One of my top reads of the year, this one is impossible to put down. Tara Westover does an amazing job of describing her difficult childhood and the struggles she faced in getting an education. It's amazing how determined she was to succeed despite the limitations she was raised with. The writing is impeccable and the story flows smoothly from beginning to end. A must have for my library collection.

I think I'm one of the only people who couldn't get into this title, and I tried a few different times. It just wasn't for me!

Wow, what a book! Reminds me a little of my own childhood, only I actually had the privilege of attending school. Compelling, gripping, and powerful. This is something everyone should read, if only to see what does go on in our country to some individuals.

Education has the power to change and challenge human identity. Opens up the mind, put into questions family realities and truth, and invites you to think. Think freely.

Tara Westover entered a classroom for the first time in her life at 17 and since then she went to Harvard and got a PhD at Cambridge. She grew up in a complicated family, that refused to use the doctor's services and harbored a very extreme conspirationist view of the world. (However they used email). She did not have a birth certificate until 9 and had a very limited knowledge about the outside world. She thaught herself algebra and successfully passed the exams necessary to enroll to college and despite the self-doubts and family pressure, she did not give up learning and getting herself an education.

'Everything I had worked for, all my years of study had been to purchase for myself this one privilege: to see and experience more truth that those given to me by my father, and to use those truths to construct my own mind'. And what a long way she went, as education means more than going through a comprehensive bibliography, but reclaiming her own story, her own identity and system of thoughts which meant also conquering her fears and coping with the extremely aggressive behavior of one of her brothers. The world of her family, which was an extreme interpretation of Mormonism, was dictated by the moods and erratic behavior of her father, and the individually strong yet prone to denial mother, a self-made herbalist and midwife with a booming business in their hometown Idaho.

Building the reality she was deprived of, trying to cope with the permanent denial of the agressive behavior of her brother, 'Shawn' - a given name in the book -, the activation of family loyalties to reject the accusation of denial, the pressure Tara had to deal with were terrific and she almost collapsed under the psychological pressure. 'When life itself seems lunatic, who knows were madness lies?' An old world is broken into small little pieces and she shall start creating her new reality in order to cope with a world she doesn't know. This is the strength of education, to get you a freedom, but only after you were strong enough to break with the un-educated world.

At the beginning, I've found the first part of the book, relating Tara's life and childhood a bit too descriptive and way to fluffy, but actually it made sense in correlation with the second part, but at the end of the story the details make sense as they clarify at a great extent the 'educated' story covering her struggle to create her own narrative. What for me it was fascinated, was how those people survived in their world always ready for the end of times, suffering of burns and serious car accidents and never going to the doctor for a proper treatment, yet being able to survive.

Educated, by Tara Westover is a wise book about the devastating power of knowledge and its strength that it gives to courageous people. There is no other way back.

I am a member of the ALA Carnegie Medal Committee. This title made the 2019 Longlist but it did not make the Shortlist. See the complete Shortlist <a href="http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carnegieadult/short-lists"> here.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's always hard to judge someone's personal experience when rating a book so I can say that generally this was an interesting story. Her years growing up in her family certainly give good fodder for a story, albeit sometimes difficult to read. I think for me though, overall, I wasn't too enamoured by her focus on the more negative aspect of her mother's healing and the author's own seemingly limited stance on someone's ability to bloom at any age. I'll briefly address both of my reactions to these comments.

Natural healing. Her mother's reliance on God as the all-powerful healer and herbs as compliments to that are hard for me to swallow but that is her (mom's) personal view and not mine to argue. What I have a problem with is the author more or less giving us the impression that natural healing is based on her mother's experience. The author makes it sound kooky and woo woo when in fact, natural healing has many benefits and when used properly can be most effective. She often states that they used homeopathics and as a person who does practice homeopathy, I saw no real evidence of that in her stories. Bach Flowers perhaps and I know they used Rescue Remedy but nothing quite like traditional homeopathic remedies that I could tell. What bothers me most about this is not her view on natural healing, that is her's to have, but my concern as to the generalizations being made about natural healing and it's effectiveness when used responsibly.

Education. True, she had very little (if any) 'formal' schooling but what got me most was the surprise at how well she could do once she was in a situation to experience learning. As a homeschool parent, it was no surprise whatsoever that she was "able" to learn so well and so rapidly. Learning occurs at any age! There are no set boundaries as to when, how and what a person can learn. I understand she may have been surprised but the message is what gets me. Learning occurs at any age, no matter what your early circumstances. I consider myself a life long learner and I have never had a problem learning anything that I set my mind to learning. Once motivation strikes anyone can learn which was clearly evidenced by her desire to learn and the success that followed. That being said, yes her early educational circumstances were limited based on society's norm but as is shown again and again, she was able to learn anything she set her mind to once she had the motivation (and in this case, the opportunity). That is the true definition of education, at least in my experience.

So, despite these couple of sticking points which irritated me sufficiently, I think the writing overall was quite good and the story mostly engaging. Her repeatedly putting herself in certain situations was a bit difficult to read...over and over again.

There are some terrific books out there for people who prefer true stories. Tara Westover’s “Educated” shares her story of growing up in a poor Utah family of seven children who did not attend school, but rather worked with their father scrapping metals, a dangerous thing for young children to do. How Tara and some of her siblings ended up going to college and getting Ph.D.’s is astounding, and a tribute to the human spirit. I could not put this one down.

