Cindy Pham's Reviews > Educated

So good. So good. SO GOOD. Ok, I'll try to elaborate. Tara Westover's memoir is incredibly engrossing not just because of the rollercoaster of traumatic events that occur throughout her life, but also because of her ability to weave humanity and complicated familial relationships in her portrayal of events. While it's easy to take these events and market it like a thriller novel, it's that sense of reflection and poignancy in her carefully crafted words that is the book’s strongest asset. As awful as her family is, she tries to make them as multifaceted as possible by describing both the horrific treatment she dealt with alongside the tender moments that have made it hard for her to let go. I have always been either apathetic or critical about our education system, but I loved Westover’s insights that her education has afforded her to expand her worldview and transform her into her own individual. I would recommend this book to anyone who comes from a dysfunctional family as proof that you don’t have to be trapped in your circumstances and can seek a better life for yourself.

A common critique is questioning how much of her memoir is embellished. My gut reaction is to take offense, as these dismissals have implications of not believing a victim of abuse and gaslighting her like her family did. But I know that all memoirs have degrees of embellishments, and it’s fair to have healthy skepticism. However, she peppers several footnotes throughout her memoir that point out contradictions in her memory based on different accounts of her siblings. This indicates that she is aware of how memories can be subjective, and the fact that she even clarified where her own perspectives differed and included different accounts showed that her priority was telling her story as truthfully as she can. That’s all you can really ask of someone bearing their life story. I believe the book and trauma she went through are completely valid, and her efforts in both staying true to her experiences while sharing different accounts reassure me in that validity.