#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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This is a truly gripping story about a girl struggling for an education. It pulled at my heart strings as I read through each page. This book is moving and demonstrates the power in someone’s life that an education holds.
A chilling account of a woman who “escapes” from a bizarre fundamentalist (in her case, Mormon) upbringing and, despite an almost total lack of childhood education, ends up earning a PhD at Cambridge. I’ve read many memoirs, and this one deserves its acclaim.
There’s a reason Educated by Tara Westover is the hottest new memoir of the year! It’s almost unbelievable, terrible and inspiring all at once.
I was just putting the finishing touches on my own memoir, Freckled: a Memoir of Growing up Wild in Hawaii, when I came across Westover’s gritty, dark tale of growing up in a Mormon survivalist family that worked in a scrapyard and practiced holistic medicine.
Tara not only overcame horrendous injuries and abuse, but she went all the way to Harvard and Oxford on determination alone. Not for the faint of heart, this memoir is dark, beautifully written, and illustrates the complex clash of family loyalty with personal dreams and ambitions.
This book is fantastic, probably even the best I’ve read this year. Tara has an incredible story – she was raised in a survivalist Mormon home in Idaho and had never gone to school (or had any real homeschooling) until she got into BYU and ultimately went on to get her PhD from Cambridge. Surprisingly, the book really is not about religion. It’s much more about the disfunction and mental illness in her family and it is both fascinating and completely heartbreaking. As I was reading, I just couldn’t believe I was reading non-fiction. Go read this book!
Westover’s memoir is shocking and frustrating and sometimes beautiful. So much of her story and its telling is not what I expected — her exploration of memory and history and the way they are tangled together, her careful, even loving descriptions of the place and people that in many ways harmed her, her capacity for reinvention, for rebuilding. I wouldn’t call this book optimistic — in some ways it is a reminder of what is left broken — but it manages to avoid sliding into cynicism. Westover speaks of curiosity, resilience, the ways we help each other and learn to help ourselves. These things, so vital to her success, are reminders for all of us.
This book is incredible. Tara writes about an unconventional and often uncertain and brutal childhood and young adulthood with surprising beauty, grace, and compassion. It would be easy for this book to be angry and raw, but Tara’s vignettes about the world she grew up in are absolutely stunning and honest and really gently told. It’s only after you’ve finished a chapter, breath caught, that you realize she was describing something that might have ruined anyone else. Her capacity to see the complexity of goodness in dark places was one of the most remarkable parts of her story, and I found myself connecting intimately with her deep-seated conviction that she was an imposter in the classroom, with her sense of wonder and panic as she discovered the vastness knowledge could bring. I really can’t speak more highly of this book – I haven’t been so struck by a memoir since I read My Losing Season ten years ago, and I want everyone to read Tara’s story as soon as possible. I even went out and immediately bought copies for my family, which is just about the highest praise I can give.
There’s been so much buzz about this book, and now I understand why. Yowzer! I would have read it in one sitting except for those annoying potty breaks. 🙂 This goes deeper than Glass Castle. Absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend.
The negligence and physical abuse early in Educated was so disturbing that I almost stopped reading. I’m glad I kept going. By the end, I found Educated an eye-opening first-person account of the emotional complexity and damage abuse-victims face. Happily, I also found it an inspiring story of resilience.
I might not have picked this one up without the widespread love that readers seemed to pour over it. It would be difficult to say I enjoyed it – it’s more like watching a train wreck that you can’t look away from. I am glad I read it, though. It opened my eyes to a world quite different from my own. The writing style was compelling, the stories sometimes appalling, but in the end, I felt…educated.
This book was astonishing in so many ways. Westover’s writing is absorbing, fresh and beautiful, and she tells her story with unflinching honesty. The story itself is heartbreaking, inspiring, gut-wrenching, and stunning. Had this story been told as fiction, it wouldn’t be believable—a child raised in a home that exceeds all descriptions of dysfunctional, provided no education other than misinformation, who ultimately gets a PhD from Cambridge and a fellowship at Harvard. The questions it raises about family and faith are ones I will continue to ponder for a long time.
Tara Westover’s story is intriguing for its expose into the life of a survivalist Mormon family preparing for the end of days by not sending their children to school, forbidding them from seeing doctors even after suffering third-degree burns and getting their skulls split open, and having them work dangerous scrapping/construction jobs. But more than that, it’s a harrowing and inspirational story about finding your footing in this world by educating yourself, even when it could mean losing your family.
This book is an amazing memoir of a life that is hard to imagine existing today. Tara shares very intimate details of her childhood that are sometimes shocking to read. She has overcome so much and is a testament to the human spirit and what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it.
It’s been a while since I’ve read (or listened) to a book that moved me as much as Educated did. The story of Tara Westover is one of the most heart-warming, thought-provoking stories I’ve ever read, and I have found myself telling anyone and everyone who will listen that they have to pick up this book. It’s so good.
Tara Westover’s memoir kept me riveted from the first page until the last sentence. What a brave and forgiving, smart woman she is and an inspiration for anyone who grows up mentally stable – against all odds. WOW, just WOW!!
I wasn’t sure if I was going to like Educated so naturally I chose not to read it for quite some time. However, it kept popping up in conversations with others I was having and I decided to go ahead an grab a copy. I’m so glad I did! As an individual who usually does not read memoirs, I truly enjoyed Educated. Tara’s life growing up is a fascinating look into a world that I have never experienced before, but I’m so glad she chose to share her story.
I couldn’t put this book down! A powerful story of overcoming a harsh and unbelievable childhood and becoming a successful writer and human being!
We can’t really know our family until we begin to leave them. Only when we leave them can we really know ourselves. Tara Westover tells her story of loss, abuse, pain, and identity. Read this book…if you dare.
Unbelievable account of a girl growing up in a very strict Mormon household. Tara Westover is raised in a family with a father who is likely bipolar, and a brother who is extremely abusive. Despite all this, and with no formal schooling, she is accepted into BYU and goes onto get her PhD, studying at Cambridge and Harvard. Tara writes about overcoming the adversity she experienced as a child, and continuing into adulthood, and what it cost her. She tells her story in heart-wrenching detail.
#Educated #TaraWestover
Insightful, engaging, nuanced, at times heartbreaking. She holds the tensions rather than trying to dispel them. For fans of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight and Glass Castle.
Not to be missed. An almost unbelievable story of overcoming hardships to gain an education.