A gripping book. I am full of admiration for Tara Westover, for the life she lead in her youth and the life she has managed to carve out for herself in later life.

Thanks to Net Galley, I was able to read this book and recommend it to my book reading group. We were unanimous in our praise.

Maureen Haltrecht

A hard life, undoubtedly.

I wish I could have liked Tara Westover’s grim account of her deeply dysfunctional background, raised within a family where extreme Christian sect fervour combined dreadfully with mental health issues, more. Or that I could feel less guilty for not appreciating the marvel of her coming through this suffering and writing this searing account of how education itself contributed to her salvation more. Truth is, I appreciate those who struggle and overcome, or indeed, those who struggle and fail to overcome, for their suffering, but I sometimes wonder whether the telling of their stories has a wider importance than the obvious one of being part of their own healing.

I could not help but have two sterling examples of ‘well, YES this kind of story transcends the personal and is of wider importance’ firmly contrasting with my reading of Westover. Jeanette Winterson, also raised within an excessively religious family, and another dysfunctional one, and Janice Galloway, with a background of deprivation and a brutal sibling. Both Galloway and Winterson were ‘saved’ by, of course, themselves, but literature and education were the glorious medicine.

However, the big difference (they are both wondrous writers) is that reading their stories I did not find either sat within the cliché these kind of stories can be filed in – neither, in my mind are contained as ‘victims’ neither in my mind are contained as ‘survivors’ Winterson strides large as herself. So does Galloway.

Westover doesn’t, for me. I feel so so sorry that her life was like this. Galloway and Winterson are vibrantly themselves, subtle, complex, shining, damaged – and above all with the ability to wrestle passion, compassion, vitality and, oh joy – a genuine sense of the absurd humour of life, from their particular seedbed.

Westover maybe still feels too crushed. I am sorry to use the pejorative term ‘misery memoir confessional’ But this is what I felt, reading this, rather unwillingly, for a book group.

I also could not help but wonder, if not about false memory itself (we all make stories of our memories, and may indeed misremember certain details) about the apparent coincidences of terrible accident after terrible accident befalling family members, followed by miraculous after miraculous healing experiences. And also, by all accounts, almost each family member appears in the end to be some kind of achieving genius.

What a book. I absolutely loved 'Educated' by Tara Westover. It was a fascinating insight into a quite extraordinary life. The details she gave of her unusual childhood and subsequent troubled journey into adulthood made this one of the most gripping books that I have read this year. Her family's abusive and controlling lifestyle was so vividly drawn that I felt I was watching through a window.
A wonderful, hugely affecting memoir.

I was hooked on this book - I didn't want to put it down! It's a horrific story, but a hopeful one. I will be recommending this to people wholeheartedly.

‘Educated: A Memoir’ by Tara Westover is the story of a woman who spent a majority of her life in a Mormon survivalist family in rural Idaho. Her father despised the government (schools, hospitals etc) and was determined to live off the grid so that the Feds wouldn’t come take away his family. Tara lived a life without school, doctors and even without a birth certificate. Instead she spent most of her days on her family’s farm taking care of the garden and feeding the animals. Everything that Tara and her family did was to ensure that they would be prepared for the End of Days.

This coming of age story delivered from a perspective and position that not many of us have been in ever, was one that brought tears to my eyes. All I wanted for Tara was some sort of normalcy in her life, to be like all the other kids. I felt that she wanted that too. At the age of 17, Tara had educated herself in grammar, mathematics and English enough to sit the ACT exams which helped her to get into university, an incredible feat considering her upbringing. The story follows her as she grows and comes to realise that her family is not typical and the environment that she is in is not one she wants to be in. Thank goodness her brother Tyler exists and that she was able to lean on him for the support she needed throughout her teens.

Tara beautifully tells her tragic story of her childhood through vivid retelling of her memories. My heart broke as she recounts the violence inflicted on her by her father who by all accounts sounds to be mentally ill. His cruelty is devastating and so is his untreated mental health. The whole family seemed to have suffered at the hands of his paranoia and radicalised beliefs while he prepared the family for end of days. Tara’s mother seems to have wanted her to have some semblance of a normal childhood, but their relationship is sad and burdened by the influence of her father.

Her father is insolent and abhorrent, his constant bitterness and stoicism causes his family nothing but hurt. I spent most of the book screaming internally for the moment where she would be free from him and the restrictions of his beliefs. I felt an overwhelming need to launch myself into the book and shake some sense into her parents. The neglect that they inflicted on her physically and emotionally is deeply disturbing to me on a very personal level. The relationships she had with her siblings is odd and the dynamics strange to me, her brother Shawn would torture and abuse her to the point that I was angered that he was such a piece of dirt human.

‘Educated’ echoed similar feelings of heartache and anger that I felt whilst reading Rachel Jeffs memoir ‘Breaking Free’. Both memoirs showed the lengths that religious and radicalised individuals go to keeping their families oppressed and away from mainstream society. Although Tara spent a large part of her life kept separate, her break through into mainstream society is filled with bravery, determination and courage. I absolutely recommend this story if you enjoy memoirs of self-determination and definition and following stories of accomplishment and drive.

