This book is incredible! The subject matter is very interesting and almost unbelievable. â¡ïžâ¡ïž DOWNLOAD Educated. A Memoir by Tara Westover â¡ïžâ¡ïž DOWNLOAD Educated. A Memoir by Tara Westover I was spellbound and so excited that the author succeeded despite many obstacles. I couldnât put it down. Read it for enjoyment and learn a lot in the process! I am in awe of Tara Westover. After finishing the book I watched some of her book tour interviews. I am simply amazed at this brilliant, poised, well-spoken woman. That she could raise herself from her unorthodox, fraught beginnings into a profoundly intelligent, wise, and emotionally balanced person seems miraculous, but it wasnât a miracle. She did it all by herself. Itâs not that there was no love to ground her. She and her six siblings and parents loved each other. She was raised in rugged Idaho in the shadow of Buckâs Peak, good bedrock from which to form an identity. Her parents followed the Mormon religion, but t practiced a version far from the mainstream. (The author clearly states that this is not a book about Mormonism.) Led by the father, Gene, the family pursued a survivalist ideology (hording supplies and gasoline to prepare for the âDays of Abominationâ) and was deeply distrustful of all educational, medical, and government entities. Gene persuaded Taraâs mother, Faye (in spite of her his wifeâs initial timidity) to become a midwife and herbal healer, schooled only by another midwife. This would ensure that family and future descendants would have no need of the medical establishment. Gene was probably mentally illâpossibly bipolar or paranoid, but fully functioning and charismatic. He was blind to risk and often put his children into dangerous situations. In fact, members of the family experienced multiple, very serious accidents and injuries. His wife was an enabler, aiding, abetting, and justifying his recklessness and doing her best to heal the familyâs traumatic injuries and burns. Taraâs older brothers spent time in public schools before Gene became more radial and pulled them out. The parents claim that t home-schooled their children, but Taraâs education consisted mainly of working in her fatherâs junk yard, sorting scrap and performing all manner of perilous, physical duties. Faye was more enthusiastic about schooling than Gene, particularly about reading. She would attempt to conduct morning classes and Gene would herd the kids into the junkyard as soon as her back was turned. There were books in the house and the children were taken to the library. The family also attended church. So the authorâs early education was spotty. She herself said âLearning in our family was entirely self-directed. you could learn anything you could teach yourself, after your work was done.â Her brother Tyler to whom she dedicated the book was able to get into college and against his fatherâs exhortations, leave home for an education. It was Tylerâs example and support when Tara was undergoing brutal physical and mental abuse from older brother Shawn (unacknowledged by her parents) that inspired her to contemplate leaving the family home. This led her to take on the Herculean task of educating herself to get a high enough ACT test score to get into Brigham Young University. From there she describes the arduous, often uncomfortable and embarrassing path to enlightenment and a previously unthinkable level of academic success. After I finished the book, I Googled the familyâs essential oils business, which is now quite financially successful. I also read her brother, Tylerâs blog, as well as several accusatory, low-rated Amazon reviews. There is some real venom directed toward Tara. Her siblings have differing memories, in part justified by the age span among the seven of them. I am troubled by comparisons to James Freyâs notorious memoir, A Million Little Pieces, which after initial success was exposed as mainly fiction. Tara speaks of being gaslighted. She is estranged from certain members of her family, an action often deemed necessary by mental health professionals to protect patientsâ fragile sense of self when dealing with extremely dysfunctional families. The author is careful to acknowledge that memories vary among family members (even citing differences) and points out that hers are not infallible. She speaks of having a mental breakdown while working toward her PhD at Cambridge, soon after she cut off contact with her parents. I believe her. I sincerely hope she will continue to follow her own hard-fought course and not succumb to gaslighting and venom. I pray for her. She paid dearly for the identity for which she has so valiantly strived. I hope she has all the support she needs and finds the peace and happiness she deserves. She is an absolute inspiration to me. I had heard Tara speak on NPR while in my car. The premise of the book sounded very interesting to me. A home schooled child goes to BU and onto become a scholar. Reading of Tara's family and how she was brought up just blew me away! This will make a great bookclub book. It's in the genre of Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls' biography of growing up. It's wonderful to read how an individual overcomes their past w/out even realizing till later that their past was not normal, not mainstream at all. I highly recommend this book! Growing up in rural Idaho I found this to be an authentic story. Every rural community in Idaho has its own version of the Westover family. What makes this memoire unique is Tara Westoverâs ability to build a story of abuse that is infused with love. Humans are complex creatures. T can be both kind and cruel. It is possible to despise and adore at the same time. This memoire will be of encouragement to many people. My hope is that Dr. Westover finds healing through sharing her story. We all gain from her courage to speak out. I didn't set out to read this memoir at one sitting, ordering just the standard sample to be sent to my tablet...but after reading just that small sample, I immediately clicked on the "give me the whole chalupa button" so I could continue reading this absorbing & introspective memoir...the author never cuts herself any slack, just writing truthfully about how unprepared she was having endured the abuse from her family which had dominated her entire life before education brought her into adapting into the modern life the rest of us experience. Jarring at times when the reality of her experiences can overwhelm one when reading this memoir, but by never resorting to asking for mercy regarding her actions & life, you get the true sense of her being trapped by being raised in a mean spirited world that featured deprivation as its main commodity, reflecting into her coarsely made aspects of life. Between a domineering father, a beaten down mother and an abusive brother, she really had no chance of ending up in the life that she successfully fought for against the tides of family ties, religion, & society that had bound her into a life of servitude & misogyny. Her escape from it is almost anti-climatic in a matter of fact way, the abuse of everyday life for her was in itself the drama that holds the reader in suspense... Just as Mary Karr's "The Liar's Club" lets you see the inside of abuse young females sometimes are exposed to and have to take because of familial bonds and their lack of physical power. This alone leaves one wondering what happened afterwards. And like" The Liar's Club", it has the air of disbelief this couldn't actually be happening, or better yet, OMG, this actually happened! Its good to see someone make it thru this trap of abuse & misogyny, but at the same time, Ms. Westover lets you also see the potential traps that lie ahead as she escapes into a world she has no basis of experience in which to thrive...best maybe to be told in the future in another book with a different POV...for that matter, like Karr's "Cherry"or "Lit"...I will definitely look forward to see what Ms. Westover writes next, this book will be re-read several times in the future, each time I am sure I will find more aspects of being a male that I might be best to correct...or better yet, maybe to nurture. My wife and her daughter, my stepdaughter, say I am doing fine as a male head of household, but it takes memoirs like this to give me the insight & desire into making myself into a better person so I can be thought of in a positive manner and to be loved because I did the right things for the entire family; me, my wife, my stepdaughter & stepson...its thru the pain women like Ms Westover & Ms Karr have suffered & now write about, that one sees how much better any man can become just by trying. I would never want my extended family to think of me in the ways Ms. Westover writes about her male familial people, I would want for myself to be thought of as a good man who held up his end of the bargain of family. Its by understanding the faults of men like Ms. Westover's stepdad and brother held onto in their world that I can then find my way into just by being a better man to my family...read it and see if it works in this same manner for you.
We”The[HowD(AnLThereWe”IS”'The”This”InItCTheATheRIfThereIIf” ItPByAAsMWhenBL” What”In[Saigon:ItInAGPYouHIAWInIThe”The(ItWhenWhenItGAsBH”Thea[“their[Teethe—byITheItLThe.