A powerful memoir from a powerful woman. I felt extremely sad reading about her toxic family and how she still couldn't release herself from it after all the horrible things she went through. We take education from granted and from our sheltered lives, privileged individuals that we are, we often forget how so many people struggle to even get a chance to get an education and a better life for themselves. I know there's some controversy about some of the facts described in her books and don't want to get into that as I believe her family might be lying in order to `save face". The truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

Taras story is so inspiring so moving teaching us about the strength nit takes to overcome.your childhood.A book that I hear mentioned all the time on people’s top ten lists .A story that’s perfect for bookclub classroom discussion.#netgalley#educated

A memoir that show how determination and perseverance can overcome obstacles. Outstanding book written from the heart and overflowing with hope.
Excellent

I’m having trouble writing a review for this book as it is a real story and is based on Tara’s real life. So I will say, I have a lot of respect for Tara and how she endured her treacherous childhood and also how she took her life down a different path and thrived in her adulthood. When I read this book synopsis it sounded like such an incredible story, and I still believe that it is, however, I did not enjoy reading this book. I found it really hard to focus on, was never fully invested and tbh I was waiting for it to end. I know this is an unpopular opinion and I really really wanted to enjoy this book, but unfortunately it felt like a chore to read. Oh well, on to the next one!

Educated is a memoir by Tara Westover on her childhood life with her Mormon family in Idaho and her journey as she breaks free to pursue an education, and eventually earn her PhD.

I usually have a hard time reviewing memoirs, because I find that the stories are so personal to the author. However, Tara Westover's Educated is a really engaging story that I had a hard time putting down, and for this reason alone, I would recommend it to potential readers. Tara's childhood life is difficult. She grows up in a family that doesn't trust authorities, and are so wary of anything legal that she never finishes grade school, never goes to a doctor, and only acquires a birth certificate years after she's born. It's an extreme situation that often includes abuse and complicated family relationships, however, it is really enlightening on what can happen when you're so far removed from society.

What works for this book is the investment in seeing how Tara made her way out of her situation, and the strange fascination with a world that's so different from anything I have ever seen or known. I’m also so amazed that the author was able to go to university and graduate with a PhD at Harvard given her life circumstances. It’s quite amazing.

I always struggle giving reviews/ratings for memoirs. I honestly had no idea what to expect from this book and even really what It was about! I could not believe I was actually reading a true story! It was truly inspiring the whole time I just wanted to hug Tara and tell her she is a warrior!!! loved It!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

Quite possibly one the best books I've read recently. What an eye opening, mind blowing account of coming of age in a Mormon environment. The danger, the prejudice, the education and the journey that Westover experiences and goes on is not only gripping but challenging in all the right ways.

This story isn't from a time gone by, this is recent history and it opens your eyes to how your childhood can shape you yet not hold you down forever. This book is about family and all its complexities. Whilst not favourable to her immediate family, Westover isn't lazy and doesn't condemn her parents straight off, she explains why they believe what they do and dives deep into how fragile the relationships within families can be manipulated and betrayed. This isn't a hate letter to her parents but a way for her to process the beliefs she was fed and her awakening to other perspectives. She invites you into her story, lets you live in the environment and follow her journey. The most important take out from this book for me, is the power of education. I truly believe it is our one inexhaustible tool to a better world.

This is a book that opens your eyes and heart. It challenges you in realising that everyone's story is different and we must be more empathetic and willing to learn from each other.

A very Compelling, inspiring but heartbreaking memoir.

It’s easy to read as a fiction book and to forget that this is in fact a nonfiction account of the author’s life growing up in a survivalist, eccentric mormon family in Idaho.

From an abusive and stifling life in her father’s shadow to becoming self-reliant and independent, this story is Tara’s journey, often treacherous and precarious but one that lead her to discover her own self.

From being a barely schooled child spending days scavenging in her father’s junkyard to becoming a student in Cambridge and Harvard, this is an incredible story of a real-life success and metamorphosis.

Though the book is difficult to read and believe at times it is a very intriguing story nevertheless.

Highly recommend reading.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

One of the best memoirs I have ever read! The events that occurred throughout Tara Westover’s childhood are completely shocking yet the overall message conveyed by her story is incredibly moving and profound. She has a beautiful command of language, which allows the reader to feel like they’re truly walking in the her shoes and experiencing her pain and growth. Her story also provides insight into the role of family dynamics and the effects of religious fanaticism. It enhances understanding of how and why people stick by their loved ones even when they bring about an immense amount of suffering. Despite the truly horrific events that take place within her story, Tara Westover has managed to craft a deeply moving and inspirational memoir that is sure to be a classic.

