Educated by Tara Westover

BOOK REVIEWS BY BINOD

BINOD’S RATING: 6/10

“Tara Westover was born in rural Idaho. She studied history at Brigham Young University and upon graduation was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She received an MPhil in intellectual history from Trinity College, Cambridge in 2009, and a Ph.D. in the same subject in 2014”.

These terse words NOWHERE capture her incredible story. Zero schooling, dysfunctional family, cut off from society, a unique father (schizophrenic, sexist & racist), abusive brother, a scared mother, depression, contemptuous peers etc. And all this happened in the US in the 1990s!!

Despite this unbelievably crap upbringing she made it and a big thumbs up. She’s an inspiration and that’s a testament to her formidable intellect and grit and her professors who spotted her potential.

But she’s also an outlier. For every Tara Westover there are millions of girls who’ve given up their dreams and will live and die in misery and obscurity, victims of society’s rigid views on what a woman can and should aspire to.

Parents play the biggest role. They can either destroy or develop their children. I’ve always found it shocking that you need a license to drink, to drive, to buy guns etc. but anyone can take on the biggest responsibility on earth- parenthood!