Educated by Tara Westover

I just finished this book.

Wow!  Powerful!

Alicia Abney, who used to teach with Megan at Clinton Prairie, started a FB page focused on books that we are reading, that we enjoy, that we can review.  Kinda like a book club or a reading list or something like that.

I participated because now, especially, I need help with titles. I don't have the conversations that I used to have with students and colleagues and friends so that I can pick up book titles.  I just browse around the shelves at Barnes and Noble or at a library and see what might be interesting.

On the Whatcha Reading? page, Alicia adds in titles that she picks up on.  I like her lists, to some extent, because she is working on her PhD at Middle Tennessee and has more contacts with the scholarly world.  But her tastes are a little different than mine. I still consider her suggestions as I look for new titles to explore. But there are others who post suggestions that really speak to me.  Educated was a title that popped up.

Educated was a book that intrigued me.   Yes, being a teacher is part of it.  But learning in general is something that I value.  I truly believe that no one ever stops learning, and I believe also that learning can be self-imposed.  I always tried to teach my students that they could learn as much as they wanted to learn---or nothing at all if they didn't want to open themselves up to new ideas.  It was all up to them, not to me.  I couldn't control their education - only they could.  I was just a means to help them at that given time. 

As I read Educated, I felt anger, sorrow, pity, happiness, more anger.  I didn't want the book to end, but I wanted it to end so I could be sure that she survived.  I knew that she did survive because for one, she wrote the book after the fact, and for two, she was speaking at MTSU in the spring so she must still be with us!

But I also felt some kinship with Tara as she was grew up.  No, I was not denied going to school. Nor was I ever not allowed to see a doctor. I was not put into risky situations where my life was in danger.    Those are a few of the many differences between us.

But I did feel a kinship of sorts when she returned to her family after months of absence.  Her mother would offer support, tell her one thing, then deny it later because actually she had been lying.  She was very manipulative, as was her father.  Telling lies about her to family members was also something I could relate to.  Of course the chasms were not as great nor the effects as serious as what she experienced, but I can't help but wonder if some of the reason I feel a distance between me and a few of my cousins is because my mother told them things that really aren't true, just to keep me separated from them.  I remember my mother not confirming things that happened or things that were said, just because she didn't want the blame to be shifted to her. It was much better for her to let me remain in the hot seat for whatever had happened.    Like Tara, I stayed away from my parents for several years just because it was too painful to see them and I felt like I was losing what I had built as Beth when I returned to visit, even for just a few days.  For me, however, it was my mother who was causing the distress, not both of my parents.  My father just seemed to be powerless to stop her.

Anyway, I was on a reading marathon this past week with the book.  It finally appeared on my bookshelf when we were in Pigeon Forge and I downloaded it while we had Wifi in the cabin so I could read it on the way home.  I had been on the Wait List for the book for several months, either from last May or last July - not sure which one.  I knew that when I started it, I needed to finish it before the expiration because being put on the wait list again would mean I couldn't finish it before probably summer!  But once I started it, I really had a hard time putting it down.  It was just that good. 

It isn't often that I am captured by a book to the point that I rush through what I am doing to be sure to have enough time to read.  I was even tempted to take my Nook along with me to Landon's birthday party and read while others were visiting - but I knew that would be rude  and his party is too important to him to remember Mamaw sitting in a corner, reading a book the entire time!

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.  I am not sure everyone will like it, but it really spoke to me.  I was caught up in her trials and tribulations. I cheered with her as she achieved her goals, one step at a time.  I would love to hear her speak, and I will be checking her lecture series calendar with the hopes that she stops at Purdue.

Read the book. It is good!  Educated.  Tara Westover.