For someone who doesn't typically read non fiction books this was a fascinating look into what it would have been like to grow up within a cult and how those experiences can shape your life and your world views. At times it was difficult to read but at the same time impossible to put down. I can not recommend this book highly enough.

I had been putting off reading this book for a while because I'd heard there was some disturbing violence in it. I'm glad I finally picked it up.
This book was a page turner! I read it in one sitting, not because I wanted to know what happened, but because I couldn't believe what I was reading. This is a memoir about a girl who experienced trauma and neglect growing up in a family affected by mental illness, and how it shaped who she is. It is the perfect example of how people who are isolated can become brainwashed. It is also an incredible story of overcoming odds.
Tara Westover is great at writing a suspenseful story. Some people say that not everything in the book is accurate. I don't really care. Every time I turned the page, I read another scene that made me shout, "What?!" I literally could not put this one down.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance reader's copy of this book.

Eye opening read of one woman's struggle to reconcile her upbringing in a strict Mormon household with the realities of the world.

I read The Glass House before reading this, very similar in story lines but this is a true retelling of the authors life. Her family's way of life put Tara against the grain of what a standard education means. Her and her siblings lived through trial after trial, while some of them tried to make the most of it, others succumbed to their parents beliefs. Interesting read on how nature and nurture can be the base of your path in life, but you can always find a way to change your road.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but getting through this book was tough. Tara Westover's book details her childhood growing up as a part of a survivalist family who shirked any government or medical assistance. This book was violent, and there were a few times where I had to put it down due to her vivid descriptions. Reading about her journey to mentally overcome her childhood was at times frustrating, but it was very easy to understand and empathize why she reacted in the way she did. Tara made her world, one that seems so unimaginable to many, within reach. This book will stick with you and make you think. Absolutely would recommend.

4.5 stars...rounded up!

"The decisions I made after that moment were not the ones she would have made. They were the choices of a changed person, a new self. You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal. I call it an education."

Tara was never sent to school as a young child, in fact she went to school for the first time when she was 17. She grew up in Idaho and her parents were survivalists. Her Dad was convinced the government was out for them and her mom didn't believe in doctors or western medicine. Tara and her siblings lacked traditional education and learned to work in the (dangerous) family business. They relied heavily on their Mormon faith and left most of their fate up to God. Tara and her siblings experience abuse, dangerous working conditions, near death experiences and so much more. Until one day Tara wants to follow in the footsteps of her brother, Tyler, and go get an Education. From there, Tara learns about a whole different world she knew nothing about.

I think it's hard to rate a memoir since it's someone's life story. How can you really rate them on it? You can't but what I did rate this on was the way Tara Westover wrote her story while holding absolutely nothing back. She gave us the good, bad and the (real) ugly. I cringed at times and I wanted to scream "WHY" at other times. I wanted to hug Tara and her siblings (except Shawn) and tell them there's something better. The journey and evolution of Tara and her life was truly incredible and I'm so happy she found her way. But no doubt that it was a very tough and dangerous road to get there.

I hope everyone reads this book and see's it for what it is. It's a story of someone so sheltered and taught to think one way that it almost seems impossible to break out of the bubble. I think it's important to realize that even though it may not be a straight line to a new outlook that it can happen and it can be rewarding.

