A review by bookshelfjpg
Educated by Tara Westover

4.0

Actual Rating: 4.5/5

This book was... a doozy. I've been 12 pages from the end for a solid 6 days and couldn't bring myself to finish it quite yet. This was an incredibly difficult read, but equally as hard to put down or get out of my head. I've recently gotten into reading more memoirs, but find them personally tricky because of the heartache that usually accompanies them. But boy, I felt a little unprepared about how punch-gut Educated would be.

I had kept hearing about this one but it was fairly far down on my TBR list. When I finally started it, I decided not to look into Tara Westover or her story before reading her memoir. I'm quite happy I did, and instead got to "meet" her through her own words and story. I knew just the most basic premise of everything and enjoyed learning more as I read.

Educated was the perfect amount of heartbreak, dedication, and triumph. It read like fiction at some points, which almost makes her story even more terrifyingly sad. The book left me feeling empowered and proud of Tara while also opening my eyes a little more to how up-bringings and extreme religious beliefs can still have such a tight grasp on people.