Educated: A Memoir
By Tara Westover

352 pages, Random House; 1st edition (February 20, 2018)

Reviewed by ROBERTA GATES
January, 2019

This brave memoir, named one of the 10 Best Books of 2018 by The New York Times, is one of those books you can't put down once you've started it.

Tara, the youngest of seven children, was born into a survivalist family so completely off the grid she didn't even have a birth certificate and did not attend school until she went to college. Her father was a paranoid man who out-Mormoned everyone else at their rural Idaho church. For him, being devout meant Tara could read nothing but the Bible and the Book of Mormon, needed to cover every inch of her body except for her hands and face, and could never, no matter how dire the circumstance, consult a doctor or nurse.

Growing up on Buck's Peak, Tara never left her mountain home except for church, spending her days working either for her mother, a herbalist, or her father who ran a salvage yard. Working at the junkyard, which all of the children did, was especially dangerous. "God and his angels are here, working right alongside us. They won't let you be hurt," their father told them, yet none of them escaped serious injury. Tara's occurred when an iron spike pierced the inside of her leg, a wound which her mother treated using 12 drops of what she called her Rescue Remedy. "The wound will close," she told Tara, "but it'll leave a nasty scar."

By the time she was a teenager, Tara began to wonder if school was less evil than her father thought. Her three oldest brothers had gotten at least a little schooling (they'd been allowed to attend at a time when their father was less paranoid), and Tony, the oldest, had taught her to read. But it was Tyler, the third brother, who changed her life.

Tyler had been yanked out of school after finishing the eighth grade, but he persevered nonetheless, using what money he had to buy an old trigonometry textbook and studying on his own. When he wanted to go on to calculus but couldn't afford the textbook, he went to the school and asked the math teacher for one. But she only laughed in his face: "You can't teach yourself calculus," she said. "It's impossible." But he returned home with the book and continued his studies.

Tyler, who was eventually accepted at Brigham Young University (which considers homeschooled applicants), encouraged Tara to follow his example. In response, Tara managed to scrounge up an old science book, math book and history book. She had little chance to study them, though, since her father tried to get them away from her whenever he ever saw her with one. But Tyler kept pushing:

"It's time to go, Tara," he said. "The longer you stay, the less likely you will ever leave."
"You think I need to leave?" [I asked] . . .
Tyler didn't blink, didn't hesitate. "I think this is the worst possible place for you." He'd spoken softly, but it felt as though he'd shouted the words . . .
He stood to go. "There's a world out there, Tara. And it will look a lot different once Dad is no longer whispering his view of it in your ear."

Eventually Tara, following in Tyler's footsteps, pre-pared for the ACT on her own, was accepted by BYU, and even went on to do graduate work at Harvard and Cambridge University. But the struggle to get there was a costly one, causing a rift with her family so serious that it nearly knocked her off course on numerous occasions.

This is truly an inspirational book and one you'll not soon forget. As a former teacher, I wish I could have had my students read this just so they'd understand how transforming an education can be and how much it means to someone who is deprived of it.