This year I have set myself the challenge to read 52 books in 2022 or one book a week. This is a decent challenge but I am very excited about it!
Book number 16 was Educated by Tara Westover. I read a lot of fiction, but I picked up this non-fiction book after my fiance read it and loved it. And I have to say, it is one of the best reads I have had in a long while!
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The Story
Tara Westover grew up in what we would call an unusual family. Set in the beautiful landscape of Idaho her family lives in the hills, but her life is far from idyllic. Her family are fundementalist mormons who do not believe in modern medicine or education. Tara therefore stays home like the rest of her siblings. While her mother is a midwife who does natural births and reads peoples energy her father runs a scrap yard where the working conditions are anything but safe.
If you think this might sound idyllic and not that bad, then think about the injuries one could have at a scrap yard and how bad they get left untreated because they don't believe in modern medicine. Tara had a brother and mother who suffered traumatic brain injuries from accidents left untreated and her father was burned horribly in an accident....
If this book was a novel instead of a memoir you would not believe the kind of things that happened to her and her family, but that is exactly what makes this book so impressive.
The Turnaround
So at some point in this book comes the turn around. Tara realizes she needs to get out of that toxic situation and the only way is through education. She takes an entry exam for the local college and manages to get in. It will be the start of an amazing journey.
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It turns out that Tara is a gifted scholar who gets offered the opportunity to study at Cambridge in the UK and there is told that she could get into any program in the world she would like. But as her academic career takes flight, Tara struggles to combine that world with that of her parents. She comes to the conclusion that she will have to choose, her education and career or her family....
I really loved this book! I am not always the biggest fan of non-fiction, but this one is an exception for sure!