Fighting and Flighting in Educated

 

I live in the hills. They're work to climb, but running down them feels like flying. 

 

In Educated, Tara Westover is born beneath a mountain range, hills all around. The expansive setting of the book makes the constriction of dogma and abuse feel even more cruel. 

 

*spoilers follow* 

The Westover parents are incendiary, the explosive outcome of extreme religion in the hands of untreated mental illness. Gene, presumed to be bipolar, trusts and mistrusts in all the wrong directions. The DMV is treacherous, but god will protect against foolhardy and avoidable behaviour. The injuries inflicted on the Westover family due to Gene's neglect are shocking. Faye, a yes-woman, seeks the road of least confrontation. The result is a clutter of crossed paths, different messages for every scenario.

The seven Westover children cover the gamut of fight or flight responses. Some flee for good, some flee for a while. Some fight on occasion, some hunt for fights like a rabid animal. 

 

Tara Westover does both. She fights to get away, but the climb is lousy with shale and mud. She slips time and again. When she finally gets to the top of the mountain, disowned, gaslit, but free, there is no sense that she is able to enjoy the view. She seems years away from ready to run, wind in her hair, and to feel like she is flying. I hope that, after all of that work, she will find rest in her reward.

I borrowed Educated from Orange County Public Libraries through Libby. It was narrated by the spectacular Julia Whelan and was 12hours and 10minutes.