What is the summary of Educated?

Brief summary Educated by Tara Westover is a memoir that chronicles the author's journey from a homeschooling survivalist family in Idaho to a PhD at Cambridge. It's a powerful story of self-discovery, challenging beliefs, and finding one's own truth.

What is the brief summary of Educated?

Educated (2018) is a memoir by the American author Tara Westover. Westover recounts overcoming her survivalist Mormon family in order to go to college, and emphasizes the importance of education in enlarging her world.

What is the main message of Educated?

Throughout Educated, the power of knowledge is depicted as the key to finding freedom and living an authentic life.

What did you learn from the book Educated?

The most important thing I learned from Educated was this: don't expect people to hand you everything the easy way. To grow as a person, you must take control of your own life and start living it the way you want. As Westover said: “My life was narrated for me by others.

Is Educated based on a true story?

How she made that disorienting jump is the subject of her memoir Educated, out now from Random House. Westover's story is as much about her difficult childhood and what it's like to grow up on fringe beliefs as it is about seeing the world through the eyes of a singular, intelligent, and observant person.

Educated Summary (Animated) | Tara Westover's Against-All-Odds Story Shows Education Is the Key 🔑

Is Tara Westover still estranged from her family?

It also deeply divided her family; she's still estranged from her parents and some siblings. Her mother, meanwhile, has since self-published her own version of the family story, titling the book Educating. But Educated, Westover said, is fundamentally about divergence.

Who is Shawn Westover in real life?

Shawn Westover is the fictional name of Tara Westover's estranged older brother in Educated. She did not really grow up with him as he had left the household as a teenager to become a trucker. He had a nasty reputation and Tara witnessed it first hand in how he overreacted violently to her.

Why is the book Educated so good?

With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes and the will to change it.

What is the biggest cause of the tension in Educated?

There are a number of conflicts in Educated. However, the main conflict that leads to Tara's estrangement from her family is the conflict caused by the physical and psychological abuse she suffered from her brother Shawn and the fall-out that occurs when she shares the truth with her parents, who refuse to believe her.

Why is the book called Educated?

Another byproduct of Westover's idiosyncratic childhood was the perspective she gained on what it means to be “educated” — something she wanted to convey through the ambiguity of her book's title. “[Educated] can mean informed, fearless, intelligent, arrogant, brainwashed,” she said.

Is Tara Westover still married to Drew?

In her widely acclaimed memoir “Educated,” Tara briefly references Drew as a clandestine romantic relationship. Contrary to public perception and expectations of Tara and Drew still being together and married, it appears they have parted ways, as Drew's comment on Amazon indicates.

What is the main conflict in Educated?

Major conflictTara struggles to break free from her controlling and violent family who want her to live a life of isolation and obedience.

What happens to Shawn in Educated?

After Shawn suffers several falls and sustains brain damage that doctors say could alter his personality, Tara and her family begin excusing Shawn's violence as a consequence of forces beyond his control. However, as the years go on and Shawn's abuses extend to his wife, Emily, Tara decides she has to take a stand.

What happens in the end of Educated?

By the end of her memoir, Tara has accepted that she may never have a relationship with her family again, but she takes pride in the independence she has established, and the life she has built for herself.

Why does Emily marry Shawn in Educated?

Emily marries Shawn even though he has already been abusing her. She believes that it is God's plan for a woman to submit to her husband, and she never challenges or questions Shawn, even when he is violent with her.

What happened to Tara Westover's brother Shawn?

Tara speculates that Shawn's two severe head injuries — the first from a fall while working with his father and the second from a motorcycle accident — intensified what she claims was his volatile personality. LaRee prefers to think that the brain damage softened and mellowed her son.

What is the climax of Educated?

Climax: Tara's parents arrive at Harvard, where she is completing a postgraduate fellowship, and attempt to “reconvert” her to their fundamentalist sect of Mormonism. Tara refuses, creating a schism in her large family—and a psychological breakdown in herself.

What lessons does Tara Westover learn?

Why did Tara write Educated?

My parents couldn't deal with that so they turned the other way and made me look like the bad person. In families like mine there is no crime worse than telling the truth.” In a CBS This Morning interview Tara says, “One of the reasons I wrote the book is because of the gaslighting I experienced from my parents…

What does Tara Westover's family say about her book?

“Tara's parents are disappointed Tara would write a book that maligns them, their religion, their country, and homeschooling,” he said. Although “there's a little germ of truth,” in “Educated,” the book falsely portrays the Westover family, Atkin said. “They are conservative, patriotic people.

What are the negatives of the book Educated?

Negatives. This book is quite a difficult read in places as it contains abuse, violence, and gore. It is a very heavy book so make sure you're in the right headspace to read this book.

Is Educated an easy read?

"Educated" is not an easy book to read but it is incredibly well written and absorbing. It reads more like a novel but knowing that this is the author's autobiography makes it difficult to put down.

What happened to Luke in Educated?

Tara describes an incident which happened during the summer months, almost a month after Tyler left home. Her seventeen-year-old brother Luke spills gasoline on his jeans, and then accidentally sets himself on fire.

What is Tara's first exposure to Shawn's violent side?

Tara soon had her own firsthand experience with Shawn's volatility when he, without warning, put his hands around her head and violently twisted it—to help pop her neck back into place following the accident, or so he claimed.

Why does Tara end her relationship with Nick?

When Tara returns to Utah, she considers telling Nick the truth about everything, but she is still too ashamed. She hides the truth about her family from him. In September, Emily and Shawn get married, and Tara breaks up with Nick, because she doesn't believe she will ever be able to be honest with him.