#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 the true story of a young lady who was raised in the mountains of Idaho under circumstances and in a setting that will be unbelievable to most readers. This is a fascinating story, and the author, this wonderful survivor of a shocking childhood, is a remarkable writer! I highly recommend this book to everyone!
This author is wrenchingly honest about the disfunction and abusive relationships within her family, while at the same time conveying her conflicting emotions and loyalty. A very well written account of her experiences and the anguish she endured trying to escape the psychopathic grip of her father and brother without help from her mother or other siblings who only tried to cover it all up and accuse her of lies and evil.
Hard to believe that people still live in this kind of environment with all the education we offer in this country.
I was prepared to not like this book. Instead, I found myself listening to the audiobook for hours until I finally finished it in two days. It’s a beautifully rendered book for harrowing family dynamics and incredible perseverance. It helps us to realize we are capable of more than our circumstance. Highly recommended.
I think it took a lot of courage for the author to write this book. It was very personal and raw.
The first half did not keep my attention. I don’t believe the author was a good story teller in the first have. Much easier read in the second half.
An excellent book. I found I couldn’t put it down. What an engrossing novel and based on true events.
Fascinating glimpse into a world I did not know of before. Author told her inspirational story honestly and in a straightforward manner.
An interesting biography. Gruesome to begin with and a fascinating portrait of how childre are trapped in a family, their experiences limited to that life until they get old enough to find other ways for themselves, if they chose to do so
This is a powerful memoir. Very well written with the objectivity of a woman who has processed her experiences and made her peace with the girl she was and the woman she is. Tara’s childhood was filled with violence and extremist ideology. Her father faithfully read his scriptures and made interpretations that were extreme. He built a more strict religion than his Mormon neighbors yet continued to move the goal posts to fit his mood.
This is not a book about Mormonism. This the movement of one girl breaking free of the internal and external restraints that held her hostage. She gives a fair and balanced account of members in her family. None are cast as completely villainous or saintly. Yet the underlying current is that the home was ruled by a controlling father, deeply troubled by multiple mental illnesses left untreated and unchecked. Bipolar, paranoid, violent and, at times, psychotic, he preached anti-establishment, anti-government, and end of the world.
Additionally, the author experiences a complicated, contradictive relationship with an older brother that switched quickly from protector to violent protagonist. There is a parallel of sorts between the brother and the father. Both are capable of horrific abuse and neglect yet also of deep love. Neither are mentally stable yet the people surrounding them allow their reality to dictate their own existence. It is an extreme example of group gaslighting to the point that the sane questions his or her sanity.
In the same valley 65 years earlier, my dad stood and stretched his back after thinning sugar beets. In a moment of clarity, he saw his life if he stayed complacent; thinning sugar beets, hungry and poor. He quit that day and announced he was going to college. Without support or money, he worked whatever jobs he could get, joined ROTC, and eventually earned a Ph.D.
What the author so beautifully illustrates through her words is how she gained freedom through education, self analysis through historians and therapy, and how her journey, although still continuing, is one that she chooses and can enjoy.
Inspiring
I can’t say enough good things about this book. Tara is SO good with words!
So may heart wrenching twists and turns. Tara Westover is the true definition of persistence.
I wish someone had mentioned to me just how much of the book was based on cultish religion. From the jacket blurb I knew there was survivalist craziness going on (in reality, not really), but the religious basis for every single poor decision and every survival of near-death experience made me glaze over. “The angels were watching over me” stuff got old. I was not moved or touched, as the other reviews promised, and it’s not because I’m not religious. It’s because it was ridiculous. Honestly, I was over it almost as soon as it started.
If the book were written more from the “all this before was terrifyingly nuts and we sooo know it now” standpoint, I’d be more accepting. Instead, it presents the wacko behavior as understandable and almost forgivable. The hindsight isn’t giving me a “we’ve completely stopped drinking the Kool-Aid” vibe.
I realize Tara’s (obviously) mentally ill father was doing his best while presiding over the family utilizing insane religious extremist views, but I’m not seeing enough astonishment. I can’t imagine being forced to live under that kind of tyrannical rule in dirt and poverty, where everything is done without question in a certain god’s name. But I have to believe most of the oppressed people understand that things aren’t right and feel like they must find their own way, which should be FAR FAR FAR away from the crazed fanaticism and irresponsible choices. This is why books like Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology and shows like “Escaping Polygamy” work. People woke the F up and fled. But Tara seems to be telling the story from a state of shock, distant and removed, like it just happened and that’s it. Where’s the engagement? Where’s the outrage?
So my big question is this: Is Tara’s story as horrifying as she relates, or are we experiencing another A Million Little Pieces total exaggeration here?
Who knows? All I do know is that great ratings for this book just didn’t translate into a great experience for me. I won’t even rate, because it’s not fair. This reader was clearly not this book’s target audience.
Beautiful writing. Amazing story of triumph through difficult circumstances.
This book was a big disappointment. I don’t understand the rave reviews. Yes, the premise of this memoir was similar to The Glass Castle but The Glass Castle was a much better read. It flowed and was clearly not hiding anything. Why write a memoir if you are not going to be totally open? Ms. Westover left me with too many unanswered questions to trust her words. Maybe she was purposely leaving out information to protect her family. If so, her editors should have done a better job. I doubt I will read another book by this author.
This book tells how a young woman from an extreme Mormon family who never went to school or had much homeschooling manage to go to college and later earned a Ph.D in history.
Brilliant and shocking, this book is riveting. It is hard to believe that author survived her youth with her mind intact. The situation in which she was raised was so beyond normal that her calm report of her family’s abuse is a remarkable achievement.
An unbelievable story of resilience.
Glad I read it, although was disappointed in its portrayal of the author’s “struggles” within her family. Seemed exaggerated, unreal, and dramatically enhanced, leading a few of our book club members to find some of it incredulous!