This memoir deserves every bit of the hype that's been swirling around it. Once I began it, I could not put it down. The author writes with such a tone of straight forward, self-aware, non-pitying story telling. This book is heartbreaking and gut-wrenching and fascinating and thought-provoking and unbelievable and infuriating yet somehow relatable. I just can't recommend it enough, it is easily one of the best books I have ever read.

As a teacher, I cannot praise Educated enough - it is a powerful story of a young girl overcoming a challenging family situation in order to prove to herself that education is the path that will both change her life and force her to be independent. Growing up in a close-knit family in Utah, Tara sees her father's skepticism with regards to all things government. Schools, hospitals, the IRS, etc. - all serve as forces of enmity for her father. Tara doesn't have official documents to prove who she is and she has never been in school, yet in her childhood, she realizes that formal schooling is alluring enough to draw her much-admired brother away from the family unit to the world beyond.
Tara proves her strength and stamina as she begins to pursue an education both in the classroom and the great big world.

This book was utterly fascinating 90% of the time.Tara's childhood in Idaho was unbelievable and very well written.The last part of the book let it down for me slightly.I liked reading the author's thoughts,but it was a bit too much at the end.Amazing achievements though and definitely worth a read (less)

I will start by saying that I guess I'm a sucker for these kind of memoirs. I guess that it will never cease to amaze me to learn about the many people that have risen to the heights that they have with all the hurdles that have been put before them.

This book is so very well written that you can easily picture the author as she takes each step along the way. The story about people that live the kind of life that she did is so hard for me to imagine and yet she accomplished to much with the odds stacked against her.

For person who grew up in such a backwards way of thinking in this day and age and yet able to achieve all that she did is so hard for me to understand. Her parents were certainly far from nurturing and her father, especially being abusive both physically and mentally says so much about her character. Her mother was not much better as she was afraid to go against her husband.

As I'm sure you can tell by now this is a book that I will surely recommend to everyone I know that enjoys a good read. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

I received an ARC of this from... somewhere, so assume I was asked to post an honest review in exchange. I legit do not recall where it came from, so I apologize to whichever service or publisher sent it along.

I read this on my phone - the 2nd book I've done that with recently, something I usually don't do. I say this because it may influence how I read it. Notably, it took longer and was done over a span of train rides when I was stuck standing, so my mood wasn't... great. The context in which we read something matters I think.

Caveats aside! I took a day to think on this before posting. I don't have anything profound to offer other than I am stuck with this odd tension of being able to relate SO MUCH to parts of Tara's experiences while having absolutely NO frame of reference for other parts. I think there is something here that all first generation, rural, poorer folks can relate to - the sense of having to choose between an Educated (capital E) world and the world we grew up in. The people we grew up with, mostly family, often get left behind and conversations can become increasingly hard. Even if they are nowhere near as dramatic as what happened for Tara. And that's just the past-end of it. There's also the endless explaining to your new peers, the feeling that folks simply do not - or worse, do not want to - get it, and that shadowy Form of impostor syndrome that never really leaves.

That other half of the tension - the lack of reference for a childhood so far removed from the modern experience of the West... Parts of it were hard to read to the point that I wish I knew what I was getting into better (perhaps that is just naivete on my part). It puts you in this strange space of horror, of sadness for that world and the people in it... but it also made me uncomfortable. Because who am I to pass that kind of judgment? This wasn't about judgment, it was about shining a light, sharing a story, and, as Tara eludes, a sort of catharsis for her. (How effective such a public artistic event is at catharsis is a huge question however.) But then my critical, cynical, opinionated self takes back over and is stuck in judgment again.

See how I'm rambling back-and-forth? That's how this book made me feel and think. And think and feel. And that's powerful. Not being able to come to a clear, clean frame for this review IS the short version of my review. This is a book - a glimpse into a life - that is uncomfortable and makes you feel and think in circles. And is one I think I'd like to read again, in a more structured setting.

