#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University “Extraordinary . . . an act of courage and self-invention.”—The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW … Times
NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award • Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
“Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover’s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?”—Vogue
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • O: The Oprah Magazine • Time • NPR • Good Morning America • San Francisco Chronicle • The Guardian • The Economist • Financial Times • Newsday • New York Post • theSkimm • Refinery29 • Bloomberg • Self • Real Simple • Town & Country • Bustle • Paste • Publishers Weekly • Library Journal • LibraryReads • Book Riot • Pamela Paul, KQED • New York Public Library
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It takes you out of your view of “normal” and makes you question family bonds, routines, and what lies deep within the heart.
A remarkable and life-affirming account of an escape from a world we can hardly recognize today, but that continues to exist.
Well written memoir by new author, Tara Westover. The book is better than you think it will be. The power of education is a force to never be underestimated
I couldn’t put this book down. I already understood abuse, having done extensive research for my own book about an abuser. The abuser is controlling, surrounding himself with enablers to retain power over his victims using manipulation, threats of abandonment, and withholding of love and approval. To those who haven’t experienced this, it may seem unbelievable. Westover masterfully writes her guilt, shame and co-dependence brilliantly and with such feeling of desperation to escape and yet equal desire to belong, we are made to believe her pain and conflict. This is also a coming-of-age story from childhood dependence and acquiescence through the struggle to find her voice and freedom in the roles of victim/daughter/sibling desperate to want to change “them” to accept her and love her unconditionally. There are many quotes that I just had to copy down because they resonated with my own experience – the truth that lies underneath all victim/abuser relationships.
Some of my favorite quotes from Educated by Tara Westover:
“You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them,” she says now. “You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life.”
“But vindication has no power over guilt. No amount of anger or rage directed at others can subdue it, because guilt is never about them. Guilt is the fear of one’s own wretchedness. It has nothing to do with other people.”
“I shed my guilt when I accepted my decision on its own terms, without endlessly prosecuting old grievances, without weighing his sins against mine. Without thinking of my father at all. I learned to accept my decision for my own sake, because of me, not because of him. Because I needed it, not because he deserved it.”
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery None but ourselves can free our minds”
“My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs.”
There’s a reason this book was rated highly in 2018.
Easily the best book I’ve read in a long time. An unbelievable true story. And Westover’s writing style is absolutely lovely.
This book is awesome
Couldn’t put it down. A real eye opener
“Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of a fire.” William Butler Yeats.
I’m a math professor, so am going to do a simple average. For pure writing craftsmanship, Ms. Westover’s book is an easy five stars. Her story is compelling, riveting, and heartbreaking, with many poetic moments. And the brilliant storytelling is all the more impressive because this is a young lady deprived of her education. It’s not even a case of home-schooling; young Tara is not-home-schooled. Not schooled at all. Stay home and work in Dad’s junk yard.
And that’s why this tale is essentially one of persistent failure, not triumph. The father is a tyrannical, unbalanced religious nut. Mom is an enabler who allows her children to be abused to the breaking point. One of her older brothers is purely evil, a tormenter of his own sister who desperately needs a rescuing hero. But no one goes for help; no one protests. Everyone just stays on this poisoned enclave, waiting for the Lord to come or something.
I know we’re here to review books and not delve into the theology of it all. But, heaven help us, there’s nothing more devastating than religion gone straight to hell as it did for this troubled tribe. These paranoid people hide themselves close to a mountain so they can flee from the world when a vengeful God decides to destroy everybody on planet earth (but them, of course, the fortunate few who deciphered His secret code.) John 3:16 notwithstanding, cult groups who preach a flee-to-the-caves-with-Uzis end-time gospel should at least confess to their followers that a God who slaughters most of his creation is not a victorious Deity.
Excellent, well written, believable and makes you think.
This groundbreaking memoir by Tara Westover is an incredible piece of nonfiction. Detailing the events of her unusual childhood, Westover recalls the issues involving her father’s religious zeal that bordered on obsessive and lead to her and her siblings to not having official birth certificates, medical treatment, or formal educations. Despite all of the challenges and abuse, she was subject to, Westover was able to build a new life for herself. Through her gritty and raw dialogue, the abuse she experienced is right in front of you. She lays out her trauma and the scars from it on the page for all to see This inspirational and uplifting narrative reminds me of the classic underdog story. There are moments of sadness and tragedies and moments of love and hope. If you’re the kind of reader that likes stepping out of the traditional comfort zone and learning about different experiences, then this is definitely a book you should check out.
This was one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read, and it’s all true. Yikes! What a story!
This book is for anyone who grew up with mentally ill parents. Westover reels us into her isolated, frightening life in a Mormon extremist family where she faced real physical dangers from both mentally ill family members and her surroundings. But it’s her journey from unschooled child to Cambridge PhD that’s most exhilarating. I loved seeing her break free from the family bonds as her intellect soared.