I read Tara Westover’s memoir from cover to cover without pause. I was completely immersed in her story, living through every scene and emotion. I was not content even after I had turned over the last page – I watched her interviews on Ellen Degeneres, Oprah, Amanpour. I read through articles about the Westovers and became familiar with the debate surrounding the revelations about her family in the book. I was blown away with the extraordinary story of this exceptional young woman.
Tara Westover was born into a Mormon family in Idaho, USA. She grew up in an isolated home in the mountains without any access to formal education. Her father had strong fundamentalist and survivalist ideologies and had no trust in the federal government, the education system or doctors or hospitals. Her mother was a herbalist and midwife, and was always subservient to her husband’s decisions and ideologies even when they reflected his clearly paranoid tendencies. Tara was the youngest of seven siblings and just like her brothers and sister before her, she was expected to work in the junkyard with her father and help her mother with the chores and her herbal tinctures. As a girl, she was raised to have faith in the Lord, prepare for the Days of the Abomination and stay away from any immoral activities like reading non-religious texts, wearing immodest clothes, or talking to boys.
Neglected and unprotected from the many apparent dangers in her father’s junkyard, she had suffered from many accidents as a child. She had seen her brothers getting grievously injured with burns, cuts, dangerous falls and road mishaps. Her parents never sought help from medical establishments for any of these emergencies, choosing instead to treat them at home with herbalist remedies. I was so fearful with every new chapter, hoping that the girl stays safe and stays alive – we know she is alive and well of course, but the fear was there just the same.
When Tara fights against all odds to get herself to college, the shock of the real world is almost too much for her to bear. It is fascinating to see how she survives in this new world of intellectual elites, in spite of not knowing whether she would be able to pay her tuitions or share of the rent every month.
This story is as much about parenting and family values as it is about a girl’s inspiring journey out of her grim circumstances. Tara has articulated the episodes, even the ones with the most appalling cruelty in a neutral voice. Describing merely the events as they transpire and not sharing her own interpretations of them. This approach created a deeper effect of the narrative on me as a reader. Tara’s writing is captivating and restrained, and devoid of affectations or gimmicks.
I came across this video where the interviewer commented that this story was both very specific as well as universal. This statement captures the essence of the story with such finesse. While her upbringing was so unique, the story is also a wake up call to all of us to think about parenting, patriarchy, and family values. Parents, even the most well intentioned ones are conditioning their children to see the world and to see themselves in a certain way. We seldom think about how deep and enduring this conditioning is and the devastating long term effects of it on a young person.
Tara’s story is one of parental neglect, emotional abuse, violence and trauma. Even so, she also shares the happy memories of her life in the mountains, her father’s interest in her singing talent, her mother’s success as a herbalist and the times spent with her brothers.
I was undeniably emotionally invested in the story. There are many points in the story when I was dismayed with Tara’s decisions to keep going back to her family. There are edge of the seat moments when I felt that she was putting herself in harms way and there was no saying what would happen.
Equally upsetting was the description of her own guilt and her refusal to leave the prison of the false ideals in her mind. So even while she had managed to get herself to the college campus physically, the trauma, toxicity and crushing guilt would follow her for years to come.
What we see in Tara’s story is the systematic and intentional subjection of a young person’s entire existence. It is a miracle this girl survived what she did. I know that many children in my country and in places around the world do not even have the meagre options that Tara did. We see the wraith like figures of street children weaving between the vehicles near the traffic lights, or the underage boys moving with practiced urgency cleaning tables at roadside tea stalls; perhaps pushed into these circumstances by their desperately poor parents, who have never known any other life themselves. Most of these children would not even get to see the inside of a dilapidated government school- and a college education would be nothing less than a moon shot. There is so much pain and misery in this world, that when someone is able to rise above that, it is important we celebrate that story.

One of the most stunning books I have come across this entire year! You have to read it! It's so well written. it's astonishing and amazing and sad and everything at once. I've never known a book is so well written that you feel scared and happy and a though you're right there. Pick it up!

This book came highly recommended by a lot of people. I tried not to have expectations, but I had high ones. It didn't disappoint. With incredible writing, this memoir is heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. Learning about Tara Westover's childhood and life and everything she's overcome and accomplished was incredible. Memoir's are pretty hard to review and comment on, as it's hard to judge and rate someone's life story, but this is an easy review as this memoir was so well written.

Powerful. This is one of those books that's really hard to write a review about, because it was all just so incredibly powerful. I was shocked at how Tara's parents act so many times - her father is reckless with life and her mother is complacent. The whole thing just awed me. I couldn't believe she overcame THAT crazy of a background to become who she is today. Blew my mind.

Tara was raised in Idaho by 'freedom fighters' who thought the Feds would pull kids away from God while they were in public school, so she never attended k-12. Her brother left home to attend college and convinced her to study for the ACT and attend college as well. Tara shares stories of her childhood - time spent in the junkyard, roaming the mountain, and making oils with her mom.

I really enjoyed the book. It's an easy read and I wanted to keep reading no matter what I was feeling. There are stories of physical and emotional abuse that made me angry, but I wanted to keep reading to find out how she handled it. There are stories of teaching herself algebra and trigonometry and how determined she was to pass the ACT. Some of my favorite stories, that gave me ridiculous amounts of anxiety, were how unsafe they were - from leaving vacation late at night with a 12 hour car ride ahead of them, to basically using forklifts as elevators. The dad took a lot of unnecessary safety shortcuts to save on time so they could earn more money and almost all of them ended in injury.

I grew up with a mother in the medical field so reading about their cures, especially when Tara is grown and living at college, also gave me anxiety. Tara explains how she doesn't want to go to the doctor because she's been conditioned throughout her entire life that they are bad and will poison you, but that any of the tinctures her mother gave her for pain never worked.

This book is very eye opening and it will stay with you for quite some time after reading it. It's hard to believe these kinds of things are still happening in this country and it definitely make you really get to know people and not judge them because you really don't know what people have gone through or going through. Tara shows a lot of perseverance and bravery. She has come a long way and she grew into a very strong and undefended woman despite her childhood. It just goes to show it doesn't matter where you come from, you can lean, grow and make the future better. I highly recommend this book and I suggest not reading the synopsis before reading this book.

