"My family was splitting down the middle-- the three who had left the mountain, and the four who had stayed. The three with doctorates, and the four without high school diplomas. A chasm had appeared, and it was growing."

I think this quote from the text sums up the book and the need for education perfectly. It shows that truly educated people understand how to treat others and have meaningful relationships, whereas others can't necessarily do that.

I don't know exactly what Westover's drive to get a formal education was - the abuse by a brother she'd had a close relationship with, Tyler's reappearance, Tyler and Charles's urging her to leave...however, she makes it fully clear that the turning point, the point she knew she needed to stay in the education system, and the point her focus shifted from just studying music to studying philosophy and history. Actually, this realization, and contrasting that with her father's claims of history, it kind of reminded me of the poem "The History Teacher" by Billy Collins, where the subject of the poem tells his students lies about history to keep their innocence, and then they go and torment smarter students on the playground. We analyzed that in school recently, and I think it fits really well with the theme of [b:Educated|40604841|Educated|Tara Westover|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|53814228]. It shows what ignorance can lead to in social interactions, and the way Tara approaches this from all angles, including psychological, historical, and religious, to understand her relationship with her family.

I love when Westover discovered feminism in earnest. I feel like her intensive reading of [a:Mary Wollstonecraft|1853305|Mary Wollstonecraft|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1228515449p2/1853305.jpg] and [a:John Stuart Mill|57651|John Stuart Mill|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1542512885p2/57651.jpg] shaped the rest of her interactions and confrontation with her family throughout her story. I doubt she would have been able to resist the way she did, or even write this memoir, if she hadn't read those books at Cambridge and discovered how "whatever you are, you are a woman." (Westover's interpretation of Mill's writing.)

I have never read a memoir that shook me up so much. All that [a:Tara Westover|16121977|Tara Westover|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1506103019p2/16121977.jpg] has gone through in her life is so amazing, and I could never imagine it. I am so glad this book won the Goodreads Choice Award for best memoir/biography 2018; I think it really deserved it. I felt so much, and I'd absolutely love to meet Westover one day. I wish her the best in her future endeavors, and in whatever she decides to do about reconnecting with her family.