A review by jennawebbles
Educated by Tara Westover

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

It's hard to write reviews of memoirs because it's like, how am I supposed to judge someone's life story? Is someone's story not meant to be read if it's not written well? I mulled this over a lot when discussing this book with my sister. I decided that this story, though very hard to read, felt like a very important one to be told.

One thing I really appreciated that Westover explains many times is that while recounting these childhood stories, she also reached out to her siblings to fact check her. With trauma, sometimes the human mind changes details over the years. She honestly tries hard to make sure her story is factual, but admits that details may have been incorrect due to her memory differing from someone else's.

This book has sat with me for a while. It was definitely a brutal read, particularly the chapters about her brother Shaun's abuses towards her. I'm glad Westover was able to achieve so much despite the upbringing she received and I hope telling her story was helpful towards her processing her childhood.

Definitely not for the light-hearted, but eye-opening for sure.
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