What an amazing woman Tara Westover is have emerged from her difficult upbringing to write this incredible memoir!

Born to a father who was a religious extremist and believed he had to prepare his family for the end of days, she had no idea that her childhood was anything but normal. She loved the beauty of the mountains where they lived in Idaho but her father's paranoia about all government institutions meant that none of his seven children attended school, were vaccinated, saw a doctor or treated in hospital when injured. Tara's birth wasn't even registered until she was nine and even then no one was sure of the exact date. Her mother, although from a mainstream family, was totally under her husband's rule and stockpiled bottled fruit and made herbal remedies to treat the many injuries experienced by her family, including broken bones, horrific burns and major head wounds. Many of the injuries were sustained in her husband's scrapyard where all the children, including Tara, were expected to work while growing up, cutting metal and car fuel tanks with no safety precautions at all. Tara's life was made an even worse hell by one of her brother's who would physically harm her if he felt she was stepping out of line.

Somehow Tara survived all this and at the age of 17 decided to study for the college entrance exams and was admitted to Brigham Young University after her second attempt. When she started college, she realised how little she knew of the world - she'd never heard of the Holocaust, Martin Luther King or feminism and had no idea that Europe was more than a single country. That she eventually went on to earn a PhD from Cambridge and receive a fellowship from Harvard attests to the efforts she made to educate herself.

Tara's memoir is simply and beautifully written. She writes of the effect that her education has had on her family, with them being in denial of her account of the terror she experienced at her brother's and father's hands. The resulting estrangement has clearly affected her and she describes having a breakdown after her parents made attempts to 'save' her and return her to the fold where she would be expected to work in her mother's herbal remedy business, listen to her father's diatribes and help him continue to stockpile fuel and food for the end of the world. She has the love and support of two of her brothers who have also broken away from the family and one can only hope this will be enough to help this tough woman start to heal mentally and forge ahead in her life.

This was a fascinating and beautifully written insight into life in a survivalist Mormon family. Westover’s reflections on a childhood without education or healthcare are shocking, despite being lyrically phrased. I read this book quickly, completely captivated by the characters and their emotional journey.

Westover’s eventual decision to get herself an education (and an outstanding one, at that) was a welcome turn of events, and I found her struggles with her family over this matter tense and moving. Despite their treatment of her, Westover wrote about her family members with respect and care.

Overall, I found this an absorbing and well-written memoir.

A powerful pacy memoir about the author’s childhood as a Mormon survivalist and her decision to pursue education despite her father’s disapproval and the abuse she suffered at the hands of her brother. Despite the title, the bulk of the book is about her life before leaving to go to university – this surprised me but I enjoyed it nonetheless. More in the video: http://www.betterthandreams.com/2018/06/may-2018/

I don't read a huge amount of memoirs but I've found myself becoming more and more interested in them. This was a great example of really well written and interesting one. Westover has a great way with words.

Educated is the powerful story of Tara Westover, a woman who grew up in a survivalist, Mormon family in Idaho.

Westover describes the shocking reality of her early life in a family which doesn't believe in schools, hospitals or even basic safety mechanisms such as seat-belts,before moving on to her self-education and emergence as individual able to reassess all that she has learned from her childhood.

In particular the narrative deals with Tara's relationship with her domineering father and violent brother. Both relationships are complex, compelling and troubling. It would have been easy for Westover to paint her father as a monster but, whilst she does not shrink from depicting him at his worst, what struck me most about the book was the palpable sense of love that she has for this man, no matter how completely she abhors his views or actions.

A lot of the press for this book focuses on two of the words I used in my first sentence above - "survivalist" and "Mormon". But this book isn't about either of those things; it's far more universal. For me this is a book about family, estrangement, growth and a woman trying to find the balance between understanding truth and wanting to believe in lies.

An incredible memoir of despair and triumph over adversity.
Told from her roots in a Mormon family where schizophrenia and bipolar personalities dominate young lives.
The escapism into books and educating herself - because her parents refused to allow her to go to school or home school her
And the ultimate triumph of not just her but some of her siblings but rising above and excelling.
A true example of what the human spirit can achieve.

This was quite an insightful novel of how religion can hold people back when not applied appropriately. A story of a Mormon family in rural Idaho. There are many children, the latter ones not even having their births registered, home schooling and home births. The father was untrusting of government and was stockpiling for the end of the world, making the kids pick and bottle fruit, they dug a huge underground storage tank for oil. The descriptions of the interactions between the various aged children, of how the father expected them to work for his scrap metal business, built up the reasoning for the daughter, Tara to eventually move away from home and seek formal education. Eventually after much internal heartache she broke away from her family as their muddled thinking and reasoning about life (exacerbated possibly by bi-polar behaviour in her father and one brother) became too traumatic. Some scenes were very upsetting and graphically described, all the family were in tune with the countryside they lived in, but an older brother and Tara sought out more, and excelled in their formal education through sheer determination and both were very intelligent.
This is not cheery novel, but rather one showing how hard work and application can reap great rewards despite coming from a family with many social/behavioural problems using their Mormon beliefs misguidedly. Ultimately ending in a splitting away from the family to preserve Tara's sanity and health.
I did enjoy this read!

