EDUCATED, by Tara Westover

On this cool spring day, eight of us convened at Maddy’s home, to discuss this gripping memoir of a life in a remote section of Idaho, in the shadow of a beloved mountain. Tara and her 5 siblings grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon/survivalist culture. Both parents, especially the father, were deeply troubled and mentally ill. The younger siblings had no birth records. The children did not attend school, and were put to work at a young age to help with various hard labor tasks around their remote acreage, including dangerous work in the family scrap yard. Their father was volatile, brittle, and emotionally abusive. The family relied on the mother's ability to produce a herbal tincture or ointment or tea to address various medical issues, including severe head injuries, burns and wounds from being impaled by scrap metal.
It seemed that everyone liked the book, or rather, found it to be compelling and readable. Joan thought it was very distressing, and was only inclined to continue because she knew that Tara was a survivor.
Maddy talked about how our lives in regards to our family, environment, upbringing, era, may have formed us.  Perhaps how we respond to our experiences shapes our outlook toward our lives and the future. Tara was influenced by a stable older brother who left "the mountain" when he was a young man to go to college. She also took solace in the classical/choral music he introduced her to. She was smart and resilient and motivated to move on and had the benefit of an encouraging  grandmother and  a few teachers that saw she had great potential.
Tara told the story with remarkable clarity and a lack of judgment. She walked us through a  harrowing life, but was able to reveal an inner strength and resilience that was really the core of this fascinating narrative.