Educating: A Memoir

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Thanks so much Kerry for doing such a meticulous and objective comparison and a well written, fair analysis. My daughter gave me this book to read and I found it compelling and believable. My wife grew up in a house with a manic depressive father and I can see the impact it had on her and her siblings.. I see that dynamic in the Westovers.

It seems that Tara’s mother excelled in the creation of herbal tinctures, salves, and compounds, based on what she wrote in Educated, as well as a survey of the herbalism of that region of Idaho. LaRee may have made homeopathic compounds as well – we don’t see a clear distinction – but my point is that the terms are not interchangeable, any more than are “quilts” and “blankets,” or corn liquor and corn syrup. The Westovers may argue these are just minor details in the bigger picture of their story. But they are facts that indicate Val’s stubbornness and controlling nature, something Tara repeatedly brings up throughout her entire book. They might also help to explain the bigger picture of why there were and are so many Westover problems in the community. And what about relationships with the neighbors? In chapter 26: “People, Politics, and Persecution” LaRee tells us, “Our family had to bear the maltreatment meted out by those who were unwilling to make room for broader ways of thinking.” A journal entry from February 20, 2005, records the following: “The events of the past few weeks and the past day or two, particularly, have brought to my attention that nothing has really changed after all.” She continues, “The fact is, there are some neighbors who seem to dislike me for who I am and would likely feel no remorse for any amount of trouble and inconvenience they could cause me and mine, so long as they could do it legally.” My beef has always been about how members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints AND some Idahoans are portrayed in both books. I’m glad you didn’t see it that way, but MANY people have (and have commented here). Unfortunately, LaRee/Val’s memoir certainly didn’t lend credibility to the situation.The family is definitely intelligent! They’re also hard workers. The combination can be a great force. I honestly wish them well going forward and hope they might resolve some of their issues. I don’t know them personally.

Educated was a very good book. I feel she probably suffered much physical abuse from the older brother. I’m happy for her.. she’s done well. I and my housemate/best friend are reading “Educated” aloud, one chapter per night, right now. We are about halfway through the book. We’re just taking it in, without judgement, and with a tiny grain of salt because we both know (we are in our 60’s) that memories are … shaded? … colorized? … at best. And we’re OK with that.After a time, some of the Westover children chose to attend public school. Six of the seven children went on to receive more formal education, and three earned PhDs. Today, several of the Westover’s 36 grandchildren homeschool or have been homeschooled.

Her deep processing of all that she endured including the intimidation, bullying, gaslighting, physical abuse, and manipulation is what led her to fight for her eventual triumphant escape in to a new life. I feel that her deep faith and respect for God our Creator is what cultivated in her the will to fight, and the fortitude to try to make sense of all that happened to her. She drew upon world history and the study of historians themselves, to make sense of other cultures and peoples. Ultimately her own personal journey was an exploration of life and faith. Her difficult journey and her deep faith in the face of adversity, has yielded within her blessings of comtemplation, scholarship, and knowledge of history, culture and human nature. We are witnessing the evidence of her truth in the fruits of her journey, the triumphant success of her career, her wonderful writing and advanced educational degrees. Her story was captivating and inspiring.According to The Preston Citizen, our local newspaper, the company is now owned by Val Westover (also see image above). “It enjoyed 30-50% growth annually annually until Educated was published.” My Opinion Good question! I grew up with one of the cousins. About a year ago, she shared with me an RSS feed to a blog written by one of the brothers. In it, he disagreed with specific things written in the book. He also said he had tried to make changes during the proof stage, but the publisher ignored them. I understand the blog is no longer online because he was legally told to take it down. So the url is no longer searchable. The blog exists but only if you have the RSS feed to it, which I don’t. Since it isn’t public information I didn’t mention it in the article.