What an incredible memoir! I was astounded by Tara's capacity to overcome her family circumstances and thrive in higher education.

Others have said much of what I was thinking the entire time reading this so I will not waste my time listing all the issues with this book. I will, however, say that I found the foundation of Westover's childhood likely true but much of the details fabricated or wholly incorrectly remembered. The story is loaded with inconsistencies and details were constantly being left out (probably because including them all would lead to further inconsistencies/proof of lies). I mean based solely on the stories in here alone many of her family members should be dead from lack of medical care/infection etc. I find it difficult to understand why so many people enjoyed this book when it is clearly struggling with the truth.

This is such an interesting biography. It is beautifully written with such honesty. It will stay with me for a long time because of its intensity and heartbreak. This is definitely a must read for those who enjoyed The Glass Castle, another book that will stay with you long past its reading.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Random House through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was late to Educated, the memoir of Tara Westover which has long featured on bestseller lists. She was brought up in Idaho by her Mormon fundamentalist family. Her parents said she and her brothers were homeschooled but in truth, they received no education beyond scripture. Tara watched as her mother was persuaded into being an unlicensed midwife’s assistant, and later the midwife herself, using homemade potions and something called “muscle testing” to heal people. Her father, Gene, expected his children to work alongside him in his scrap business where there was no health and safety, it being God’s will if accidents occurred, as they repeatedly did. It’s an extraordinary story of a life lived off-grid. Gene endlessly prepped for the end of the world and his family lived in fear. Tara was bullied, oppressed, assaulted and uneducated. When she glimpsed the outside world it seemed an immoral place, nonetheless, she taught herself to read and yearned for school, eventually going to college. She is astonishingly bright and despite her lack of basic knowledge her intelligence shone through and she went on to achieve incredible academic results. The book is slightly repetitious and I did find myself thinking, oh no, don’t go back to the bloody mountain again at several points, but it’s a fascinating insight into a hidden world.

I don't usually enjoy non-fiction, but this read like a novel. I was fascinated at the author's upbringing and childhood. It is truly amazing how she was able to forge her own path. Very reminiscent of The Glass Castle.

Most of my favorite books are ones that make me angry, make me cry, or inspire me. This book did all three, and I have no doubt that I will reread it several more times over the next several decades.

Thank you netgalley for this opportunity.
I found the book difficult to read, the challenges this author was put through is raw.
How she rose from it and moved on is inspiring.
Well written

This is possibly one of the best memoirs I have ever read. Westover's story is equal parts gripping and fascinating. Stranger than fiction, Educated is a story about acceptance, the complications of memory, and what education means to different family structures.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC. While this book has been beloved by many for me it committed the cardinal sin of not being engaging.

This is such a great book. I really enjoyed reading it and learned a lot. I love Tara’s writing style which is engaging and smooth. Definitely a book I will recommend!

>I just can't wrap my head around this. Sorry, do you mind if I read this again? Ok I'll be right back.....yeah I really don't believe this. It is so surreal that's it's the most implausible thing I've ever heard in my life. It's like this generation 's A Million Little Pieces and I'll feel so vindicated when this finally hits the news.

4 ⭐️

Definitely a very interesting and well written memoir. I do believe at times it could have been a bit shorter.

The secondhand bookstore I work for cannot keep this book on the shelf. We have a waiting list several deep at all times and for good reason.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Netgalley.

I'm willing to admit that religion can be a force for good in the world. Religion has been the inspiration behind lots of amazing art, like the Sistine Chapel, Notre Dame, and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. But just as often, religion hurts people. It tells women and girls that they're worth less than boys. It makes people suffer and die needlessly when modern medicine could help them. And it splits apart families. And all of these things are on display in Tara Westover's memoir.

Westover grew up in an extremely paranoid branch of Mormonism. I get the feeling this was less due to real doctrinal differences than to her father's hatred of the government and weird ass readings of scripture. Although he was less extreme when her older brothers were young, by the time Tara, the youngest came along the children got no real schooling. Tara didn't even have a birth certificate, and her family wasn't entirely sure when she was born.