I'll admit it. Homeless-to-Harvard stories aren't my schtick. There's too much cinematic drama, expected slip-ups that ultimately make for an eye-roll and less-than-engaging story, no matter how truly extraordinary and true it is.

Enter: Educated. What a force, this book. Westover's frank recollection makes a reader feel he or she is in the room - you feel her pull to something outside the world she knows, you see the impossibility that surrounds her every basic desire.

Queen of the Spoiler Alert, I, of course, knew Tara Westover was going to be just fine. Better than fine, in fact. Which is what separates Westover's skill as an author and storyteller that much more stirring. Educated has become one of those required-reading recommendations for me.

This book is really good! I had thought about reading it for a long time
and just never had. It's crazy what people go through because of the
family and their beliefs. Especially children. This was hard to read
what Tara had gone through so very young. It was written very well. I am
so glad I decided to read it, it is a 5-star book!

Thank you so much, Tara Westover, the publisher, and NetGalley for the
chance to read and review this great book.

This book gave me all of the feels. I honestly think I experienced every emotion possible while reading this book. I laughed when I read stories of Tara doing goofy things as a child of the mountain, cried when I read of the abuse she endured, got angry every time I read what her parents would (or should I say wouldn't) do when she looked for help, I felt everything through her experience and then some. I've read my fair share of books about fundamentalists and doomsday preppers but to read from the point of view of Tara was something else. She truly stuggled with escaping her family because she loved them wholeheartedly, regardless of what they said or did to her because that's all she knew for so long. This book reminds you that brainwashing is real and comes in many forms. It also reminds you that you can do anything that you want, regardless of your situation, if you focus on it and want it hard enough. Nothing came easy for Tara and her siblings, but the ones who truly and deeply wanted to get an education did. This book is definitely not an easy read, but I found myself wanting to not put it down.

Amazing. Fascinating life story told well. I would warn any reader that this is not at all a typical story of homeschooling. But it is, unfortunately, one that happens all too often. The author shows a lot of determination in breaking away to pursue her own dreams and also shows how complicated familial bonds can be.

So excited to FINALLY read this beauty! Will post a full review as soon as I’m finished! As an educator, I cannot wait to finally delve into this work! I have heard many coworkers discussing this book!

<i>Educated</i> is the memoir of Tara Westover, a woman who grew up in a very conservative Mormon family and never went to school until she was 17.

The memoir has won a lot of prices, thus, when I saw it was a Read Now on NetGalley, I could not withstand the temptation to pick the book up. Do I regret it? No. Would I reread this book anytime soon? Also no. But I do think this book was so interesting since Westover lived a vastly different life compared to myself. It makes me appreciate the privileges I have like my education and how normal it was for me to pursue a university career (even if I don't know what to do with it now. That might even underscore it).

<spoiler> I found that Tara was so brave to pursue her education up till the point she even got her PhD in History in 2014. She endured abuse and lost contact with most of her family which you would not wish upon anyone. </spoiler> I read in someone's review that everyone with higher education should read this book. I do not fully agree with it but I understand their point because the book shows that higher education is not universal right (yet, hopefully). If you are interested in Westover's story, be sure to pick it up. She has quite the story to tell.

TW: abuse

This book is really something else.

For the past three days I’ve been trying to make some sense of this reading and I’m not sure I finished absorbing it all. Let’s start with the basics: Tara’s writing is clean, no-nonsense and direct. I quite enjoyed it and I agree with all the teachers that affirmed that she has a knack for it.

I tried not reading a thing about this book before reading it so, when I finally started it, I didn’t really know a thing about it aside from the fact that it was a popular memoir. The book’s mounting success was what made me curious to read it, I have to confess. I enjoyed very much reading this book – I’ve never read anything similar in my life and, therefore, I was completely surprised by it. But it also isn’t an easy book to read: in fact, it’s a hard book to read.

