Educated Tara Westover book summary and Review

 Check out my Educated Tara Westover book summary and Review that I created to help you understand the basics of this great book. Educated (2018) is a memoir of American author Tara Westover. Westover describes her surviving Mormon family surviving to go to college, and emphasizes the importance of education to make her world bigger.

He details his journey from his isolated life in the mountains of Idaho to completing a PhD program in history at Cambridge University. He started college at the age of 17 with no formal education. She explores her struggles to reconcile her desire to learn with the world she lives in with her father.

According to the September 13, 2020, issue of The New York Times, the book has spent 132 consecutive weeks on the hardcover non-fiction bestseller list. It has won a 2019 Alex Award and has been shortlisted for two awards from the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the PEN America's Jean Stein Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Educated Tara Westover book summary :

The memoirs are told in three parts. The first part describes the life of Westover, which began at Buck's Peak, a mountain in rural Idaho, until its acceptance at Brigham Young University (BYU). Her parents, Jean and Faye Westover (pseudonym) lived separately.

Ruby Ridge's 1992 incident left her father confused about the hospital, the public school system, and the government. Westover’s mother took most of the kids on loose homeschooling and her father taught the kids the “rhythm of the mountains”.

Her father refused to let Tara go to school or try to find another normalcy in her life. Gene became frustrated when his predictions about the Y2K apocalypse did not come true. When they were hit in the neck in a car accident, his father refused to take him to hospital for treatment.

Tara's estranged brother Shawn helped her and the two initially became close. However, Shawn began physically abusing her after she became close to Charles while performing in the theater. Another of Tara's brothers, Tyler, found out about the abuse and encouraged her to leave home and take an ACT to apply to Brigham Young University. After Westover, he was admitted to BYU and was given a scholarship.

He and Shawn become close again when he stands up for his father. When Shawn had a serious motorcycle accident, he took her to the hospital.

The second semester consists of BYU and Westover studies at King's College, Cambridge. He received a financial reward that allowed him to move to Cambridge. He described the pressure he felt to maintain his grades to retain his scholarship, as well as the problems he faced due to his isolation from the outside world and lack of formal schooling.

Later, they reconnect with Charles, but feel that he cannot treat her romantically because of his conservative upbringing. She also questions the abuse she endured from her father and Shawn, which resulted in her breaking up with Charles.

Westover realizes she no longer feels at home in Idaho, and is worried that her father may have bipolar disorder. She breaks up with him, but reconnects after expressing interest in his life at school. After Shawn married Emily, he was dating a young woman, they became concerned about Emily who had previously threatened Shawn.

Interested in history and politics, Westover told one of his professors about his family. His professor encouraged him to apply to study abroad at Cambridge University. After coming to King's College, Tara was assigned to work with Professor Jonathan Steinberg.

Her two professors encouraged her to attend graduate school. Westover Gates applied for the scholarship and won. He also had a temporary truce with his father, when the two had a disagreement over how he talked about his past in local news outlets and his decision to go to school in England.

In the third part, Westover writes about his life at Cambridge and the completion of his PhD. She took steps to become part of the world, including getting vaccinated for her family's rejected vaccines. He occasionally returns to Idaho where he learns that Shawn is still abusing Emily. His sister, Audrey, learned of Shawn's behavior, but their mother did not believe him.

 Eventually, she and her mother received email correspondence. During this time, his mother advised him that Jean was mentally ill and wrote about how they had planned to get Shawn the help he needed. At another trip home, Shawn briefly shows signs of change, but later accuses Audrey of lying about his abusive behavior and threatens to kill him. Jin and Faye don't take it seriously when they talk about Shawn's threat.

They go home again and confront Shawn with a bloody knife. Panicked, they lie and claim that his father lied to Shawn about his treatment with Audrey. Later, she realizes that her mother has never been with her or Audrey.

Upon his return to England, Shawn threatened his life. Audrey breaks up with Tara, claiming that she is under Satan's control. Westover then starts graduating school at Harvard and briefly visits his parents and tries to persuade him to come home.

Upon returning home, Westover discovers that one of Shawn's ex-girlfriends wrote to his mother that he had deceived his brother and was doing evil. Westover returned to Harvard and finally to England.

After suffering a panic attack, she lost contact with her parents for a year in an attempt to recover. She struggles with her studies, but is encouraged by her brother Tyler. He has successfully completed his PhD. A few years later, Westover returned to Idaho for his grandmother's funeral.

 He is reunited with Tyler and his wife, as well as two aunts. He has been reunited with his siblings, most of whom are still on the side of their father and Shane. At the end of the memoir, they contact only a few family members and agree that he must stay away from the hill.

Educated Tara Westover book Review :

I've always been a bit apprehensive about reading hyped books as educated. Often, such a book fails to live up to its expectations and I end up feeling frustrated. Educated, however, supports this trend: it not only met but exceeded my expectations.

Educated is a raw, emotional and sometimes heartbreaking account of Westover's life. They endured physical and verbal abuse at the hands of family members and saw her education as well as her overall well-being, neglected by her parents.

Throughout the book, he tries to provide an unbiased account of the events, going so far as to include footnotes that give details of how the memory of the event he gave was different from that of other family members. He did not hesitate to discuss personal matters, such as the emotional damage he suffered.

The writing itself is efficient. Every story, every chapter, even every word seems intentional. Unlike some of the memoirs, which contain seemingly unnecessary narratives, everything seems to be purposeful in the educated and helps to move the narrative forward.

The structure of the book also helps in the progress of the narrative. Moving linearly from childhood to adolescence, each story is built on the context established by the previous chapter. However, what stands out to me the most is himself.

In spite of all the hardships he faced, he kept going and was able to achieve his goal. He had the courage to deny his family and leave behind everything he knew to change his life. His story shows that even in the darkest times one can find hope.