After reading A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings, this week’s #spellbooksaturday was recommended by my darling sister-in-law (thanks Jess!).
Educated by Tara Westover
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
[Content warning: abuse, religious control, violent death of an animal, etc.]
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen 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.
[source: bookshop.org]
It puts one in a difficult position, to critique a memoir, as you feel you are invalidating someone’s lived experience, but I was not wholly impressed by Westover’s writing. While I did appreciate the ways in which she acknowledges memory is subjective and faulty, thus bringing into question the nature of certain events, I feel there was a decided lack of critique about the ways in which high-control religions enable (and even encourage) the types of abusive dynamics seen in the book. Elements began to feel repetitive, and with a lack of deeper analysis, didn’t coalesce for me. I would recommend instead that readers try A Well-Trained Wife.
Have you read Educated? What were your thoughts? Share in the comments!
I have a Bookshop.org list of #spellbooksaturday features for folks to peruse, but in the spirit of transparency as a Bookshop.org affiliate, I receive a small percentage of book sales purchased through my links. If you find that off-putting, feel free to shop directly through bookshop.org or your own local bookseller! My only goal here is to resist Amazon and the mega-rich.
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