I am a fan of learning about different cultures, religions, morals, really just different ways of life than my own. I really try not to judge or criticize a family’s choice but this book gave me a run for my money.
Tara really tries to remain factual and impartial throughout the whole book. She merely told the reader how life existed for her, stories of her upbringing but very rarely did she bring a negative light to the way she was brought up. Kudos to her for remaining classy, but let`’s be real, that’s not me!!
The first time our storyteller sat in a classroom, she was 17, she didn’t even have a birth certficate until the age of 9, not even knowing the exact date and only because the government found out about her. She shares memories of being a Mormon survivalist, waiting on the End of Days or the government to tear apart their family. The children in the family worked brutually hard on the homestead in rural Idaho rather than going to school. As she gets older, she starts to rebel, watching the different paths her 6 older siblings have choosen.
By leaving the only world she has ever known, she tests her family bonds, her views on anything from antibiotics to slavery and her mind is totally blown by all the things in the world she didn’t know about. She struggles with her relationships both inside and outside her family and gracefully tells her story, how she sees it, without judegement, just how she sees it.
It really was an amazing read, it left me feeling like I need to start exploring these rural places to make sure that children have the oppurtunities to succeed in life, no matter how they visualized the definition of succeeding.