Educated

by Tara Westover

[Leigha]

Tara Westover transitions from a survivalist family to higher education in this memoir.

Memoirs are sooooooooooo not my thing. The last memoir I remember reading and enjoying was Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love in 2007. I read this book only because I want to drink wine with the ladies at book club. I don’t find memoirs to be all that emotional, gripping, or inspiring. I can’t even really tell you why I don’t connect to memoirs, but, for wherever reason, memoirs and I just never seem to get along.

On top of not enjoying memoirs, this book contained so many of my triggers. Not that I grew in an extremely violent, religious, or survivalist community! However, I’ve dealt with family members with mentally illness (particularly bipolar disorder); family members against anti-government/establishment; and extremely religious family members. Luckily, I never had to deal with all these family members at the exact same time unlike Tara Westover. Very rarely do so many triggers show up in one text. It hit a little too close to home.

It is well-written, the cover is well-designed, and Julie Whelan did a masterful job reading the audiobook. If you enjoy these type of stories, you’ll probably really enjoy this one too. I do wish more time had been spent on the process of education. For a book that’s titled “educated,” it’s more about one woman coming to terms with the unhealthy and toxic environment she came from rather than education itself.

tl;dr This memoir contained too many triggers for me to appreciate the well-written and well-read prose.