Book Review: Educated by Tara Westover - Why This Book Changed My Life

“You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them.” – Tara Westover, Educated.

Book cover of Educated (Source: Amazon)

Summary and Background

Tara Westover’s Educated is the memoir of a woman who grows up in a survivalist family in rural Idaho, isolated from the outside world. Her father, Gene, was a man filled with fear and distrust of the government, formal education, and modern medicine. As a result, Tara and her siblings were kept out of school, and their "education" was instead based on their father’s twisted, paranoid beliefs. There were no textbooks, no teachers - just a dangerous, self-reliant world dictated by her father’s control. The children were even born without a birth certificate, and so as she said, they simply did not exist.

For a long time, Tara didn’t even know what real education looked like. Her first encounter with the idea of learning outside the home felt like stepping into an entirely different reality. It wasn’t until she was 16 that she started teaching herself enough to take the ACT, a moment in the book that made me stop and reflect on just how incredible it was that someone could go from complete ignorance of the outside world to college-bound on their own determination. I mean, think about it: Tara grew up believing that the world was out to get her family, and she had no formal education, no help, just the grit to teach herself what she needed to survive academically. After passing the ACT, she eventually earned a place at Brigham Young University, where her academic journey began. Tara’s memoir traces her journey from the clutches of her father’s grip to becoming a woman educated at Cambridge University, earning a PhD.

Her story shows the unimaginable resilience it takes to escape an environment where your very sense of self and reality is being dictated by a deeply flawed and oppressive worldview. Tara’s path to self-education was a fight for her survival, not just academically, but emotionally and psychologically. It's not just a story about getting an education. Rather, it’s a journey about breaking free from control, fear, and the very concept of who she was allowed to be.

Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Reading Educated feels like Tara is sharing not just the details of her upbringing, but her own soul. It’s a very emotional story of self-discovery and personal rebellion, and for me, the most powerful theme in the book is the way knowledge and education are linked to freedom. Knowledge, for Tara, was the key to escape - the key to understanding herself and her family, and ultimately the key to claiming her life for herself. I’ve always believed education is powerful, but Tara’s story gave me a new perspective on just how transformative it can be, especially when it’s something you have to fight tooth and nail for.

Her journey isn’t just one of academic learning, but of emotional and psychological liberation. Tara constantly struggles with reconciling the identity her family pushed on her - devout, submissive, isolated - with the person she wanted to become. This tug-of-war between her two identities made me think about my own experiences, where sometimes the person I wanted to be clashed with the expectations others had for me. Tara’s story gave me a lot of space to reflect on how we define ourselves in the face of external pressures and the cost of staying true to who you really are.

The motif of injury - both physical and emotional - runs through the memoir constantly, serving as a reminder of how deeply her life was shaped by harm and neglect. Tara’s father was reckless with his own safety and the safety of his children, and the injuries they all sustained are almost symbolic of the larger harm that her family’s isolation and beliefs caused them. For Tara, these injuries weren’t just physical - they were emotional scars that stayed with her long after the bruises faded. It made me think about the emotional injuries we all carry, whether we recognize them or not, and how they can shape our actions and choices long after the event.

Tara’s education, her ability to break free from the very real dangers of her upbringing, is nothing short of extraordinary. It feels almost surreal that she could move from a life of such severe restriction and dysfunction to earning a PhD at Cambridge. And yet, the way Tara tells her story makes it clear that her transformation wasn’t a fairy tale—it was messy, painful, and full of setbacks. To me, the book is moreso about survival. And that survival, ultimately, comes from the knowledge she gains along the way.

Noteworthy Moments and Scenes

There are moments in this book that hit me hard, but these are the ones that really stuck with me:

1. Tara's First Day at BYU

   Tara’s first day at BYU was nothing short of a shock. She walked into a classroom and was immediately confronted by how much she didn’t know. It wasn’t just the content of the classes that threw her off - she didn’t even know basic things like who the U.S. president was at the time. The sheer contrast between her previous life and the world she was stepping into was overwhelming. I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of empathy for her. How many of us take for granted the simple knowledge that’s instilled in us from a young age - basic facts we pick up in school, family conversations, or the news? Tara’s vulnerability in that moment was so raw. She was essentially starting from scratch in a place that expected her to already be “in the know.” It made me reflect on my own education and how easy it is to forget how much I’ve learned over the years - how I’ve absorbed information without even thinking about it. Tara’s first day wasn’t just about academic knowledge - it was about learning how to fit in, how to navigate a new life, and how to rebuild herself from the ground up. It made me appreciate all the foundational things I’ve been taught and realize how often I take them for granted, even when the road ahead feels tough.