Listening to this book in the car, very compelling book. I have been recommending this book to others who have similar reading tastes. When the author describes her first experiences at college I never considered that how hard that must have been.

I really enjoyed reading this story. It was a compelling page turner that I finished in a couple days. While some of the characters felt overpowering and almost like they stole the show from the true purpose of the story, I think it was also a very telling representation of the author's own evolution and personal battles. I will definitely recommend this to fans of the Glass Castle too as they'll really enjoy the perseverance and eye opening journey.

Tara Westover was born to a large Mormon family in rural Idaho. The patriarch of her tight knit family is her mentally ill father who is convinced that the end of days is near. Tara was raised working at her parents respective businesses and provided very little education. In this spellbinding, true book she shares the trials and tribulations of her upbringing and the struggle she endured to receive and education.
Tara Westover does a magnificent job showing the reader a window into her upbringing. Comparisons have been made between "Educated" and "The Glass Castle", which I find true to point. Both books show the childhood and adolescent years of a girl raised by mentally ill parent(s) in economically disenfranchised communities. This book is not to be missed. It offers the reader a glance at the hardship one woman experienced which, I hope, can lead to further empathy in this world.

Though at times difficult, it's a great read, with wonderful writing. I think it's an amazing memoir, especially for a debut novel, and Tara Westover is a brilliant woman! Highly recomend!

This book exceeded all of my expectations. Tara Westover's writing is gorgeous whether she is describing the landscape she grew up on, the relationship with her family, or her internal struggles. Oftentimes, I'd have to sit back and remind myself that this wasn't a work of fiction. I'm thankful she found the strength to share it with us.

Amazing, improbable, amazingly improbable, this memoir by Tara Westover is a revelation. She grew up in a survivalist semi-cult of her Morman family in the foothills of a mountain in Idaho and the book covers that childhood of abuse, danger, love, adventure, terror, struggles, algebra, etc. It also then goes on to relate her college experience at BYU and graduate education at Cambridge and Harvard.

One thing I like most in books is reading about states of being which are unfamiliar to me. This is far outside my scope of experience (upper middle class, white, suburbs of Bay Area) as a childhood. Instead: Working in a scrapyard and repeatedly almost dying or losing a limb from the age of like 8 years old. Preparing religiously for the apocalypse. Never going to the doctor's.

And then I became slightly less interested when she went to college (an experience I've had), haha. But I think this was also partially because the story itself became less interesting then? She started really trying to get across a message then and it was almost hit you over the head with it by the end. About the power of education to change a point of view (duh) and being on your own helping you know who you are (also duh) and the wonders of therapy (which, thank goodness she finally got some). I then foolishly watched some interviews of her about the book while I was still reading it because I was SO CURIOUS about her and that also is maybe something I shouldn't have done until I'd finished. I only watched two but she gave some of the exact same answers in them, like word for word. And it made her seem very rehearsed and scripted which called into doubt some of the stuff in the book. Like, you question if any of it was more fiction than truth.

I do think most of it was truth though because of a comment her brother (Tyler) made on Amazon about the 80/20 rule - give 80% truth and 20% filler that reinforces the central theme of the truth, was the basic gist, and he stated that she had adhered to that in his opinion. But he also calls into question some of the things she writes. Like 6 of her 7 siblings actually attended some college and she portrays only 2 them doing that. His relationship with their dad was not nearly as fractious as she implies (he says). So, things like that become part of the improbable. How on earth did her parents afford college for 6 kids? How did her higher ed experience seem like SUCH a breeze, just lucking into grants left and right to pay for everything? I mean, come on. It did feel like a lot of things were glossed over - maybe more than 20% added up but even if you think of a good percentage of this book as fiction, it's still really fun to read.

Memoirs are hard! They're so subjective. Let me just say that this is an amazing read, it's compellingly written, and a serious insider view into a life style that deserves to be exposed and understood more in the US.

