Book making the book club circuit in my area

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

Has anyone read "Educated" by Tara Westover? Looks like it has some gems about survivalist anti-gov anti-vax mindset prominent in some areas of the Mormon corridor (Idaho) and how a young woman escapes the family worldview through education.

Educated: A Memoir https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399590501/re ... CCb537MJ0T

Pertinent to NOMs who have grown up with narcissistic parents perhaps.

[Mormorrisey]

Has anyone read "Educated" by Tara Westover? Looks like it has some gems about survivalist anti-gov anti-vax mindset prominent in some areas of the Mormon corridor (Idaho) and how a young woman escapes the family worldview through education.

Educated: A Memoir https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399590501/re ... CCb537MJ0T

Pertinent to NOMs who have grown up with narcissistic parents perhaps.

Absolutely it's pertinent, and a great read. Education is what helped me get out of my own narcissist mother's mindwarp, going on to graduate work and honing my critical thinking skills. That's also when I stopped being a reactionary rightwing Bensonite (for a Canadian, rather odd, that) and thinking for myself about politics, and then the church, and it was all downhill from there.

Like Tara, I wish things were different, but not allowing the gaslighting and abuse to continue was the right decision, even though I wish I could help my aging mother with her health concerns. But it's just not worth the angry emails when I do try to communicate with her.

[Charlotte]

I read it, and recommend it - a very engrossing read. It’s easy to see that her parents went survivalist/herbalist nuts, and that there’s certainly some mental illness or defects on display. Hard to tease out the causes, but they almost seem like a throwback to Ezra T. Benson day paranoia-fueled “prepping.”

I wonder if those around them - the state, the
church - realize now that they should have gotten involved for the kids’ sakes.

I borrowed it from a non-member friend whose bookclub read it, so it’s popular with the public in general. Westover has done a lot of TV interviews when you google her.

[Ghost]

I read this recently, and it's quite engaging even if you don't really relate to her situation.

Her Mormon Stories interview is also worth a listen:
https://www.mormonstories.org/podcast/tara-westover/

[moksha]

This story was on a lot of news programs when the book first gained recognition.

[Not Buying It]

I kinda think she wrote the book too soon. Coming from a backwards home-schooled abusive environment and going on to get a master’s and a ph.d at Cambridge is impressive, yeah, but is it really “memoir-worthy” impressive? She’s hardly the only person who came from an educationally impoverished environment who got advanced degrees, and while I don’t mean to trivialize her educational accomplishments, she essentially earned her degrees then wrote her book. Outside of earning her degrees, what has she accomplished? She wrote a book about it.

Call me petty, but I kind of think her story isn’t all that unique, although getting advanced degrees at Cambridge does add some oomph to the story, but there are plenty of people from rough backgrounds who earn advanced degrees. Some of them go on to accomplish noteworthy things after getting those degrees before writing a memoir.

Also, what was the point of the book exactly? Education is important? Hardly a ground-breaking insight. When abuse is going on in a family, most family members look the other way? Yep, that’s pretty well established. Her family was super weird? Lots of people come from families that are super weird. She mostly educated herself and if she can anyone can? That’s a little self-congratulatory, and probably underestimates what she learned about the world from interacting with it - I mean really, these people weren’t the Mountain Family Robinson, they bought groceries at Stokes, and went to Church with everyone else in town for three hours every Sunday, she was in several productions at the Worm Creek Opera House in Preston. They drove cars and had electricity and indoor plumbing, and even a TV sometimes. She probably wasn’t as socially isolated as she makes it sound, but to hear her talk she was Robinson Crusoe. I guess I can’t figure out what all the fuss is about, or what the new and revelatory take away from the book was supposed to be.

[felixfabulous]

Loved the book and it has definitely causing a lot of buzz with a lot of different types of people, believing and non. I recently read Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer. That book was always demonized when I was growing up, but I loved it. When I understood fundamentalism, the view of Tara Westover's parents made a lot more sense. Fundamentalists are all about no doctors, home school, global conspiracies, bleeding the beast, etc. That has carried over to people who are at orthodox extreme of the Church, like the Westovers. Read Ogden Kraut's 95 Theses http://ogdenkraut.com/?page_id=349. He points out so many things that have changed in the Church (makes a lot of good points) and you can see a lot of them have to do with doctors, healings, etc.

[Just This Guy]

I recently read Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer.

My DW is working trough the audio book of this one. Is it any good? Should I borrow it from her when she is done?

[felixfabulous]

Yes, I would definitely check it out. I think he does a great job of narrating the story and tying it altogether with Church history as well as getting into what the different fundamentalist groups practice and believe. Did you know FLDS can't have sex with a pregnant wife? That is considered a violation of the law of chastity and people are disciplined by the FLDS church for doing it.

[moksha]

Did you know FLDS can't have sex with a pregnant wife? That is considered a violation of the law of chastity and people are disciplined by the FLDS church for doing it.

I imagine that's the time when the second cousin starts to look good and a young fundamentalist hubby's thoughts turn to sister-wives.

[Thoughtful]

I read Educated and recommend it to nevermos all the time. Missionary work.

Every book group I've heard of, in and out of the church, is reading it. Good.

I see it as the same genre as The Glass Castle, which I found enthralling. I would have enjoyed Educated even as a nevermo.