Very late to this very hyped book but I finally read Educated! I can see why it was so popular - Tara Westover is a very good writer and this book is extremely readable. If you somehow don’t know, this book is Westover’s memoir about growing up in rural Idaho with fundamentalist parents who didn’t believe in formal education or modern medicine. Tara somehow survives and perseveres, going on to earn her PhD.

I do think the title of this memoir is misleading as I found it to be more about her childhood and relationship with her family. She didn’t go into how she learned the little she did learn at home - for example, how she learned to read.

Tara suffers physical abuse at the hands of her older brother, and her parents consistently deny this abuse. It was shocking to read about and very sad. Some of the anecdotes are particularly powerful, like her dad prepping for Y2K and sitting on the couch waiting for the world to end until 2AM, and then never speaking of it again.

I listened to @thestackspod episode on this book after finishing it, and really agree with Traci’s thoughts on what was lacking in this book. Westover brushes over her own internalized misogyny, what it was like to realize her family is racist, etc. Those aspects felt very surface level.

All in all, this was a good read for me, but did leave me wanting something deeper and more reflective. I highly recommend listening to @thestackspod episode about this one if you’ve read it!