Educated

Tara Westover went from living in a junkyard in southern Idaho to a Harvard-educated PhD. That's incredible in its own right; but, it's the story of Westover's abusive, troubling childhood that fills the pages of Educated. I've heard and read about this book for weeks, not quite sure if it would live up to the hype. What I found was a book I devoured in a flight across the country and even more questions about the childhood that should have swallowed her whole.

To call Tara Westover's parents eccentric doesn't do justice to the wild behaviors that dominated her chaotic childhood. She describes her dad as a violent, manipulative prepper who shields his children from the world - and, makes them work in a dangerous scrap heap to support the family. There are accidents everywhere, from near-deadly falls to one son, engulfed in flames. He berates them with theories about the end times and forbids them from attending school. Tara's mother, while not outwardly abusive, is no better, as she repeatedly fails to protect and advocate for her children. Add to the mix a horrible abusive brother and you wonder, page after page, how in the world anyone could make it out alive.

Yet, somehow, Tara escapes. Physically at first, in the form of dance classes. Then, she ends up teaching herself how to do complicated math so that she can pass the ACT and get out of the family's home forever. Yet it's when she enrolls in college that she realizes how trapped she really is by the past and the family that shaped her existence. You watch as Tara climbs out then falls back over and over and over. I found myself horribly frustrated that she can't get out of this cycle, only to be reminded that this horrific abuse and control is the only existence she's ever known.

There are other books like this - Glass Castle, the most famous. Still, Educated keeps you enthralled as you try to understand how families can treat each other this way. And as hard as you root for Tara, you realize that escaping such a past is not a linear process. 

Highly readable, Educated will open your eyes, no matter how badly you want to shut them at times. And, you'll cheer for the outside world to help Tara overcome what seems to be ingrained in her DNA.