, to the point of sadism. Tara was one of the objects of his madness. Dare oppose him and he would twist her arm to the point of spraining, drag her by her hair, force her face into unspeakable places and demand apologies for imagined offenses. Possibly even worse than this was her family’s denial about it, even when it occurred right in front of them. It is this denial that was hardest to bear. If your own parents will betray you, will not look out for you, in the face of such blatant attacks, then what is the value of the thing you hold most dear in the world?
All abuse, no matter what kind of abuse it is, foremost, an assault on the mind. Because if you’re going to abuse someone I think you have to invade their reality, in order to distort it, and you have to convince them of two things. You have to convince them that what you’re doing isn’t that bad. Which means you have to normalize it. You have to justify it, rationalize it. And the other thing you have to convince them of is that they deserve it. – from C-span interview
Her brother, aliased as “Shawn” in the book, was a master manipulator, who, for years, succeeded magnificently in persuading Tara that what she had just experienced had never really happened.
One frustrating aspect of the book is Tara’s dispiriting, but also grating ability to doubt herself, to allow others in her life, bullies, to persuade her she does not think what she is thinking, that she does not feel what she is feeling that she did not see what she has seen. She was living in a gaslit world in which multiple individuals, people who supposedly loved her, were telling her that what she had seen was an illusion, and that bad things that other people did were somehow her fault. Honey, wake the hell up. How many time ya gonna let these awful people get away with this crap? That gets old well before the end. I was very much reminded of victims of domestic abuse, who convince themselves that they must have done something to cause, to deserve the violence they suffer. One can only hope that she has been able to vanquish this self-blaming propensity completely by now. Years of therapy have surely helped.
Tara at Cambridge – image from Salt Lake City Tribune
She struggles with the yin and yang of her upbringing and finding her true self. Her father was extreme, but also loving. Her abusive brother had a very kind side to him. Her mother was supportive, but was also a betrayer. Her parents wanted what they truly thought was best for her, but ultimately attempted to extinguish the true Tara. The dichotomy in the book is gripping. At times it reads like How Green Was My Valley, an upbringing that was idyllic, rich with history and lore, both community and family, and featuring a strong bond to the land. Their home was at the foot of Buck Peak, which sported an almost magical feature that looked like an Indian Princess, and was the source of legends. At others, it is like a horror novel, a testament to the power of reality-bending, indoctrination, and maybe even Stockholm Syndrome. How she survived feeling like the alien she was in BYU and later Cambridge, is amazing, and a testament to her inner strength and intellectual gifts. Westover caught a few breaks over the course of her life, teachers, one at BYU, another at Cambridge, who spot the diamond in her rough, and help her in her educational quest. Reading of this support, I had the same weepy joyful feeling as when Hagrid informs a very young lad,
When setting out to write the book, Westover had no clue how to go about it, well, this sort of a book, anyway. She had already written a doctoral thesis. But she did have stacks of journals she’d been keeping since she was ten. In figuring out how to get from wish to realization, one important resource was listening to the New Yorker fiction podcast, with its focus on short stories. And she took in plenty of books on writing. It is certainly clear that, just as she had the wherewithal to go from no-school to doctorate at Cambridge, she has shown an ability to figure out how to write a moving, compelling memoir. Educated is a triumph, a remarkable work, beautifully told, of the journey from an isolated, fundamentalist, survivalist childhood, through the trials of becoming, to adulthood as an erudite and accomplished survivor. It is a powerful look at the ties, benefits, and perils of families. Ultimately, Educated is a rewarding odyssey you do not want to miss.
Review Posted – 3/23/18
Published – 2/20/18
November 29, 2018 – Educated is named as one of
December 2019 – Educated is named winner of the 2018 Goodreads Choice Award for memoirs, beating out Michelle Obamas’s blockbuster hit, Becoming. From a
Goodreads: Congratulations on your win! What does the award and all the support from Goodreads readers mean to you?
