BOOK REVIEW: EDUCATED BY TARA WESTOVER.
Genre: Memoir
Number Of Pages: 377 (Paperback)
"It's strange how you give the people you love so much power over you."
Tara Westover is the youngest of seven siblings, born and brought up in a Mormon family. They believe in dressing modestly (nothing above the ankle), they follow the Sabbath strictly (no grocery shopping on a Sunday), wearing make-up and body fit clothes is vulgar, no need to register yourself to the government (no birth certificate, no schooling),etc. The first time she sets foot in a school is at the age of 17. She has the beliefs which her father has fed her since childhood. Her world revolves around the farm she has grown up at, overlooking the beautiful Buck's Peak mountain in Idaho. She loves her family but when she slowly starts to explore what the world is all about she faces a conflict which leads her to challenge everything she has known in her life.
From a young age Tara has seen her brothers burn, fall from a height, she herself had an accident but her family never considered visiting a doctor because they don't believe in the medical establishment. Tara's parents are ignorant towards their children especially her father, and her mother fully supports her father in everything leaving no room for Tara to find a support system in either of them.
Her parents take the word of God quite literally and to some extent mould it according to their mindset.
Sexism plays a huge factor in Tara's life. When she is bullied by her elder brother, Shawn, because he thinks she is acting as a whore by laughing too loudly or wearing too much makeup & should be condemned for that, she accepts it. Only when she has grown up and is studying at Cambridge, her elder sister confronts her that the same had happened with her and they talk to their parents but her parents refuse to accept that such a thing could have happened and if it did, Shawn, must have been right in doing so.
Tara was brainwashed from an early age, to read her account of finding her real self was shocking, and heartbreaking. Since her parents are uneducated they never realised there might be a history of mental illness in the family. Out of the seven siblings, three of them manage to get a proper education themself but they all are still dominated by their family.
This book is not just a book, it is a reality check that physical abuse, mental abuse, manipulation, suffocating a person's voice, sexism, presence of no parental figure, all of it happens to many children out there. This book makes you question, how much are you willing to give up for the one's you love?
Read this book to know the importance of an education and the power of having a voice and being able to use it. Read this book to know how toxic nature is internalised in families and the damage it can lead to. Read this book to understand how it is up to us to make the world we want to live in.
My Verdict: 5/5
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