One of the best books I've read this year! 5 out of 5 stars!

Growing up in Idaho with survivalist parents living off the grid, Educated tells Tara's true-life story of her journey through education, starting with teaching herself at home and then along her journey at BYU, Harvard & Cambridge.

Not an easy book to read at parts, but so rewarding and I found myself not being able to put it down. The writing was beautiful and I was truly enthralled by the story. Would highly recommend to anyone!

Thank you to Tara Westover, Random House, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #Educated

The audio book is fantastic. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it but ended up really loving it. This isn't an all time favourite but I see no reason not to give it 5 stars.

This was such a good book! I found it hard to put down. Tara shares what her childhood and teen years are like living in a Mormon home with at least two people who also have some sort of mental disorder. Once she goes to college, she realizes that she needs to get out from underneath everything that's held her down for so long. Tara has never had a formal education but soon learns that with enough effort, she is able to become a successful, independent young woman.

I put off reading this book because of all of the hype. Also, how good could it be given I already knew what it was about and how it ends? But oh wow, this one...I am so glad my favorite book-loving friend encouraged me to pick this book up. Tara Westover tells this story with such grace, style, humility and without a hint of self indulgence. Bravo! I wish I could read it for the first time over and over. To all of you out there who haven't yet read it - get it and savor every word. Absolutely beautiful. I have already recommended it to many.

Thank you Netgalley, Tara Westover and Random House Publishing Group for making this book available in return for an honest review.

Tara Westover has not set foot in a formal classroom before the age of 17. Growing up in rural Idaho, Tara has a rough (not even a strong enough word for it) upbringing. Her parents are devout Mormons who do not believe in modern medicine and are constantly preparing for the end of days. Eventually Tara moves away from the mountain she knows as her home to study at BYU and eventually Cambridge, and in that process comes to question many of the beliefs she held so closely.

At times, this book was difficult to read. It felt like deriving entertainment from physical abuse, mental illness, and PTSD. However, as it is the author's personal memoir I felt it was important for her to be able to tell her story and for me, as a reader, to embrace it with an open mind. I found the family dynamics fascinating, and geuinely feel pain for the members of the family, such as Emily, still in that dysfunctional environment.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and it made me think. It is a great book to spark discussion and I recommend it to my friends and family.

Educated is a book of so many emotions. From the first page It tells a disturbing tale of a disfunctional family. Not being allowed to go to school and then the fathers threats of the Feds coming to kill the family is only the beginning of what the children face. Tara didn’t even have a birth certificate. This memoir is all about what one can do to change their life and the courage to do so. This is a must read!

I have read so many good reviews and articles on this book. I must say I agree that this is a 5 star book. It will make you think deeper on many issues and hopefully become a better person. It is a book to read slowly and reread.

Educated is Tara Westover’s memoir, as she goes through struggles for her whole life. Born to a survivalist Mormon family who didn’t believe in the government or its system or doctors or medical institutions or even education. They were 7 siblings - 5 brothers and 2 sisters.
The book is more than just a memoir, it tells one how education can help you cultivate your thoughts and ideas. It’s about some people’s infinite and supreme faith on Lord and his system.
It’s the written version of a human’s - a girl’s struggle as she tries to complete her education at the same time Incredibly loving her family. It’s her struggle how she learns that what she thought was love was actually the physical and mental abuse from her brother.
There are actually so many thoughts but I’m not able to put it in words. I might come back later and write more. For now - just read it. Highly highly recommended!

I read Educated in just a few sittings, the words tumbling over one another as the author's life tumbled chaotically through childhood and into adulthood. Educated is a gutting memoir about the author's experience growing up with religious fundamental parents — a survivalist father and midwife and herbalist mother, to be exact — in the mountains of Idaho. She tells vivid stories about horrifying physical injuries that were left untreated by scientific medicine - stories that I had to stop reading at times because they made me nauseous. This book perfectly captures the plurality of what makes up the American experience and one that is far removed from what life here is perceived to be. The writing is stellar, the story harrowing and revealing, showing the reader graphically the ambivalence Westover feels toward her family. Highly recommended.

5 stars.

A truly inspiring tale of perseverance and triumph. I was hooked from the beginning till the end interested in knowing what would happen next.

I highly recommend this memoir.

This book is about so many things - it is not at all what I expected. Though it has been marketed as being about an education, and that is definitely the overarching theme as beautifully summarized at the end, it is also really about control, abuse, misogyny and the myopia of any kind of religious fundamentalism. It is beautifully written but at times very hard to read. I agree with some others that at times the story strained credulity, but I take an agnostic approach to that as we all know that truth really is sometimes stranger than fiction and the author's voice feels very truthful.. I tend to be more of a fiction reader and this book had all the vividness, the drama and the plot of fiction, and it is written so lyrically that sometimes you have to stop to remind yourself that the author actually went through this. She has an extremely compelling voice and a unique story to tell. Though at times difficult to read, this book is very much worth your time.

By the time I had finished this book I realized that it was not near as good as I had anticipated it would be. In fact, the book as a whole was very underwhelming. I felt like the characters and the setting as a whole were fascinating in a sense but not "mind-blowing".