Tara Westover: I’m really, really excited about it. It’s great when the highbrow powers that be, the literary giants, say, “Oh, you wrote a good book,” but it does mean something extra when it’s readers, when it’s people interacting with the book in a personal way, not just because they like the language or not because they think it’s doing something bold with the form, but because they had an experience with it. That means something a little bit different and a little bit extra. A readers’ award is a really exciting one.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s
Although the internet yielded no vids of Tara singing lead in her town’s production of Annie in the wayback, here is one of grown-up Tara singing lead vocal on
Interviews
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A sample of the audiobook, read by Julia Whelan, on
A brief interview with Westover and Whelan re the making of the audiobook – on is both a narrative of hope and a commemorate of horror. We know from the first foliate of her book that Tara Westover is a brilliantly woman, a endow writer with an impressive, poetic command of linguistic process. But her early life offered no clue that she would become a Cambridge PhD or a brilliant memoirist. She was the youngest of seven children born to Gene and Faye ( not their real names ) Westover, fundamentalist, survivalist Mormons, in rural Idaho.- trope from herThe children constituted his work force in Gene ’ s scrapyard. Father was the law in their family, but it was a rule informed as much by significant mental health issues as it was by his ardent religious beliefs. In a less rural, less patriarchal, less religious community, theirs could easily have been deemed an insecure environment. The scrapyard was a peculiarly dangerous place.Ruby Ridge had occurred when Tara was five, and fed her founder ’ south paranoia. Everyone had to have head-for-the-hills bags for when the government, Deep State, Illuminati, choose your own bogeyman, would come for them. He had a fundamental misgiving of the aesculapian profession, believing that doctors were agents of Satan, intent on doing harm. He saw the herbalism Faye practiced as the alone true, righteous treatment for one ’ randomness ills, calling her products “ god ’ s pharmacy. ” And he practiced what he preached, for himself a well as for his children, even after suffering a annihilating wound. possibly not an ideal way to make sure your kids reach adulthood in one piece.- image from Westover ’ s siteHome educate was besides less than idyllic, with ma ’ s attention gap not only over seven children but to her bring as an herbalist and subsequently, in summation, a midwife. Luke had a eruditeness disability, frustrating ma, who very had hoped to educate them all. Dad undermined this, dragging the kids out to do chores and learnskills. finally ma gave up. Education consisted of Faye dropping them at the Carnegie Library in town, where they could read whatever they wanted. Dad rustled the boys at 7am, but Tyler, who had an affinity for mathematics, would much remain inside, studying, until dad dragged him out.Successful schooling or not, Tara acquired a hope for and love of learning. Tyler, a black sheep, not lone loved books but music, angstrom well. This was a major tonic for Tara, who was smitten with the classical and chorale music her brother would play on his smash box. not only did she find a sleep together for music, but she discovered that she has a endowment for singing. Being a partially ( often the headliner ) of the town melodious productions gave her greater contact with peers outside her family than she had ever had before. It formed one column of her desire to go to school, to college, to study music. ( I included a link in EXTRA STUFF to a music television in which she sings head, so you can hear for yourself. ) At age seventeen, Tara Westover attended her first school class, at BYU, clueless about a lot of what was common cognition for everyone else, resulting in her asking a question in class about a word everyone, I mean everyone, knows. Oopsy.Her intellectual widening and education forms one herculean thread in her narrative. How her natural curio emerged, was nurtured, discouraged, and ultimately triumphed. The other thread consists of the personal, aroused, psychological, religious, and cultural challenges she had to overcome to become her own person.The universe in which Westover was raised was one in which a potent patriarchy, fed by a fundamentalist religious beliefs, applied its considerable blackmail to push her into what was considered the proper function for a young charwoman, namely housewife, mother, probably following in her mother ’ south dual careers as herbalist and midwife. And what about what was the right course for Tara ? There was some jiggle room. once dad sees her perform on stage, he is smitten, and softens to her musical leanings. male siblings had been allowed to go to college. But every gradation outside the expectations, the rules, came at a cost. Do something different and lose a musical composition of joining to your family. And family was highly important, particularly for a person whose entire animation had been defined by family, a lot more sol than for pretty much anyone who might read her book.