Review: Educated
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3 stars. Well, I'm terribly nervous to write this review. It's a captivating read, one I enjoyed for the most part, and I do not doubt Tara Westover's intelligence, resilience and courage. I can, however, see why this book is so controversial, and why the book community is weirdly polarized over its content. (Seriously, why is everyone so quick to take sides??)
Problem #1: This book was marketed poorly. Not poorly, perhaps, but inaccurately. The Westover family is eccentric, isolated and exhibits survivalist tendencies, but I would not define them as survivalists. Not to the extreme nature that the book's marketing seems to imply. Also, that cover.
Problem #2: It reads too much like a fictional story to be received as an at-face memoir. Westover explores the unreliability of memory, especially in her footnotes and acknowledgements, but for some reason - I think it's in the way she writes dialogue - it came across as though she does in fact have impossibly perfect recollection.
Problem #3: Gaps/inconsistencies. I mean inconsistencies in the presentation; false implications beyond the book's marketing - in the book itself. She plays up the survivalist angle only to drop bombs about their family's use of phones, televisions, computers and email. Perhaps the family evolved, as families do. Perhaps the family used these things as a necessity, as I've seen Quakers do. But the fact that Westover skips over any sense of explanation, the fact that she does not draw a line or connect the dots between "survivalist" to "survivalist tendencies," smells bad.
Her lack of detailed explanation about how she made her way through college, financially, also left me confused. Not ready to make any accusations, I'm not even really criticizing her, I just feel left with a lot of questions. I'm sure it's possible to persevere as she did (or wrote she did), but the gaps make me wonder!
I just wonder, that's all. Gaping holes don't make a story untrue, and every story has inconsistencies/biases, but that coupled with the way she writes dialogue (as though it's transcribed perfectly and accurately) is just ... questionable.
And the seemingly divine medical interventions... yes, sometimes life truly IS unbelievable. Life is fucking crazy! I just have questions. She was so detailed about some things and so vague about others.
But I truly support Dr. Westover, because it's clear she suffered. She suffered from years of abuse and her depiction of the psychological trauma is harrowing and important. There are lessons to be drawn from her story for families of all shapes and sizes and backgrounds and hometowns. Yes, I have questions, but I never for a second doubt that what happened to her is complicated and wrong.
That should be my main takeaway, but for some reason all I can focus on is how she taught herself trig. I'm so confused.
But I look forward to seeing what she does next. I look forward to watching her story, and her education, unfold.