This book was a fascinating look into a unique family dynamic. The author grew through the unfolding of the story which was an insightful progression. Even in later years as she fell back into old roles she owned as a child she was still able to acknowledge the slip. This story will make you reevaluate your own issues with your family and rewritten histories (it did for me!) and was overall a great story. I felt the ending was more about self-therapy and a plea to 'give her own side' to her family but I don't begrudge her that chance. Would have loved to have seen more about her thesis. While the story is mostly about relationships I did love to see her thoughts on education and what makes history a history and would have loved a bit more about her studies. Going to put this in my high school library as soon as it is released.

reviewed on Goodreads.

This author has accomplished more in the past 13 years than most could accomplish in multiple lifetimes. She pulled herself up and out of a fanatical survivalist family where she received no education for her first 16 years. At 16 she studied for the ACTs and was accepted and enrolled at BYU and eventually received her PhD in 2014 in Cambridge. Based on what she endured and overcame it is challenging for me to rank and review this book. Her spirt and achievements are a 100 (out of a 5 point scale)! The writing is good and mostly engaging but I did find it dragging during the middle third of the book. Her story was eye-opening to the horrors some children endure who are raised by severally mentally ill parents. Overall I encourage people to read this book. We owe it to these children to learn their trials and tribulations and to learn from their terror. We need to be aware so if we ever encounter it we can help. And, if you ever doubt you can accomplish something, read this book and think again - you can.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an early release of this book.

A good memoir is like good fiction: the reader enters into the life of the author, feeling the emotions and experiencing the events. Educated by Tara Westover joins the club of great memoirs like The Glass Castle and Liar’s Club with a story of a girl who is part of a highly dysfunctional family but pushes through her doubts, her love and her distrust of herself to become her own person. Westover supplies visceral descriptions of her feelings during events so that the reader enters completely into the moment. Her descriptions makes the reader love her mountain, hate the smells and chaos of her home, fear the dangers of the scrapheaps and yearn for the towers of Cambridge. That it was possible for her to overcome her mis-education to earn her PhD is awe inspiring. Recommended for all book discussion groups.

Alternately Reminiscent of Jeannette walls and David sedaris in equal doses, Tara westover slyly crafts the tale of her childhood. She describes a home with doomsday preppers and homeopaths that leads you down a rabbit hole to another reality. A true Cinderella story is revealed as westover takes us from Idaho to Cambridge to Rome and beyond. A veritable treat!

I requested this memoir at the recommendation of a very bookish friend. Unfortunately, this one did not work for me. While I appreciate everything Tara Westover experienced, I found I did not enjoy reading about her life and, ultimately, did not finish this one.

Love, love, love this memoir. An honest and page-turning account of what can happen when knowledge supersedes blind faith, including breaking abusive and manipulative family ties, standing up for the truth, and creating a fulfilling life outside the bonds of her nuclear family.

Wow. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. Reminiscent of the Glass Castle, this is a page turner. How the author survived her hell and came out alive is the true miracle. Definitely recommending this one!

This book.

This book put a lot in perspective for me. I was not educated at home, nor did I grow up in a religious background. I have judged those that come from a place that Westover did, not understanding how they grew up, and why they feel the way they do about things. How can they be so ignorant?

I know now. It's not ignorance. It's just not knowing. It's being uneducated in the ways of the world. In the ways things happened in history. It's trusting faith before everything, and using that faith to shape your world view.

I specifically quoted a passage while reading this book (paraphrased) that says "... the past shifted... the memory was immediately changed, blemished, turned to rot. The past became as ghastly as the present." That really struck me, because I, like Tara, have let my present color my past. An evil man was always evil, but that's not really true. It's how I feel now, knowing what I know now.


This book.
Has changed me.

Thank You, Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of this wonderful novel.
I cannot recommend this novel enough.

Absolutely stunning! Self-educated and reaching heights she'd never dreamed of, Tara Westover still has to come to grips with the baggage her past has left her with. From the mental illness of her father, the damaged older broter, to the strict Mormon upbringing, all left a mark on Tara that isn't easily erased. Without ever sounding self-pitying or maudlin, Tara chronicles her upbringing and her metamorphosis into adulthood. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and and Random House Publishing for an advanced company in exchange for this review.

I'm intrigued (and sometimes disturbed) by people who live off the grid. Educated is the story of Tara's life. She and her family live in the mountains of Idaho and are survivalists. Tara never saw a doctor, never set foot in a school, and was isolated from society. Her father did not trust the government and was convinced that everything mainstream was propaganda. As a teenager, she decides to go to school and ends up teaching herself so she can pass the ACT and attend BYU. I squirmed when she raised her hand in class and did not know what the Holocaust was. I was amazed at her dedication to school and her ability to teach herself when she lacked formal schooling as a child. I found myself rooting for her as she started to realize that maybe parts of childhood beliefs were not correct. Her strength in learning about new things and questioning her own knowledge in order to grow was powerful. It cost her family connections but she also gained so much. What an eye opening read. It signifies the importance of education.

Ms Westover describes in her book her early childhood on Buck Pearl Mountain. Her father suffering from bi polar and an indifferent mother. She could not attend school, because "that is where the government brainwashes people", she had no birth certificate until she was 14, and she took the ACT test to get into college by studying any chance that she got. Yet when she started to get accolades for her education, her father tried pulling her back into dysfunction. She resisted.
The authors description and life journey is one to be sipped slowly. Yet, I would gulp large portions of this book in one sitting. I found her story compelling, strange, and yet triumphant. I could relate to her story and her heartbreak of losing her family over her decision to better herself. Overall this is a great book and a story that needed to be told.