Educated: A Memoir

I have never read anything like this before, and, since this is a memoir, I decided to do some digging. I wanted to start with 1 star reviews here on GR.

What I found in common between several reviewers

No way is this memoir true!

Many readers don't believe this is a true story, or at least claim the author must've fabricated some of the parts. In Westover's defense, she does reiterate several times that not only are some of the events not based on her own memories, but those of her family members, different family members sometimes remember the same event differently.

There's a great 5 minute review by ThePoptimist on You Tube, where he brings out some interesting points.

I noticed the beauty of Westover's prose, with proper foreshadowing, parallels and symbolism. ThePoptimist also points out that in several parts, the book also reads like a thriller and it makes sense! You have tons of suspense, an abuser Tara needs to escape, a good portion of gas-lighting from the family. As much as I love Westover's writing, all of it kinda makes her memoir too good to be true. But is it?

I am way too lazy to dig very deep into this, so I'll discuss two things ThePoptimist gives in his review. First, there's a statement from the family lawyer, who claims certain statements in the book to be false, says the parents have always loved Tara and have always acted in their children's best interests according to their beliefs. Really, check out the statement yourselves (if you live in the EU - use a VPN connection, cos the website is restricted for us). The stuff the lawyer says is exactly what I'd expect from a guy representing people who denied their children access to a hospital, put them through unnecessary danger and used gas-lighting to excuse one of their sons' extremely abusive behavior.

There was also a review posted by one of Westover's brothers on Amazon, where he says

My purpose in writing this review is not to try to prove either side wrong; rather, it is to “humanize” the people on both sides, while also providing a partial perspective that people on both sides of the argument may be able to agree with. Several concerns prevent this from being a full perspective.

Educated

I am not sure that I would recommend changing your text much, though, because my additions would also add complications. Usually in reports of scientific and engineering projects we follow what is known as the “80/20 rule,” which is that reports focus on key messages and points and deliberately leave out seemingly contradictory or excessively complicated information for general audiences. The fact is that practically no-one can understand all of the details in a complicated situation, and focusing on the underlying themes is generally best unless the audience has specific need to try to grasp the details. I think that you did well following the 80/20 rule.

My main problem with the book

I

that

should

I have three hopes

ourselves