Educated

I read this book in the middle of year 2020. I've been hearing and seeing the title through media, bookstores and word of mouth. It has been some time since I read this book but I still remember the feeling of difficulties to swallow series of incidents happened in the book that sounded like a movie. I rather wished to be a movie. I try to remind myself often as possible that everyone is different and every family has different value and culture that can be unique to the other. This book however depicted a whole new level of difference.

The author, Tara, plainly and calmly described her memory as accurate as she could in this book. To begin with, her being born in survivalist mormon family prevented her from getting public education. Rather attending a school like majority of kids do, she stayed home helping at her father's metal scrapyard sorting different materials and helping her mom with herb mixing and making herbal oils. Nonetheless of absence of education, Tara had curiosity and desire to learn. With her desire along with a little support from her brother, Tyler who left to get educated himself before her, she struggled through to enter a college at the age of 17. It was through the education what made her world larger. Tara then sensed and recognized those thinking, belief and value that suppress her and pull her back and down. She then gathered courage to confront and change her surrounding. Although She thought the troubling matters got resolved but soon she discovered that nothing has been changed rather, she was deceived by her own mom and her family. In the end, Tara finally chose what's best for her which is being away from where she grew up, her root.

It was so heart aching to read through serious of incidents that she had to go through. Reading and feeling the pain given by her family members was hard to bear even as a reader. The agony of pulling herself away from her root ached my heart. It was not a happy ending. Emotionally that was hard to accept for me. But it's true that even if something is not ok, that's ok because it's not the end of it. Tara set herself free through education. And that made the end of her book to a new beginning.