A Look at Why Women Stay in Abusive Relationships
(NOTE: Some of the links in this blog are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, Lorie will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase on Amazon. Thank you for supporting Lorie’s writing in this manner. More details here.)
*****
I found this book to be disturbing. The author grew up in a family who lived off the grid in Idaho. They practiced a radical form of Mormonism taught to them by the father who was not always of sound mind and who most likely suffered from bipolar disorder. Though supposedly home schooled, if any of the seven children wanted an education, they had to provide it for themselves. Countless horrible accidents took place in the book. In one of two car wrecks, for instance, the mother experienced brain damage. A brother was horribly burned in an accident in the family junkyard. In a similar work accident, the father was horribly burned. Of course, their religion would not allow medical intervention. And then there was the fact that one of the brothers, Shawn, was a sadistic brute who often abused the author, repeatedly turning her upside down and dunking her head in the toilet, and that was just for starters.
Mercifully, in the second section of the book, the author goes away to school! I was so relieved! BUT, somehow, she cannot stay away from that family, or from that home, and so she returns time and again, only to experience more abuse at Shawn’s hands as her mother uses gaslighting techniques to make her doubt the abuse took place.
My main takeaway from the book was an understanding of how hard it is for an abused woman to leaver her abuser(s).
Until almost the last page of the book the author yearned for her family and quite frankly, I can easily imagine her going back to them for more of their “love.” If she does, and if she writes about it, I don’t plan to read the sequel.
*****
Like my book reviews? Try my blog! FREE gift to new subscribers: a downloadable booklet of motivational quotes, Some Do’s and Don’ts in Life.
[…] Educated, by Tara Westover […]