Although Westover makes it clear that her childhood was happy in many ways, a lot of this book is just lists of ridiculously dumb, unsafe, and downright abusive things that her father, and later older brother did. Sure lets work in a junk yard with no safety equipment. Yes, let's definitely slut shame little girls dancing at a recital. No, it's fine for your older brother to beat you black and blue and call you a whore.

Eventually, through luck, lots and lots of studying, will power, natural ability, and the help of a different older brother, Westover went to BYU. From there she went to Cambridge, and found the world was much wider than she had been taught. Her father shunned her, claiming she was possessed by a demon, and her mother went along with it.

I understand how painful it must be to lose your family in the way that Westover has. On the other hand, the way they raised their children was nothing less than child abuse. If you enjoy "unstable childhood, better adulthood" memoirs, Educated might be for you.

Educated was one of the best books that I read in 2018. I have recommended it to so many people. I'm surprised i didn't submit a review because I loved it,

Tara Westover's memoir of survivalist childhood is chilling but also at times very beautiful. Her love for her family and their landholding shines through. As the youngest of seven children, she accepted for a long time that their way was the only way. Occasionally there are glimpses of the outside world and we see a small child trying to process and understand her parent's choices. Her parents' refusal to seek medical care for even the most severe injuries is a frightening element of the memoir.

As Tara grows up she starts to question a lot of the family dynamics, and she sees some of her siblings leave the family. Finding herself in an increasingly hostile environment, she has to make a difficult decision.

Tara's story - the good and the bad - is re-created in beautiful writing, without sentimentality or judgement. Her voice is sincere and honest. er journey to academia is fascinating and i would love to learn more about this transition.. A wonderful memoir that has stayed with me.

**I received a copy of this via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I’ve heard great things about this so I was eager to dive in. The first 15% of the book was a bit scattered and hard to get into, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Once it hit 30% I got sucked in and had to know what happened.

I would give this a pick because it is definitely worth reading, but I have mixed feelings about the book overall. Tara told her story in such a cold, detached manner, and it feels like there are large chunks missing from the story. Still, definitely worth a read.

This is the story of a woman who grew up in an abusive home but didn't know it until she was in college.

Most of Tara's story infuriated me. I felt like her family was gaslighting ME!

The fact that Tara survived her family and put herself together is nothing short of a miracle.

Recommended for anyone.

As we grow up our lives and expectations are based on what our parents have outlined as acceptable, a degree of what we could call normal. But after reading this memoir by Tara Westover, I realized just how wide that spectrum can be for each individual. All of us will have a different experience and perception of how normal could be defined or potentially look like based on our life experience. But what happens when your experience is nowhere near normal?

Tara Westover recounts her experience growing up in a somewhat unstructured and strict upbringing as a Mormon in Idaho. Her father, a fundamentalist survival type, distrusted the government. He thought public schooling was not necessary for his children because he felt everything they needed to know, they would learn from him, or various odd jobs and life experience.

At times this was not an easy book to read. I had to put it down many times because what Tara experienced growing up was brutal and horrific at times. Tara’s older brother Shawn was abusive and many times I wonder if he had any mental health issues that had gone undiagnosed, the family just accepting it as ‘normal’ in the context of their lifestyle.

I talked about this book so much I thought I reviewed it.
Tara came from a large family whose dad had strange beliefs - he was anti-government and prepared for the big day when they would all be captured. It never happened but this family lived off the grid.
It's Tara's story of coming to terms with her family's decisions and choosing to go against the grain so that in the end she could be educated. If this wasn't someone's real life, you may think it's a fantasy. All the more reason why this was such a compelling read.
I strongly recommend this book.
PS - I read it before it made it to Obama's list!

Tha
This powerful autobiography is almost too unbelievable. Of course, I had read news articles about fundamentalist and survivalists, but reading Westover’s brutal, sometimes psychotic account of her life was difficult to digest.
This details in this book are at times gruesome, so I found myself putting the book aside occasionally just to catch a breath.
Highly recommended.