Thanks to neutrally for the advanced copy of this book and the opportunity to provide my honest review.

As always, a copy of this book was provided by the author or publisher in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.

Educated has been on my TBR for what feels like ages. Okay, fine. Realistically it has on been on my TBR since 2018. But, to be fair, a lot has happened since 2018. And, honestly, it feels like 2020 has been at least fifteen years crammed into six months. Fortunately* for me, quarantine left me with A LOT of free time on my hands, and Educated was one of the first longtime TBR featured reads I completed.

*There is nothing fortunate about a global pandemic.

Reviewing a non-fiction book is always difficult. No, that doesn't really cover it. Let's try: reviewing a non-fiction book that is as potent and thought-provoking and wildly wonderful as Educated is pretty much impossible. Especially when you consider how much good other reviewers have already stated. Because, let's face it, everything you need to know about Educated can be summed up in very few words: this is must-read material.

Tara Westover compelled me within seconds of picking up Educated. Her writing is stunning. There were times when I wanted to look away, because she can easily take a reader's breath away with so few lines. Not only is her prose beautiful, intelligent, and wholly captivating, her story is. To make a memoir successful, for me, is to accomplish one thing: write your life so intimately, it feels like I've taken you for drinks and had an in-depth, stay-up-until-six-am, conversation with you.

Which is, frankly, one of the only things that I can say about Educated. It's true that Westover has left her mark on the literary world with her impactful, thought-provoking, real-life story. This is an experience reader's will never forget. No matter your age, no matter your interest in non-fiction, Educated is a must-read.

Having read „Educated“ I am no longer surprised how a book about a young lady in the US getting an education could become such a bestseller.
Tara Westovers life story is enthralling, educative and shocking. Especially as a non-US reader there were incidences I would have dismissed as exaggerated and baldy fabricated in a fiction novel. Knowing the book is a memoir makes it even more touching and important.
Highly recommend.

This memoir was an easy read, interesting & informative story. Kept my interest throughout. Shows family dynamics in current times

This story, this harrowing yet powerful story, only supports how I feel about the necessity for accessible formal education, as well as the importance to have a desire to educate oneself. Tara's experiences only prove the immense power of education - how education allows us to be able to consciously examine the world and judge/act accordingly, how striving to learn opens doors to possibilities we can scarcely imagine, and how educating ourselves ultimately gives us the strength of having our own voice.

And so, I have no reservations in saying that I am of the strong opinion that this raw and contemplative story is one every person should read.

**Note: I have been told that I can be a negative Nancy from time to time. Whilst reading this, there were several aspects of Tara's story that didn't quite add up to me. I believe every reader should have a healthy ounce of skepticism within them, and mine was causing little red flags to pop up here and there. I appreciate the author's candidness about the unreliability of childhood memories and although I took the extreme nature of the book's content with a grain of salt, it did not detract from the overall message of this book - the importance of education - and so I rated based on that.

This book will stay with me for a long time. It tells the story of Tara who grew up in a devout Mormon family in Idaho where she didn’t attend school, and what happens over the years to lead to her earning her doctorate from Cambridge. At times the book is very distressing, even more so when you remember this isn’t fiction, this was Tara’s actual life. A truly fascinating read and what a brave lady to tell her story.

Really liked this raw, honest account of growing up in a less than traditional home. I experienced emotions all over the spectrum while reading this title--anger, fear, sadness, empathy, happiness.... So many feelings--definitely contributes my final verdict on the work.

This one was super fascinating but not my favorite. I live in Idaho so it's always so interesting to me read about others experiences while living in Idaho & this one was no different!

It felt very slow in a lot of parts and also kinda preachy, but overall I really liked it!

Educated is the memoir of Tara Westover, a woman raised in rural Idaho whose family experienced many struggles with poverty, mental illness, and abuse. This is the story of a woman who overcame a cycle of abuse and fought for her right to an education. Educated is one of the most eye-opening things I’ve read and is truly unlike anything that I’ve read before. Often heartbreaking, this memoir is filled with vivid anecdotes, crisp writing, and will make you feel as if you’re standing next to Tara as she re-examines her childhood and educational journey. It’s important to know that this is a heavy book to read in many ways- the depictions of abuse (and failure of anyone to intervene) will be frustrating and disturbing to read about. But it is worth it. I highly recommend this memoir to everyone. It will make you think deeply about your own life, what education means, and will generate reflection and discussion. This won’t be a memoir that I forget.