Set some time aside for Educated, a stirring memoir of a girl who was raised without ever attending school while growing up in Idaho with a bipolar father. This audiobook is over 12 hours and I couldn’t stop listening to it! I recognized the voice of the talented narrator, Julia Whelan, from her work on Giver of Stars. She’s excellent again.

Book Description:

An unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University

Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home. 

Number one New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Boston Globe best seller

Named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review

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My Review

This was an endearing, sad, sometimes tragic visit to a family who felt they were led by the Lord, but mostly they were led by the irrationality and paranoia of a bipolar father. Tara Westover shows us her amazing journey from getting hit by scrap metal and risking her life daily with her family to her struggle for an education not only from the universities she attended but from the ingrained attitudes and ideas she had to realize were wrong. There were times when her views would frustrate me as a reader because I could clearly see her perceptions were wrong, but that was the point. She couldn’t see what other people saw. This was an amazing book.