- persona from the NY PostA piece of this forbid universe was a permissiveness for aberrant behavior. Father was domineering, and was feckless about physical danger, even as it applied to his children. And distrustful of the aesculapian establishment. His solution for septic tonsils was to have Tara stand outside with her talk open to allow in the sun ’ sulfur healing rays. Severe injuries, including Tara having her leg punctured by razor-like scrap-metal, a brother suffering severe burns on one stage, and even dad himself suffering catastrophic third-degree burns in a junkyard explosion, were to be treated by home-brew tinctures. He was besides extremely moody, a characteristic that carried forward in some of the family genes.Tara ’ s ten-years-older brother, Shawn, was a piece of exercise. She felt close to him at times. He could be kind and understanding in a manner that moved her. He even saved her life sentence in a runaway horse incident. But he had a reputation as a bar brawler, as a person tidal bore to fight. Sometimes his rages turned on his own syndicate. And it was not precisely rage, sparked by trivialities, but cruelty, to the point of sadism. Tara was one of the objects of his madness. Dare oppose him and he would twist her arm to the point of twist, drag her by her haircloth, military unit her confront into ineffable places and demand apologies for think offenses. possibly even worse than this was her family ’ mho abnegation about it, even when it occurred right in front of them. It is this abnegation that was hardest to bear. If your own parents will betray you, will not look out for you, in the face of such blatant attacks, then what is the value of the thing you hold most dearly in the universe ? Her buddy, aliased as “ Shawn ” in the record, was a master operator, who, for years, succeeded excellently in persuading Tara that what she had good experienced had never very happened.One frustrating aspect of the ledger is Tara ’ second demoralizing, but besides grating ability to doubt herself, to allow others in her life, bullies, to persuade her she does not think what she is thinking, that she does not feel what she is feeling that she did not see what she has seen. She was living in a gaslit global in which multiple individuals, people who purportedly loved her, were telling her that what she had seen was an illusion, and that bad things that other people did were somehow her fault.That gets old well before the end. I was very much reminded of victims of domestic misuse, who convince themselves thatmust have doneto causal agent, to deserve the violence they suffer. One can only hope that she has been able to vanquish this self-blaming leaning wholly by immediately. Years of therapy have surely helped.- image from Salt Lake City TribuneShe struggles with the yin and yang of her breeding and finding her truthful self. Her beget was extreme, but besides loving. Her abusive brother had a very kind side to him. Her mother was supportive, but was besides a informer. Her parents wanted what they rightfully thought was best for her, but ultimately attempted to extinguish the on-key Tara. The dichotomy in the book is gripping. At times it reads like, an breeding that was idyllic, rich with history and lore, both community and class, and featuring a strong bail to the land. Their home was at the foot of Buck Peak, which sported an about charming have that looked like an amerind Princess, and was the source of legends. At others, it is like a horror novel, a testament to the exponent of reality-bending, indoctrination, and possibly tied Stockholm Syndrome. How she survived feeling like the stranger she was in BYU and former Cambridge, is amaze, and a testament to her inner lastingness and intellectual gifts. Westover caught a few breaks over the course of her life, teachers, one at BYU, another at Cambridge, who spot the rhombus in her rough, and help her in her educational bay. reading of this confirm, I had the lapp weepy elated feel as when Hagrid informs a very young chap, “ Yer a charming, Harry. ” When setting out to write the script, Westover had no hint how to go about it, well, this sort of a record, anyhow. She had already written a doctoral thesis. But she did have stacks of journals she ’ d been keeping since she was ten-spot. In figuring out how to get from wish to realization, one important resource was listening to the New Yorker fabrication podcast, with its focus on short stories. And she took in plenty of books on publish. It is surely clear that, just as she had the wherewithal to go from no-school to doctorate at Cambridge, she has shown an ability to figure out how to write a moving, compelling memoir.is a prevail, a remarkable ferment, beautifully told, of the journey from an detached, fundamentalist, survivalist childhood, through the trials of becoming, to adulthood as an erudite and accomplished survivor. It is a potent look at the ties, benefits, and perils of families. ultimately, is a rewarding odyssey you do not want to miss.Review Posted – 3/23/18Published – 2/20/18November 29, 2018 -is named as one of The 10 Best Books of 2018 December 2019 -is named winner of the 2018 Goodreads Choice Award for memoirs, beating out Michelle Obamas ‘s blockbuster hit ,. From a GR consultation with Westover=============================Links to the author ’ s personal Twitter and FB pagesAlthough the internet yielded no vids of Tara singing spark advance in her township ’ s production ofin the wayback, here is one of grown-up Tara singing spark advance vocal on The Hills of Aran with John Meed — — – C-Span – interviewed by Susannah Cahalan – television – 1 hour – If you can manage only one of these, this is the matchless to see — — – CBS This Morning – video recording – 6:41 — — – Penguin promotional television – 7:01 — — – channel 4 News – 8:46 — — – NPR – with Dave Davies – the associate includes text of the interview. There is a associate on the page to the full sound recording interview – 38:18 – This is the informant for respective quotes used in the review, and is decidedly worth a look and/or listen — — – GoodReads interview A sample of the audiobook, read by Julia Whelan, on Soundcloud A brief consultation with Westover and Whelan re the devising of the audiobook – on Signature
