How do you measure education? Is it by the degrees you earn, or by the experiences you live? Is it by the books you read, or by the people you meet? Tara Westover’s Educated is a searing and soulful memoir, that attempts to answer these questions. With piercing honesty and poetic prose, Westover takes us on a journey of self-discovery, as she overcomes the trauma of her upbringing and blossoms into a brilliant and resilient scholar. It’s a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of knowledge. Here are some of the best lessons I learned reading the book:
1. The power of a hungry mind: Imagine a world where questioning is a trespass, knowledge a forbidden fruit. Tara craves that fruit, stealing library books, devouring their pages like a starved woman. This raw hunger for understanding becomes the fuel that propels her escape.2. Education is a weapon, but it can wound: We wield knowledge like a sword, slicing through ignorance, but it can also sever us from our roots. Tara’s education becomes a chasm between her and her family, each step forward echoing with the pain of leaving them behind.3. The scars of self-reliance: Raised in a survivalist household, Tara learns to depend on no one but herself. This fierce independence becomes both her armor and her cage, making love and connection a terrifying vulnerability.4. The audacity of hope: Even in the darkest corners of her isolated childhood, Tara clings to a sliver of hope. It’s the belief that somewhere, beyond the mountains, lies a world where she can be her true self. This hope becomes the North Star guiding her through the storms.5. The burden of forgiveness: Can we truly forgive those who shape our cages? Tara wrestles with this question, yearning to reconcile with her family, yet haunted by their choices. This dance between love and anger becomes a poignant exploration of forgiveness’s complexities.6. The transformative power of stories: Tara’s journey is a testament to the transformative power of stories. They become her escape, her solace, her weapons. Each book she devours chips away at the walls around her, revealing the world in all its messy, beautiful glory.7. The freedom to write your own ending: Tara’s story isn’t a fairy tale. It’s a brutal, honest account of the price she pays for her liberation. But it’s also a celebration of the human spirit’s ability to rewrite its own destiny. In her final act, she reclaims not just her education, but her voice, her identity, her right to belong to the world she dared to dream of.”Educated” isn’t a comfortable read. It’s a gut punch, a howl of defiance, yet a love letter to the transformative power of learning.