This was impossible to put down! I usually save my audio books for my car trips, but I found myself listening to this one at home. A story about Tara and her childhood growing up in a Mormon family. Her father was a survivalist and thought the world might end at any moment!

Their family home was situated in the shadow of Buck Peak mountain and they lived in poverty. Tara and her six siblings endured much pain under the volatile father and one brother who proved to be quite dangerous. The mother seemed to be in denial and turned the other cheek time and again.

Tara never attended school until the age of 17. She endured so much pain growing up with such a demanding and out of touch father. I was shocked at some of the life threatening situations she endured by having to work in her fathers metal scrapping business. The accidents were horrific.

Lots of reviews on this one, I thought it was both shocking and uplifting to read how Tara was able to pull herself out of the family chaos and become a successful woman.

Thanks to NG for my arc. I was able to read along with the audio.

When I reached the end of this book, I snapped as if I were at a poetry slam.

Tara Westover is brilliant. This book is a must-read.

Tara Westover's account of growing up in rural Idaho with a mentally ill father and subservient mother is a harrowing account of survival and how education gave her a door out of the mess. If you have read :The Glass Castle, this book follows a similar format by detailing the daily life of children raised by parents with extreme political views and left to run wild. Westover's account adds a even larger layer of abuse including, child labor under life threatening conditions, physical abuse by siblings, emotional control, lack of any schooling and a Mormon religious component that empowers her parents to absolute domination of the children. She was able to escape through her own grit and determination however, even as a professional adult with a PhD, it is incredibly difficult for her to completely cut-off ties to her family and she remains ambivalent about her ability to "save" them. There is no question that Tara survived her circumstances relatively intact, but the emotional and physical scars remain.

Tara Westover's memoir about growing up in an extremely conservative, fundamentalist home is both heartbreaking and awe-inspiring. Her father (and probably one of her brothers, although that's not ever said outright) is mentally ill, living in a closed society (their family) that enables him and his abuse. And while Westover never glosses over that aspect, she also writes very frankly about her struggle to reconcile the father that abuses her with the one that she loves and who loves her in return. The same for her brother. It was fascinating to read about her journey through the world of academia after having no formal schooling until college, and how she struggled to come to terms with her changing worldview. This is a wonderful memoir that gave me a glimpse into a world I could have never imagined, and I am so inspired by Westover.

Thank you to NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

This is such an interesting book, the story is so, so compelling. I cringed my way through lots of parts of it, but not in a bad way, rather - it was so emotional and so vivid, it was so easy to put yourself on the shoe of Tara. This read is full of heartbreak, and I was quite tense reading it at times. There is violence, lots of sexism, so approach the book carefully. But it's so powerful and addictive a read.

There's been a lot of hype surrounding this memoir and I was skeptical if it would live up to it. Astoundingly enough this true story is absolutely as engaging, surprising, insightful, endearing, and difficult as it promised to be.

Fans of The Glass Castle will see many parallels in Westover's memoir. Westover's complicated and compelling cast of characters hooked me from the start Fantastic read.

Westover' s story on the surface is about her trajectory from no schooling to a PhD. But is so much more. Religion, government, relationships, the outside world, contribute to her identity and she grapples with this. Her mountain upbringing which is full of work that is not safe to emotional and physical abuse from an older brother that pits family member against one another is just part of this identity. Finding the balance and her true self evolves from such turmoil.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

Tara Westover’s Educated can be described as conflicted, intense and powerfully inspiring. Having a childhood that is comparable to that of a feral animal, it’s amazing that she was mentally strong enough to escape the mountain and give herself a better life. She traded her family for a chance at an education which she struggled with until the bitter end. Tara never experienced unconditional love or support even from her mother. Her father maintained a level of fear as a way to control all of them. This memoir is a powerful story of resilience and the human spirit. Worth every ounce of the buzz in the media. I want to thank #netgalley, the author and the publisher for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I appreciate Tara sharing her devastating story, but the choppy narrative of the text killed this for me. I could feel the pain in her writing, but couldn’t understand the level of mental and physical abuse.

I am writing this and I am so grateful for being allowed to read this first-rate complex storyline(s) due to NetGalley membership. To me, I cannot say that I really liked it because of the horrible abusive and violent lines in the story. This book certainly is a lot of more than, just education, child preference and partial and self-oriented parents. I am so grateful for being allowed to read it and I simply think it is a must read because it is inspiring and so much more than ‘this book is amazing’. I really think that Educated by Tara Westover fully deserves the best renowned literature prize win for revealing a wholy new perspective to the world.

This memoir deserves every bit of the hype that's been swirling around it. Once I began it, I could not put it down. The author writes with such a tone of straight forward, self-aware, non-pitying story telling. This book is heartbreaking and gut-wrenching and fascinating and thought-provoking and unbelievable and infuriating yet somehow relatable. I just can't recommend it enough, it is easily one of the best books I have ever read.

As a teacher, I cannot praise Educated enough - it is a powerful story of a young girl overcoming a challenging family situation in order to prove to herself that education is the path that will both change her life and force her to be independent. Growing up in a close-knit family in Utah, Tara sees her father's skepticism with regards to all things government. Schools, hospitals, the IRS, etc. - all serve as forces of enmity for her father. Tara doesn't have official documents to prove who she is and she has never been in school, yet in her childhood, she realizes that formal schooling is alluring enough to draw her much-admired brother away from the family unit to the world beyond.
Tara proves her strength and stamina as she begins to pursue an education both in the classroom and the great big world.