From Mormon Idaho, Through Youngstown, to Everyone in Palestine and Israel
Book review of Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
by Tara Westover
Random House (February 20, 2018), 352 pp, $23.99
How does a book become a bestseller? This question has intrigued me for as long as I can remember, coming in second to the question that tops my list, How is it that some people and communities simply can’t see that their understanding of the world is just seriously flawed? Without a doubt, reading Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover significantly advanced the answers to both questions. Gently placed within every chapter of this memoir are deep life learnings, ones that emerge from Idaho, but relate to my upbringing in Youngstown, Ohio and current residence in Occupied Palestine.
Educated is the story of Tara Westover. Her Mormon fundamentalist parents were survivalists living in the remote mountains of Idaho. She had a difficult life, having to do hard labor in a junkyard, and having to face domestic violence from her brother. Growing up she did not go to school. Her father was so adamantly against educational institutions, including mere textbooks, that even homeschooling was out of the question. He clutched a conspiracy-theory view of the…
