*Warning: contains spoilers!*
If you’re anything like me and you’re constantly engaged in a relentless quest to find inspiring memoirs, you have likely come across a mention of this profoundly moving book at some point. A brief Google search or a cruise through Goodreads yields all of the information you need to know about the waves Westover’s memoir created in the literary community. Critics rave over her story of overcoming the limitations imposed on her by her remote upbringing and choosing to educate herself all the way to the doctoral level.
I think there is certainly something to be said for Westover’s ability to tell a tale that universally shocks and inspires. However, I would like to focus my review not just on the book itself, but on the conversations it provoked. I had the opportunity to read this book alongside friends, and I found that sharing my reactions to Educated in a group setting enabled me to carefully consider the most important concepts that the book brought up for me. Contrary to what I’ve always thought, the best way to read a memoir is not necessarily holing yourself up in your room with it. One person’s story can produce multiple interpretations, and the value of “collaborative reading” is something I’ve always overlooked.
Educated is chock full of images from Westover’s childhood that struck a chord with every one of the members of my book club in some way. One example is the mountain near her house that not only changes in appearance with the seasons, but also changes in form and substance as Westover starts to envision herself as no longer being tied to the land she was born in. Another is the moment when she raises her hand to ask what the word “Holocaust” means in class and is surprised by the backlash she receives, only to find out later that this incredibly dark period in history was completely omitted from the education she got at home. At the same time, we found through our discussions in book club that each of us had very different moments in the text that stood out to us. We were reading a book about the way history is written, taught and processed on both an individual and collective level, but our personal histories prompted each of us to look at Westover and her families’ versions of history in a slightly different light.
Sometimes, our interpretations of the book and the characters conflicted. My friend gravitated toward the passage in which Tara and her brother, Shawn, are on a road trip and his fun-loving personality shows through, whereas I was more inclined to focus on the passages in which he abused her. She was most interested in Shawn’s capacity to love and protect his sister that existed beneath his cruelty, while I pointed out the passages in which he was violent. If I could say one thing about this friend of mine, it is that she has always been able to see the good in everyone. Ultimately, discussing this family relationship with my friend and the book club at large reminded me that Westover intended to paint her family not just as alienating and tyrannical, but also as caring despite their flaws. Reading about Westover’s family by myself was fascinating, but it was in the book club discussions that I realized I was harboring biases toward them.
A prominent theme in Educated is historiography. As she begins her formal education at BYU, Westover comes to recognize that the accounts of history she received from her family are only one interpretation of events in the world at large, and she ultimately realizes that the traditions her family has used to inform their ideas of the way the world should be are too constraining for her. In fact, the writing and interpretation of history becomes her main academic focus. I find it interesting that even a memoir with seemingly universal themes can be processed differently; discussing the book with other people reaffirmed that the way a person reads any book depends on how they see it fitting into their own personal story. In a text conversation with another friend outside of my book club, we discussed how memoirists face the challenge of exposing readers to a new perspective while giving readers material to relate to at the same time. Everyone in my book club saw the value in reading an inspirational story about a woman who found the courage to rewrite her personal story, but we all found unique ways to relate to her and fit her story in with ours.
