#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 was just okay. I expected better after hearing the author speak on several shows about her life experience. I would have liked her to expand on her education.
What a story of overcoming – family with mental illness, physical and mental abuse by a sibling, lack of education, then overcoming it all!!
I rarely read autobiographies, as they’re usually better classed as fiction, but this book was exceptional. If you think your family or your in-laws are weird, have a read of this and you’ll suddenly feel better about things.
‘Educated’ was a well-written, intriguing eye-opener of a book. In the crazy, prepper-environment where she grew up in some desolate part of Idaho, it’s truly amazing author Tara Westover is even alive, yet alone well-educated and the author of this masterpiece. Read one page and you’ll be transported into another world!
Absolutely stunning in so many ways. Gorgeous word choices and prose; raw, unfiltered truth; complete openness to her own fallibility and yearning to be loved, and the shining force and hope of reaching toward the good in all of it.
Child abuse plain and simple. Gruesome.
What a disturbing picture of a family who dominates their children with only a few escaping into self-actualization. Explains some of those who get caught up in Donald Trump’s cult
Read in February 2021
One of the most profound books I have ever read. Tara Westover will remain in my heart and soul. Her strength, tenacity, and courage to forge on with her life, to never give up, is truly inspiring.
A young girl coming of age, battling a childhood that is very limited, and a family who is set in their eclectic ways.
Educated will make you proud of the family you have, the life you’ve been given, and the opportunity to grow.
The most heartfelt book I have ever had the privilege of reading. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
There has been a flood of these – look at my horribly sad, deprived childhood. Look how far I’ve come and how well I’ve turned out in spite of it all. Glass Castle, Hillbilly Elegy – and more.
Yes. I am jaded and could have written my own version.
a wonderful and uncomfortable book to read…..I lived in Utah for a number of years and saw the fringe beliefs and how they impacted the people who lived there…..and how it molded entire families.
Great book club book. Our group really enjoyed it and had a great discussion.
Amazing real life experience.
One of the best autobiographies I’ve read to cover the isolated background of paranoid conspiracy theory communities effects on the children–then to what cost those children might have to go to in order to survive? We often talk theoretically about the rights of freedom of religion or freedom of expression when it comes to people living in these cult like environments. But what their children often experience at their own parents and religious elders hands? What freedom is that?
Not completely believable.
The word is ‘insightful’ and so pertinent to the understanding of the life and worldview of fringe elements of our society. I couldn’t stop reading this book even late at night. It’s like a slow car crash you’re experiencing with the author. Its so horrifying that so many people are made to suffer because of the manic behavior of one authority figure. It’s the reason cults are able to sprout up and thrive. An important book for our times!
I enjoyed it immensely. It was a shock to realize it could really happen in today’s world.
Unlike most people in my book club, I had a hard time getting into this book. It bored me at times, but I kept reading. This book was a real eye opener for me that women still struggle to receive the same education as men do.
Would you be able to break from your family’s life of violence and paranoia, even if they disowned you for it? This memoir will haunt you and make you question your own belief system. I felt such compassion for the author, growing up under such extreme circumstances, yet still loving her family and wanting their love in return. I stayed up all night reading it, rooting for peace and a better life for her.
A story of courage and redemption.
Not an easy book to read, but at the same time, not an easy book to put down. It frustrated the hell out of me and made me so angry at times. I wanted to shake Tara and her mother and commit her father and brother. Tara had so much intelligence and so little common sense.