There’s abuse, complex familial relationships and general hardship that should not be taken lightly. My emotional experience with those parts of the reading were really hard – I was many times taken by anger, sadness, incredulity and, most of all, frustration. Frustration because I was only a bystander, reading about all this past emotional and physical abuse without being able to make a difference, to stop it all. The anger, similar to the frustration, was also a constant throughout this reading: sometimes I could hardly believe the events the author was describing couldn’t possibly be real, couldn’t have possibly have happen because how would someone not stop this!

Then, all the complex familial relationships…I don’t even know where to start. We all know how complex family can be. After all, you don’t choose your family, you’re born with it. Strange enough, family can be the biggest of prisons exactly because you didn’t choose it but you still have to live with it (at least until you can set yourself free) and instead of being your biggest support, it can be the force that’s constantly dragging you down. The Westovers are as complex as they come and even though it might be tempting to judge their choices I won’t do it because this is a real family and real human beings. You’ll definitely have to read the book to form your own opinion. Having finished it, I can only say that extremist is never healthy and never, ever results in good things. This book is the perfect example of that.

Reading this book humbled me real fast: comparing my experience with education with the one Tara had, there’s no way I wouldn’t feel humble. I think of how there’s wasn’t ever a doubt in my parents’ mind that I would go to school and have the best education they could afford. My mom always says that both her and my dad worked long hours so that me and my brother could have what they didn’t have in their own lives – the chance of going to college, getting an education to be able to hold better jobs and have a better life. How many millions of people are denied education everyday? Not only because of their parents’ convictions and beliefs but also because they aren’t able to afford it. This book is really thought-provoking in that sense – I know I am extremely lucky to have had the possibility to receive and education. Why? Because it has given me the tools to become a more open and flexible thinker, a more considerate and less judgmental person.

There’s one thing Tara Westover said at Aspen Ideas Festival that really resonated with me about what it means to be an educated person:

An educated person is not someone that can recite an army of facts and knows a lot of things, but rather it is someone that has flexibility of mind. Someone that is willing to examine her own prejudice and has acquired a depth of understanding that allows her to see the world through another point of view.

Tara Westover at Aspen Ideas Festival
All in all, this book deeply impacted me in various ways and it is a book that will stay with me for a very long time. I’ve really enjoyed reading it.

Many thanks to netgalley and Random House for providing this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Tara's riveting memoir about growing up in a secluded, 'prepper' type family, where drama and danger lurked around every turn of the page, had me awestruck. You always hear of these stories, but never get that first-hand account of how one can survive it. Her stories of family, loyalty, and distrust of the establishment opened my eyes to this world and how grateful I should be for being raised and educated away from fear and danger. She delves into what might be her father's and family's greatest problem (mental health issues) and does not shy away from any of the ugly truths. All in all, a good read.

Firstly, this book made me grateful for my privileged life and normal family. Even though we have mental illness in our family, no one is violent or abusive, and for that I am so grateful. Listening to Tara's story is heartbreaking and fascinating. I love her constant regard for the fallibility of memory, and the role of historians. She's a historian by her education, and she's the historian of her life, for better or worse. Some events didn't make sense to me, like getting a scholarship at BYU based on mere grades. That was not my experience. I did get scholarships, and I did have good grades, but I always thought it was more than that, and I definitely had to fill out laborious applications. As a fully engaged member in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I was saddened that she was taught such a perverted form of the gospel. Nothing her dad taught her is in line with the Church's teachings. I wish that she had been able to truly access the power of the atonement of Christ to heal and feel our Heavenly Father's unconditional love.
This memoir is important because it opens the reader's eyes to other people's experiences. We read about "crazy survivalists" and about abuse and paranoia, but to immerse ourselves in another person's life is a much more effective way to feel empathy. Definitely looking forward to discussing this at book club.

This was a riveting memoir that truly read like a work of fiction. The upbringing of the author, her struggles with her family, and her unlikely success at higher learning is truly unbelievable. Which makes the story just that more powerful. I’m a late reader of this work and so I have heard of the controversy surrounding the author’s version of events versus her family’s and like most things the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Regardless this story is so compelling you will be gripped from the first chapter.

Such a powerful, engaging and gripping memoir. A remarkable book that I found difficult to put down.
*******
Tara Westover grew up in a family preparing for End of Days, she hadn’t been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she’d never set foot in a classroom, and no medical records because her father didn’t believe in hospitals.

As she grew older, her father became more radical and her brother more violent. At sixteen, Tara knew she had to leave home. In doing so she discovered both the transformative power of education, and the price she had to pay for it.

#educated #netgalley