This is a beautifully written book that I'm a bit disappointed in myself for taking so long to read. I appreciated Dr Westover's continual steps to remind the reader that memory is faulty and owned up to moments where hers differed from her siblings'.

It's easy to get caught up in questioning the validity of her education and how she was able to accomplish such feats with so little, but I was pleasantly surprised to find how humble Dr Westover was when it came to these things and how frequently she repeated her lack in confidence over belonging or being deserving of such things. Not that I wanted her to not be confident in her skills and accomplishments, but I had before hand been led to believe that she came to her PhD without struggle or fault, that it was doubtful how easily it was accomplished. But it wasn't easy. That's so absolutely clear from the text itself and now I'm wondering how people saw otherwise.

But, in truth, that's not the point of the story at hand. The point is the abuse, the control Tara's father had/s over her family, how that control and manipulation can warp a person's world view and take away their agency, how it can make family members not just turn a blind eye, but forget entirely abuse that is happening directly on front of them, how the victims at the epicenter of this suffer in more ways than one.

This is absolutely a book worth reading and one that maybe needs to be read, because it's a topic few who have lived it will be willing to talk about themselves. Much like Tara needed to be educated of the world outside of Buck's Peak, we need to be educated of the world inside of it.