The writing was nice. It wasn't tedious and it wasn't sloppy. Usually when you read memoirs they get really bogged down with just mediocre writing but Tara had a unique writing ability that didn't bore me in any way. But with me saying that, at times the story became very repetitive. I felt like she kept going back over things that happened multiple times and when she would do that, it would make the timeline very difficult to follow.

What I did love about Educated was Tara's drive to educate herself and get herself away from her toxic life and surroundings. Her drive for a better life really made this book what it was. It was inspiring and I loved the message it sent out to readers letting them know they can do whatever they set their minds to.

I also really loved how this entire novel is a prime example of not only emotional abuse but also physical abuse. To me, this is a part of the story that readers are just ignoring or skipping over but it was very important in my eyes. Tara suffered from not just her father, but from every single person in her family. From her mother to her siblings. I can't fathom what that kind of life was like for her when just reading about it made me sympathetic.

Educated was the type of read I know that hundreds of other people loved. But the main reason I see as to why they love it was simply because of the "mountain-people" type lifestyle these people lived. To me, that part was very underwhelming and not the point of this story at all. (I live in Arkansas, I see this stuff all of the time.) I think with me being very familiar to that type of lifestyle for some people, that aspect of the story was not as mind-blowing to me. BUT! In my own opinion, this book was about one girls endurance and drive to make better for HERSELF and no one else and for that reason alone right there-- I really appreciated this story.

I loved this book. This book is a wonderful story of a girl that was not raised by mainstream parents, yet she put herself on a track of success. The obstacles that she overcame entering into the education system and in to a main stream life. I would read this book again.

This book is crazy entertaining! So ridiculous that it must be true.

I'd say the only flaw is that it's a big misleading. Descriptions and the title make it sound like the importance of education is the centerpiece of this story. It's not. This is more about the family dynamic, what it's like to grow up removed from average society, and lastly about education.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC for an honest review.

Oh my word. I am speechless after reading this book. A friend of mine suggested I read it, and it took me a couple of months to do so. I am not sure why I kept putting it off. I do have a couple of friends that are Mormon, but reading a book about Mormon upbringing did not appeal to me. I have never been more wrong. What an inspiration Tara is! She would probably argue that point, but I saw her as a strong woman who stood up in the face of trial, had a dream and went after it. This story will be sticking with me for awhile, if not always.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

WOW!

I’m not normally a nonfiction/memoir reading person, but this book blew my mind! I had no clue that people actually lived the way that Tara and her family lived! I felt so many different emotions throughout this book.

I am very pleased with this book and would recommend it to anybody that is looking for a book to read!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the digital copy of this book!

Wow! I do not even know where to begin with this book. I took an online college course once about the lottery of birth and like Jeanette Walls in "The Glass Castle, " Tara Westover did not win. The author was born into a paranoid, end of days, homeopathy, homeschooling family. However, there was no homeschooling. The children self-taught through the years with books they bought themselves. They grew up isolated with no real outside friends, not even cousins. Their father, not trusting the outside world, deeply affected by Ruby Ridge, afraid of the government and the devil kept his family apart. His wife, a self-taught herbalist, and midwife acquiesced to his ideations. I suppose it was easier.
The children grew up in ignorance and later violence. There was no medical care other than herbs. Her brother was severely burned and was treated with homemade salves and tinctures. How parents can watch their children suffer and not seek help is beyond me. I believe in prayer but knowledge is also God-given. Another brother sustains a severe head injury. The family is involved in 2 bad car wrecks. Again no medical care is sought and the suffering is endured. Then we get to the abuse. One of the brothers is abusive to his younger siblings. Unbelievably, the parents allow them to continue, cover it up, and blame the victims, but then the father is psychologically abusive so it is a vicious circle.
To survive, the author becomes educated, as did several of her other siblings. The author self educates, attends BYU on a scholarship, graduates with honors, and ends up with Cambridge. How some people reach deep inside themselves and find this well of inner strength I don't know but they do. To overcome that kind of childhood, that much trauma, self educate, break with her family, have a mental breakdown, and get a doctorate at Cambridge by 27 years old is truly a miracle. Maybe she did win some kind birth lottery or maybe she just had the strength of character to slay her demons and rise above her old life into a new life. I am glad she did so she could write this book and share with the rest of the world that no matter your circumstances you can rise above them to succeed. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a review and to Dr. Westover for trusting the world with her story.

This is an incredibly powerful book. I’m so happy I had the opportunity to read it. Tara’s story is one that deserved to be told and I feel lucky to have been able to go on this journey with her. Her account was harrowing, vulnerable, raw, and real. Such an important story.

I’m sorry to say that for me, this was only okay. Yes, the author's accomplishments are impressive and it is an interesting story. But it takes more than this to make it a great read.

Somehow this was too detailed and not detailed enough at the same time. It felt like a sequence of scenes and anecdotes rather than a coherent story.
I simply expected more (or maybe just something different).
It fell a bit flat for me.

This was astonishingly gripping and adventurous! The desire for knowledge appears in many ways. This one sucked me in. Tara not only found ways to educate herself, she discovered herself. I loved this.