Review: Educated - Tara Westover
Title: Educated
Author: Tara Westover
Published: February 20, 2018
Genre: Memoir, Non-fiction
My Rating: ★★★★★
Format: Audiobook
Educated by Tara Westover is an intense memoir that makes you question what you think you know. Reading her story, I kept asking myself: Are there really people who live like this right now?
Westover was born into a survivalist family in the mountains of Idaho, preparing for the end of the world rather than for school. Her father distrusted the government, hospitals, and public education, so Tara grew up without formal schooling or medical care. Injuries — even severe burns and concussions — were treated at home with herbs by her mother, a midwife and healer. Their isolation meant there was no one to intervene when violence erupted within the home, particularly from an older brother whose abuse went unchecked.
Much of the memoir draws from Tara’s memories and journals, as well as her checking in with the siblings who still speak with her. Reading about her life felt, to me, like observing the life of a wayward acquaintance — someone whose worldview is so different that it’s difficult to comprehend, yet undeniably real. I’ve heard of survivalists in the abstract — bunkers and end-of-world preparation — but I’ve never encountered a life like Tara’s father created. Even families I know who try to avoid hospitals still turn to over-the-counter medications and urgent cares. In Tara’s world, healing came only through herbs and her mother’s hands.
What struck me most was Tara’s resilience. Despite abuse, denial from her mother, and a complete lack of formal education, she taught herself enough to gain admission to Brigham Young University at 17. There, she encountered history — the Holocaust, the civil rights movement — events she had never heard of while salvaging scrap in her father’s junkyard. Her confusion and curiosity were heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time.
Her journey continued to Harvard and Cambridge, where education didn’t erase her past but forced her to confront it. She remained the same person at her core, yet her expanding knowledge reshaped how she saw herself and her family. The struggle to reconcile loyalty with truth — and the grief that comes with severing ties — is one of the memoir’s most powerful themes.
Reading Educated also made me reflect on how easily we can take schooling for granted. Many people go through education without appreciating it, but Tara’s story shows what education means to someone who had to fight for it — the ability to see the world, and oneself, through new eyes.
This memoir is not just about survival or academics. It’s about identity, perspective, and the painful cost of self-invention. Tara’s story is both unsettling and deeply moving — a reminder that education is not merely learning facts, but gaining the freedom to question, to grow, and to choose who you become.
Check out Educated on: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Goodreads
