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A review by tattedtrashreader
Educated by Tara Westover
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
3.0
Tara Westover is a great writer and I appreciate that her childhood and adolescence was difficult and what she has overcome. I also understand that removing yourself from abuse is excruciatingly hard and that often survivors go back because it’s familiar. She’s incredible for overcoming her situation to get a doctorate and make her life her own. To preface my review, I grew up in a home similar to, but significantly less intense than Dr. Westover and I could relate to her feelings and to the messages pushed on her as a child because I heard similar ones.
I, however, struggled with the repeated acts of violence that were ignored, justified, and manipulated by her parents and siblings (and her a lot of times) and that her siblings that left did not support or help the others get out who wanted to. I wanted to hear more in-depth about her studies, what she discovered for the first time but that was rarely touched on.
The repeated head injuries, car accidents, and major trauma that they each endured without seeing a medical professional is astounding to me.
I have many of the same concerns as others who read the book and wondered where their family got the money and how her mother’s tinctures became so popular (that they became millionaires?) and why no one in their town ever said anything about the abuse and such going on, even when they “hired” the other women to work (but apparently women aren’t supposed to work) for their tincture business. I don’t understand how there were basically no witnesses ever.
I wanted to understand how her worldview changed when she got to college and learn about how she overcame her education challenges but that’s not explored deeply in the second half of the book. It’s just parental abuse. The abuse is the main theme of the book, not getting an education.
I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with everything her parents and Shawn did to the point where I just wanted the book to be over. Idk. About halfway through I was over it and hate-finished it.
I, however, struggled with the repeated acts of violence that were ignored, justified, and manipulated by her parents and siblings (and her a lot of times) and that her siblings that left did not support or help the others get out who wanted to. I wanted to hear more in-depth about her studies, what she discovered for the first time but that was rarely touched on.
The repeated head injuries, car accidents, and major trauma that they each endured without seeing a medical professional is astounding to me.
I have many of the same concerns as others who read the book and wondered where their family got the money and how her mother’s tinctures became so popular (that they became millionaires?) and why no one in their town ever said anything about the abuse and such going on, even when they “hired” the other women to work (but apparently women aren’t supposed to work) for their tincture business. I don’t understand how there were basically no witnesses ever.
I wanted to understand how her worldview changed when she got to college and learn about how she overcame her education challenges but that’s not explored deeply in the second half of the book. It’s just parental abuse. The abuse is the main theme of the book, not getting an education.
I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with everything her parents and Shawn did to the point where I just wanted the book to be over. Idk. About halfway through I was over it and hate-finished it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail