Tara Westover – 5/5 Stars
Read this if you:
· have ever taken education or modern medicine for granted
· are inspired by stories of people who have built themselves up from nothing
· want to learn more about how children suffer at the hands of their extremist parents
Synopsis:
In her memoir, Tara Westover tells her story of growing up in the mountains of Idaho – one that includes stepping into a classroom for the first time at the age of seventeen. Living with survivalist parents, the family had stockpiles prepared for the end of the world and the children either worked with their mother a, a midwife and healer, or in the junkyard with their father. Since there was no one to ensure she received an education, Tara began to educate herself and learned enough to be admitted to Brighton University where she studied history. After moving on to Harvard and Cambridge, she eventually becomes so far removed from her beginnings, she begins to wonder if there is still a way home.
My thoughts on the book:
This book was difficult to read but impossible to put down. Reading about Tara’s upbringing was heartbreaking, the abuse and lack of access to medical attention is something I can only imagine experiencing, it seemed so far removed from my life experiences, yet Tara and I aren’t very different in terms of age and location.
Tara’s story is incredibly inspiring, she had to overcome unthinkable obstacles in order to receive a basic education, and she took what she was able to teach herself further than most people with every opportunity presented to them ever would.
Even after reading about all of the turmoil in her home life, I could still understand her connection to her home and why it was so hard for her to walk away from her family. Although they held her back more than anything, I can appreciate the bond that she shared, especially with her mother, that kept her coming back, desperate for a way to keep them close to her.