Recommended Reading: Educated

An excellent read. Tara Westover gives you a focussed glimpse into her childhood upbringing and family of origin, lumps and all. Many ‘WTF???’ moments in the story of her life thus far.  She, a survivor of abuse and radical religious indoctrination, weaves her family history from a place of frankness, humility and eventual probing. Her story is an incredible example of surviving and thriving a difficult childhood.  Her story shines a light on the struggle for personal truth; it includes the gaslighting, suffering, breakdown and reckoning that comes when one needs to fuse the present with their past, and excavate the deeply-engrained damaged beliefs of self and world that that have become roadblocks to her own personal liberty and happiness. Westover clearly demonstrates the struggle of thriving when what you are and what you believe about yourself are in significant conflict; she displays how the family unit and that desire for love and acceptance can become crippling and dangerous in a dysfunctional family. Lastly, she shows us the challenges in the journey is to heal and come to terms with the shame, pain, and dissolution of a dangerous and traumatic family narrative. Some bridges can be mended, and some may remain broken. Regardless, new personal paths are forged in love, truth, and acceptance.