#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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True stories like this one are mind boggling. They make you wonder how much people can really live through and still come out on top. Scarred but resilient!! This was an awe inspiring book. I loved it …,it gives you hope.
This book is fantastic. Amazing story of life in a fundamental family and getting out!
I had finished the manuscript of my memoir a year before Tara Westover published Educated, and at the time I still had questions about the courage to share my story. Reading Educated reminded me why telling my story was also important. To the writers who inspire writers – thank you!
So beautifully written – it truly makes you wonder how children survive, let alone thrive, growing up in such bizarre and downright horrifying conditions. I absolutely loved this book!
SAD HOW PEOPLE GET EMOTIONALLY TRAPPED BY CRAZY PARENTS
The best autobiography I’ve read in the past five years. I couldn’t put it down. One woman’s love for family caught up in a tragic religion and how she finally left to discover her own place in the world.
This was one of the best books I have ever read. The author had so much going against her, but persevered to escape a terrible home life and get an education. She writes with such a passionate voice, and helps us see the obstacles so many people like her have to face. I came from a home with two alcoholic parents who beat me , but I lived in paradise compared to her.
I just loved how she used all her will to strive for a better, different kind of life than she had known, and managed not to be terribly bitter at her family’s obstructionism. Later, she even tried to reconcile with her dysfunctional family, but wasn’t able to. This book should be required reading in high schools to demonstrate the importance of education and what some people have to go through to obtain one.
I’d heard so much about this book that I was concerned that it wouldn’t live up to the hype, but that never happened. Author Tara Westover hooked me with her story and prose within the first few pages. Some parts of the author’s past are hard to read due to physical and mental abuse, but I couldn’t stop turning the pages to find out what happened next. One of my favorite memoirs!
I grew up in a household very similar to the one that Westover described. As I was reading this book, I felt sick. Literally. To know that other children had been treated as I had was almost too much to stomach. And yet…and yet…this is by far one of the best books I’ve ever read because Westover is so incredibly honest and resilient that her strength buoyed my spirits. This is the sort of book that I, as an author, hope to write one day. Until then, I’ll simply have to be in awe of Westover’s achievement.
I’ve had a bit of trouble staying focused on reading since the pandemic began, but I picked up EDUCATED and couldn’t put it down. The story is so compelling and the writing is direct and clear. I can’t recommend enough!
I wasn’t as thrilled with this book as many have been, although the author is to be admired for here ability to recognize the problems of her past.
It’s shocking how this could still happen in our “modern” time. Tara is so fortunate to have gotten out.
Inspiring, her parents didn’t send her to school she basically learned everything herself, I admired how hard she worked!
This is the best book I’ve read in a very long time. I happens to touch me personally and was really the catalyst to make me write my own memoir. Tara’s story is powerful and courageous.
Absolutely brilliant book. What a life lived with so much left ahead. I absolutely couldn’t put it down!
What an amazing, powerful, raw and moving story. Westover’s honesty and warts-all memoir is an eminently compelling read.
This was a well- written interesting story about a girl who grew up in an unusual Mormon family who was home educated. Hopefully, people realize not all families that home educate their children use this family’s methods- but it is well written and informative.
I related so much to this book, growing up with it and experiencing it in my community. It was hard to read and cringe-worthy at times, and I wanted to take little Tara and hug her. It was also full of hope and uplifting.
Amazing that the author made it to become a successful adult.
This story is so incredible and at times completely unbelievable. A woman is kept in a cult-like dependency, but once she breaks free and discovers her ability to learn and become whatever she wants she is both free and yet unfortunate in that much of her family no longer wants to be a part of her life.