I couldn’t look away from this book! A compelling memoir.
I don’t normally read books all in one go, but this was one that I couldn’t put down and I read the entire thing over the course of one weekend. And now I find myself wanting to tell everyone I meet about this book.
Educated by Tara Westover (2018; 332 pages) is a memoir by a woman with an unusual childhood. Brought up by off-the-grid end-of-days-preppers on a remote mountain in Idaho, Tara never saw a doctor or dentist and didn’t have a birth certificate until she was 9 years old. And she never went to school. Her mother attempted homeschool from time to time, but there was always too much work to be done at her father’s scrap metal business for a real education to take place.
When abuse from family members escalated, Tara knew that she needed a way out. Some of her older siblings had found ways out: marriage, jobs… and her older brother Tyler had gone to college. Tara began to dream of going to college, too. She had never taken an exam in her life, but now would have to ace the ACT to be considered by colleges. She had never studied or written an essay. She had never heard of the Holocaust or the Civil Rights Movement.
It’s not really a spoiler to tell you that she makes it out. In fact, Tara Westover went on to not only complete her Bachelor’s degree but to study overseas and eventually earn a PhD. It only makes her unusual upbringing that much more fascinating to know how she ultimately went on to live a very different life. If you liked memoirs from writers with unusual or traumatic childhood like The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls (2005; 288 pages) or A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer (1995; 184 pages), I think you’ll like this one, too. It’s published for adults, but just like these two readalikes it has a lot of crossover appeal for teens, too.
— Abby Johnson, Collection Development Lead