I found it nearly impossible to pull myself away from this one. Easily one of my favorite memoirs of 2018, Educated is incredibly well written, and Westover’s story unfolds with ease and flow. Some aspects almost seem like fiction because they seem so far from mainstream American life. At times, I had to remind myself that this was a memoir and not a work of fiction. I loved watching Tara become Educated both academically and in life, seeing her views expand from what she knew as a child in a small, mountain town to an adult with an array of different experiences. This story can be validating or triggering for anyone who has had a severely dysfunctional family upbringing or abusive relationships. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for providing me with an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Raised in a remote area of Idaho by a father who alternated between delusions of grandeur and bouts of paranoia, and a mother who had suffered brain injury in a severe car accident when she was young, Tara Westover was given the basics of education and often severely revised version of history and considered educated. Though taught basic math and how to read and write, Westover did not attend school as her father believed it was a way for the government to brainwash people, and instead worked in her father’s junkyard. Though experiencing brief periods of normalcy in acting and singing in local plays where she could interact with kids from more stable families, Westover was so isolated as to not know what she was missing.

Though some of her siblings went off to work jobs in trucking or married nearby, none really went out into the world until one of her older brothers decided to go to college, learning enough to pass the standardized tests and going on to become an engineer and study at Purdue while keeping ties with his family. Inspired by his progress, Westover began to teach herself Algebra and English and any other necessary subjects. Though her first ACT was not a failure, she aimed to get a high enough score for a scholarship to Brigham Young and succeeded. From there, she began her first baby steps into the world of education and a social world outside of her family’s home in the mountains. Dealing with culture shock and confusion as to what she believed and who she was, Westover battled both her family’s displeasure and her own inner critic throughout while striving to reach for more for herself.

Written in an engaging and approachable manner, Westover’s story is at turns heartbreaking and inspiring, but above all addicting. A truly masterful memoir of an impressive young woman and her success in breaking the cycle of her family’s addictions and paranoia that will appeal to all readers, but especially to fans of The Glass Castle.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this memoir from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is a little hard for me to rate because I certainly am very moved by Tara Westover's journey and have a huge amount of respect for everything she overcame.

This is a great book for reading and muttering "wow that's fucked up" to yourself.

That said, it's hard for me not to compare this negatively to The Glass Castle--they're both somewhat similar stories of very difficult childhoods with charismatic but unstable fathers--but The Glass Castle is so beautifully written, and this is more a straightforward listing of events. Again--the events are extremely compelling and I have nothing but respect for Tara and her journey. Her story does make you think about education and what pieces of knowledge we tend to take for granted. (When Tara went to college, she raised her hand in a class and asked what the Holocaust was, because she genuinely did not know. I also appreciated the way she unpacked the systematic way the things left out of her extremely spotty homeschool education were designed to uphold racist/sexist/otherwise oppressive viewpoints.)

I'd definitely recommend it to people who are drawn to stories of fundamentalism/doomsday prepping etc, and also perhaps to educators.

Thanks to Random House for letting me review this book. Here is my review: read it!!!

Okay, I have a few more things to say. Tara displayed grit in the midst of trauma. I think many people can see themselves in this book even if their situations weren't as extreme. I absolutely loved it so please, go read it now!

Worthy of every bit of hype, "Educated" is as moving as it is incisive. This one is going to stay with me for a very long time.

Tara Westover has produced an intimate and engaging memoir about her childhood in Educated, a thorough look at her upbringing in a radically conservative Mormon household. Westover was brought up by god fearing parents, her dad believing in the end of days and preparing accordingly, and believing the medical and academic 'establishments' were institutions of brainwashing and corruption. Westover and her siblings were brought up working in the scrapyard, hauling metal and putting themselves in unendingly dangerous situations, exacerbated by an abusive father and brother, and the lack of medical resources available to them aside from Westover's mother's holistic and 'energy' healing, used to treat anything from the most minor pain to third degree burns.