I'd heard a lot about this book before reading it. It's about a young girl who grows up with a very strict Mormon upbringing. She lives on a farm with a large family, she doesn't go to school, she doesn't see a doctor or dentist; she doesn't even have a birth certificate. This book tells the story of her very interesting and very unusual life, and how she went from being that girl to writing this book.

I was amazed at many of the things that happened in this book, and I had to constantly remind myself that it was an autobiography; a true story. It was hard to believe. I am always keen to learn about different ways of life and different religions, but it was quite shocking to learn how some people can lived based on pure faith alone, even in a rich western culture like the US. It must have been difficult at times for the author to write about what had happened to her, and about members of her family. From the way she writes you would never believe that she had not been raised and educated in the same way as any other scholar. She is highly skilled and also very brave to tell this story to the world, and to do it so well by giving us her thoughts, feelings and recollections. She is somehow able to look back with dignity and a sense of fairness to those who affected her life so deeply.

I don't think it would be possible, or right, to say anything negative about this book. This is not a plot, and these are not characters. This is the author's life story and it is a shocking and truly amazing one. I would encourage everyone to read this book - it will open your eyes to many possibilities and proves to me once and for all that you have no idea what goes on in another person's life.

What an emotional roller coaster! Tara’s story covers a life full of love,loyalty and fear for her life and sanity; as a reader I felt with her for her every emotion and the ongoing struggles that she faced. From a hillbilly life in the mountains ruled by a tyrannical, violent despot of a father, shunned by her siblings and always going back for more of the home punishment. Her aim to go to BYU and to be in a flat with other girls would be hysterically funny if it was not true. I cannot praise this debut novel enough. I have always been told that we write best when it is a topic that we are personally involved in and this story shows that clearly. The characters, the scenery and the family emotions are all so well described that closing one’s eyes the reader is transported to the life with Tara. Highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in studying world religions as it is a great insight into life in one that is ruled by men who believe they are the only way that God speaks to the human race. Women are treated throughout as chattels and taught to obey at all times the church, their father or their male relatives.

This book is one of the most fascinating stories I've read in quite a while. The fact that it's autobiographical is shocking in many ways. I learnt so much about a different way of life, but also the things that are universal in a girl/woman's experience of the world. I was left feeling that I would truly love to meet this woman to shake her hand and give her a hug and say how much I admire her. Wonderful book.

Great book, great story. Found it easy to read, easy to follow the story and the characters.
I really engaged with the book, , all the more because it was a true story, a great look back at our own education and how things were took me back a bit. , Showed how deeply our families, our upbringing and our education impact on how we live out our lives we have had and have now...

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. An incredible story beautifully told. I’ll be pressing this into many people’s hands before the year is out.

I was sent a copy of Educated by Tara Westover to read and review by NetGalley.
This memoir is totally astonishing, I could not put it down. You are aware that people have very different lives to yourself, but this really is a whole world away from my own experience. The author has made the book feel somewhat like a novel but the incredible reality is that it is true. It is by turn inspiring, terrifying and that word again – astonishing. One woman’s life growing up in rural Idaho, yearning for more. Beautifully written, with some of the content not so easy to digest, but to me a very worthwhile read.

'Educated' is a strange little book. While reading, you spend much of your time wondering whether any of this could truly be real, and yet the writer speaks with such eloquence and wit that you're stuck between convinced and believing it all as a fairytale. Straddling every subject from education, to grief, to religion and the pursuit of knowledge. It's a book that advocates learning as much as it debates it. Honestly, I did enjoy this book, but perhaps not as much as I thought I was going to. Often times, things were a little dry and repetitive, and the parts that focused on the more interesting parts of her life were very quickly glossed over. Even though Westover mentions at the beginning of the book that it's not one about Mormonism, the religion plays such a heavy part in her life that it's impossible to avoid. I liked it okay, but I don't think it's quite for me. I can see the merits, and I'm sure many people would love it, but for me, it fell short a bit.

Difficult to read but no less compelling for it, the story of Tara's fundamental Mormon upbringing is as devastating as her ability to rise beyond it is astounding.
Fundamental religion fascinates me as I struggle to comprehend how people's faith can be so absolute, in spite of seemingly everything else that seems to pick holes in their beliefs. Even as a grown woman, Tara's struggle to reconcile what she is learning and indeed, who she is and her place within the world,with her indoctrination as a child, is heartbreaking but captivating.
This isn't necessarily a book to be enjoyed (there are quite vivid depictions of really appalling abuse and injury) but it is a book that will leave you overawed and with immense respect for the woman who faced these adversities and the ostracisation from her family, as she endeavoured to discover the woman she was more than capable of being. A truly stunning memoir.