...written by Tara Westbrook. Amazing story - you should read it for yourself! Checked out from the library, I had a hard time getting started. But once I began to get interested, it was really hard to put down, as fascinating story of such bizarreness it is difficult to comprehend it is a memoir rather than fiction, a completely made up tale just conjured from imagination.
Tara was born and raised in rural Idaho, to Mormon parents who did not believe in sending children to school, taking medical crises to doctors or hospitals, any support or expectations from the government. Her father was brutal, mean spirited, manipulative and extremely difficult to live with -a man who would not broach having his word questioned. Suggestions that teachings from the Book of Mormon or the Bible were not absolute fact were met with shouted disdain, derision as well as physical punishment. His sons saw that demanding, belittling behavior and believed verbal and physical abuse was acceptable, a way to gain control over people and situations.
Her mother was a gentle spirit, but very much under the thumb of her husband, never questioning his demanding authority. Cooperating with her husband at the expense of raising caring compassionate children into functioning adults. It was a truly amazing tale of profound dysfunction. I kept expecting multiple wives to appear in the narrative, though I decided her father struggled so to provide for the family, the idea of more mouths to feed/support was not feasible.
Tara never entered a classroom until she was seventeen, much of her education was done independently, self-taught in order to satisfy take evaluation tests as a prerequisite for acceptance at BYU in Salt Lake City. She struggled for years with self-doubt, feeling like a charlatan, believing she was faking her way in her classes, often depressed, unable to function after demeaning interactions with her family in Idaho. After a BA at BYU, she was encouraged professors who saw her emerging talents and gifts, she applied for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship and went to England, where she earned a MPhil degree and a PhD in history.
It should have a happy ending, but she is estranged from many family members. When her paternal grandmother died and she returned to Idaho for the service, Tara reconnected with extended family, three brothers and their families. Sad that people can be so badgered and bullied and emotionally beat down, they loose sight of themselves as decent human beings. It took her many years, being away from the caustic environment of her childhood to gain a sense of self-worth and self-respect.\You cannot help but admire someone who was so emotionally abused who can make the changes necessary to let go of the past and live up to her potential.
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