   
   

2. Taking Penicillin

   Tara’s decision to take penicillin for the first time was a huge turning point in her life. She had been raised to believe that modern medicine was dangerous, that it was a form of poison sent by the government. But when Tara found herself in real pain, and the alternative was to suffer without relief, she made a choice that felt almost like an act of rebellion. She chose her health and well-being over the oppressive beliefs her father had instilled in her. That decision was powerful - it wasn’t just about taking medicine; it was a declaration of independence, a moment when she stepped into her own power for the first time. I couldn’t help but think about my own life in that moment. How often have I had to push past societal or family expectations to make choices that align with who I truly am? This moment really stuck with me because it made me think about what it truly means to “break free” from the past. It’s not just about physically leaving a place or walking away from toxic people - it’s about making decisions that honor your own truth, even when it goes against everything you’ve been taught. Tara’s act of defiance was small in the grand scheme of things, but it represented the beginning of her journey to reclaim control of her life.

3. The Climax: Confrontation with Her Father

   The confrontation between Tara and her father near the end of the book was one of the most powerful and painful moments for me. Her father, in a desperate attempt to pull her back into the fold of their family’s beliefs, calls her a “woman damned” because she’s chosen education over loyalty to their way of life. At this point, Tara has spent years breaking away from her father’s control, but in this moment, she is forced to choose once again: return to the family she loves, or continue on the path she’s created for herself, a path that’s far removed from everything she once knew. Her father’s words were harsh, and the emotional weight of that moment felt almost unbearable. Tara’s decision to stay true to herself and not go back was one of the hardest choices she ever had to make, and it made me think about the times in my own life when I’ve had to make decisions that felt like they would sever relationships. Sometimes, the hardest part of growth is realizing that in order to move forward, you have to let go of what’s holding you back - even when it’s people you love or ideas that once defined you. Tara’s strength in that moment was inspiring because it wasn’t just about rejecting her father - it was about accepting the painful truth that she had to leave her past behind in order to become who she was truly meant to be.

   
   

4. The Abuse from Her Brother Shawn

   The abuse Tara suffered at the hands of her brother Shawn was incredibly disturbing, and it’s one of the hardest parts of the memoir to read, but I'm glad that I did. Shawn’s violence wasn’t just physical - it was a constant, terrifying presence in Tara’s life. He would regularly lash out at her, often for the smallest reasons, and his outbursts were brutal. At one point, he physically assaulted her, throwing her against a wall and knocking her unconscious. His violence wasn’t limited to physical attacks; there were also emotional manipulations, where he would gaslight her, making her doubt her own sense of reality. What made this situation even more painful was the fact that their parents, especially her father, turned a blind eye to Shawn’s behavior. Tara’s family refused to acknowledge the abuse, and this denial made Tara feel even more isolated. There was no safety, no one to turn to for help, and no recognition of the damage being done. Her struggle to confront her brother’s violence was compounded by her loyalty to her family and her refusal to break free from the toxic web of denial that had been spun around her. It mirrored Tara’s larger struggle of reconciling her desire to be loyal to her family with the painful truth that they were all deeply dysfunctional. The emotional cost of staying loyal to her family, despite their failure to protect her, was heartbreaking to read about.

Final Verdict

Educated is a memoir that hit me on a deeply personal level. It’s a book that made me reflect not just on the role of education in our lives but on the impact of the family we’re born into, the systems that shape us, and the courage it takes to break away from them. Tara Westover’s journey is not just one of escaping an abusive upbringing, but of learning to define herself - of claiming her identity through education and self-discovery.

I loved how Tara didn’t sugarcoat her struggles. Her vulnerability and honesty about her journey were what made this book so powerful. She writes with clarity and thoughtfulness, making even the hardest parts of her story feel real and relatable. Tara’s battle with her father’s dominance, her grappling with feelings of shame, and her eventual liberation through education resonated with me more than I anticipated. Her memoir has made me rethink my own path and the privilege I’ve had in my own education.

Tara’s story is wild - not in the sense of being out of control, but in how far she came from a life so cut off from the rest of the world to becoming a scholar at one of the world’s most prestigious universities. Some of the things that I read about in the book are so crazy that I found it hard to fathom it actually happening to someone. Her strength in getting from there to here, and the immense personal cost it took, is something you don’t see every day. Educated is a must-read, not just for those who’ve ever felt limited by their circumstances, but for anyone who believes in the life-changing power of knowledge. And that is why it is a book that I read when I was 10, and continues to be a book that I pick back up from time to time to read, reflect, and think about again. Therefore, I rate it a 10/10.

If you could escape an isolated upbringing like Tara’s, what would you value most about education?

• Access to knowledge and learning opportunities
• Personal freedom and self-discovery
• Connecting with new perspectives and people
• Achieving personal goals and academic success

About the Author: I'm Jophy Lin, a high school junior and researcher. I blog about a variety of topics, such as STEM research, competitions, shows, and my experiences in the scientific community. If you’re interested in research tips, competition insights, drama reviews, personal reflections on STEM opportunities, and other related topics, subscribe to my newsletter to stay updated!