Honestly, I don’t even want to be giving Educated such a glowing review, as it appears to be dominating social circles in an almost clique-esque manner, akin to CrossFit. Unfortunately, the memoir really was that great. It’s hard to imagine a memoir being a page-turner, but Tara’s story of her upbringing in a dysfunctional, patriarchal, hyper-religious Mormon family in the mountains of Idaho keeps the reader gripping the edge of their seat. It seemed as though every chapter, written in the short-story format, somehow tops the previous ones in incredulity. Educated tells the story of a girl, denied any form of formal education through high school, who somehow defies all odds putting herself through college at BYU, a Master’s at Cambridge, a fellowship at Harvard, and finally receiving a doctorate from Cambridge. Throughout this impossible journey, Tara battles with the fact that the more she seems to receive in the form of education, the more she seems to lose in the form of family.