'We had been bruised and gashed and concussed, had our legs set on fire and our heads cut open. We had lived in a state of constant terror, our brains flooding with cortisol because we knew that any of those things might happen at any moment.'

What resonated with me deeply in this novel was Westover's recounting of her mental state as a result of severe emotional abuse, and how she had to navigate her own psyche in order to extricate herself from the tendrils of this abuse, neglect, and shame. Westover described the toll emotional abuse has on a person with such concision and clarity, and I found myself nodding along as she described the process of counselling, the difficulty as others tried to help her but she was buried too deeply, the moment when you realise you've unravelled yourself from someone's clutches enough that, while always affected by the past, you can't be brought under their thumb again.

Not everything is this dark, however. Westover's descriptions of Buck Peak, the cyclical nature of time and seasons out in the country, and her discoveries of the world as she travels to university, then Cambridge, then Rome, are so positive and exceptionally readable.

<a href="https://amzn.to/2uXD378" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Educated</em></a> by Tara Westover is a memoir about domestic violence (the story about a Mormon girl getting an education is secondary).

I'm unapologetic about that spoiler and feel cranky that publicists and reviewers have failed to mention, or have simply skimmed over, the horrific physical, psychological and financial abuse that dominates Westover's memoir.

According to the blurb, the book focuses on Westover's childhood and early adulthood, and her experiences growing up with survivalist Mormon parents in the mountains of Idaho.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>I am only seven, but I understand that it is this fact, more than any other, that makes my family different: we don't go to school.</em><!--more--></p>
Instead of going to school, her days were spent salvaging in her father's junkyard or helping her mother, a midwife and healer, prepare herbs. In her late teens, Westover began educating herself and was admitted to Brigham Young University - she was 17 and had never set foot in a classroom, did not know what the Holocaust or civil rights movement was, and had never visited a doctor.

Although the strictures of Westover's Mormon upbringing and the paranoia of her survivalist father provide a riveting backdrop, this memoir is about trauma and its ripple effect. Westover is abused by her brother, Shawn, and her father. The abuse is physical and psychological. The abuse is relentless and taints every single moment of every single day. Shawn, typical of his type, switches between violence and begging for forgiveness. His cruelty and anger spark off the page. Westover's father favours different weapons - shame, guilt and verbal threats, which ultimately manifest in almost unbelievable workplace and car accidents.

While expectations in Westover's family may have been different from the norm - for example placing women in a subservient role; denying her an education; believing in herbal healing, not Western medicine - her experience of domestic violence is 'universal'. The terror, the self-blame, and the constant cycle of abuse and regret/forgiveness.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>It's comforting to think the defect is mine, because that means it is under my power.</em></p>
Regardless of the misleading premise of <em>Educated</em>, the book is compelling and well-written (although I sensed a touch of the <a href="https://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/a-million-little-pieces-by-james-frey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James-Freys</a> when I got to the bit about her father and a fire). While there is a conclusion to Westover's story (she attends prestigious universities), I couldn't help but feel there is much left unresolved - even up until the end of the book, Westover was making allowances for Shawn, explaining his behaviour. Equally, revelations about her father's mental health (that he is bipolar) were presented as an explanation.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>...vindication has no power over guilt. No amount of anger or rage directed at others can subdue it, because guilt is never about them. Guilt is the fear of one's own wretchedness. It has nothing to do with other people.</em></p>
But there are no excuses. None.

3/5 The blurb misrepresents this book - it should come with trigger warnings.

I received my copy of <em>Educated </em>from the publisher, Random House, via<a href="https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/124039" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> NetGalley</a>, in exchange for an honest review.

Powerful subject and an equally powerful story. It is a pretty good book.
I shy away from judging books based on someone's personal experience, so I am just going to stick to that.
I will be paying close attention to Tara Westover's work from now on for sure.

Absolutely amazing story. Tara shares her childhood secluded from education and people in her community because her dad fears the government. This is one of my favorite books for 2018 and I have already recommended it to several of my friends who have enjoyed it as well.