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4.49 AVERAGE
4.49 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
It is always strange reviewing a memoir, because it feels a bit unfair to ‘rate’ someone’s personal experiences. Westover is being vulnerable with the reader in her memoir, and I appreciate her doing so. I read this for a book club and had the chance to discuss it with others who brought up some interesting points as well. Much of the discussion revolved around the author’s privilege of being a fairly respected but typical ‘white girl from Idaho’. She was known in her local community, and her community helped her get where she is—through employing her, letting her get her first steps out of her household, and others. I would have liked the author to reflect on this a bit more, as well as looking at how she was able to get where she is.
She is of course very grateful to her supportive brothers, who pushed her on this path. Without them, she might never have felt that she was worthy to go to school. She was also pushed by certain professors and others to apply for scholarships and programs, all while not feeling like she was deserving of them. I can understand this feeling somewhat, and it helped me empathize with her; but it is odd thinking about how so much of her success is due to the chance occurrence of having these supportive figures in her life that helped uplift her.
The author’s family is incredibly nutty. Looking at the mother’s so-called response to the author’s memoir, it is clear they still expect to gaslight Westover and make her out to be the villain; as with any perspective, it’s good to take things with a grain of salt. But I find it rather easy to side with Westover on this one. No family ought to love their children conditionally; I understand that better than most, unfortunately, and it really is an awful feeling. I’m glad that the author was able to make her own ‘found family’ and find supportive people in her extended family. I hope that she is able to move on past the trauma of her family and her life; writing this memoir probably helped a ton. Cutting off family isn’t easy, but it is what the author deserves—she deserves to be free to make her own choices and live her own life.
Westover is clearly a skilled writer (a PhD from Cambridge is no laughing matter, after all), and I appreciated the eloquent descriptions of her youth, growing up on the mountain, as well as her experiences to broadening her experience in the world by traveling to Rome and Paris. Sometimes the episodes were tough to read, and other times they felt a little amorphous and random, but overall this memoir was a delight to read. My main takeaway from this book is motivation—I have been in an academic slump despite starting a new program. The feeling of not being worthy and self-doubt are constant themes in the memoir that Westover has to overcome, and through reading it, I felt myself begin to examine these impulses in my own thoughts. I hope I can use her experience and become more confident in my academic self-worth, too.
She is of course very grateful to her supportive brothers, who pushed her on this path. Without them, she might never have felt that she was worthy to go to school. She was also pushed by certain professors and others to apply for scholarships and programs, all while not feeling like she was deserving of them. I can understand this feeling somewhat, and it helped me empathize with her; but it is odd thinking about how so much of her success is due to the chance occurrence of having these supportive figures in her life that helped uplift her.
The author’s family is incredibly nutty. Looking at the mother’s so-called response to the author’s memoir, it is clear they still expect to gaslight Westover and make her out to be the villain; as with any perspective, it’s good to take things with a grain of salt. But I find it rather easy to side with Westover on this one. No family ought to love their children conditionally; I understand that better than most, unfortunately, and it really is an awful feeling. I’m glad that the author was able to make her own ‘found family’ and find supportive people in her extended family. I hope that she is able to move on past the trauma of her family and her life; writing this memoir probably helped a ton. Cutting off family isn’t easy, but it is what the author deserves—she deserves to be free to make her own choices and live her own life.
Westover is clearly a skilled writer (a PhD from Cambridge is no laughing matter, after all), and I appreciated the eloquent descriptions of her youth, growing up on the mountain, as well as her experiences to broadening her experience in the world by traveling to Rome and Paris. Sometimes the episodes were tough to read, and other times they felt a little amorphous and random, but overall this memoir was a delight to read. My main takeaway from this book is motivation—I have been in an academic slump despite starting a new program. The feeling of not being worthy and self-doubt are constant themes in the memoir that Westover has to overcome, and through reading it, I felt myself begin to examine these impulses in my own thoughts. I hope I can use her experience and become more confident in my academic self-worth, too.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Si tuviera que resumir este libro en pocas palabras, diría que es el relato perfecto de la cara más fea de la superstición y el daño que puede llegar a hacer el no ser consciente de ello.
Estructurado en un total de tres partes, reconozco que terminar de leer la primera me costó un poco, porque no deja de ser una consecución de accidentes de tráfico y laborales "perfectamente evitables". Comprendo el propósito de la autora de mostrar que incluso en situaciones tan extremas de vida o muerte su padre, cegado por sus convicciones extremistas, aún así prefería evitar pisar un hospital antes que ofrecer a su familia una atención profesional, pero no dejó de parecerme un poco repetitivo aún entendiendo la intención.
En general, me ha parecido un libro bastante necesario, tanto para la propia autora, para la cual espero que la experiencia de escribirlo le sirviera como una forma de purgar todo lo que llevara dentro acumulado, como para las lectoras, a las que nos ha permitido acceder al día a día de crecer en una familia dirigida por el fanatismo religioso. Aunque la situación descrita derive fundamentalmente de los delirios y paranoias del padre, la figura de Shawn, uno de los hermanos mayores de Tara, es la que sin duda más me ha puesto los pelos de punta. Entre otras cosas, Tara describe cómo es vivir una relación de maltrato, tanto físico como psicólogico: la dependencia, la humillación, la culpa, el autoengaño. Y como, a pesar de haber sido la víctima, tu entorno, cegado por unas ideas arcaicas y nocivas, decide no creerte y posicionarse del lado del maltratador, exigiendo una lealtad familiar basada en la censura y el acatamiento. En ciertas partes ha sido duro de leer, pero lo recomiendo encarecidamente.
Estructurado en un total de tres partes, reconozco que terminar de leer la primera me costó un poco, porque no deja de ser una consecución de accidentes de tráfico y laborales "perfectamente evitables". Comprendo el propósito de la autora de mostrar que incluso en situaciones tan extremas de vida o muerte su padre, cegado por sus convicciones extremistas, aún así prefería evitar pisar un hospital antes que ofrecer a su familia una atención profesional, pero no dejó de parecerme un poco repetitivo aún entendiendo la intención.
En general, me ha parecido un libro bastante necesario, tanto para la propia autora, para la cual espero que la experiencia de escribirlo le sirviera como una forma de purgar todo lo que llevara dentro acumulado, como para las lectoras, a las que nos ha permitido acceder al día a día de crecer en una familia dirigida por el fanatismo religioso. Aunque la situación descrita derive fundamentalmente de los delirios y paranoias del padre, la figura de Shawn, uno de los hermanos mayores de Tara, es la que sin duda más me ha puesto los pelos de punta. Entre otras cosas, Tara describe cómo es vivir una relación de maltrato, tanto físico como psicólogico: la dependencia, la humillación, la culpa, el autoengaño. Y como, a pesar de haber sido la víctima, tu entorno, cegado por unas ideas arcaicas y nocivas, decide no creerte y posicionarse del lado del maltratador, exigiendo una lealtad familiar basada en la censura y el acatamiento. En ciertas partes ha sido duro de leer, pero lo recomiendo encarecidamente.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
WOW! This memoir was fascinating. This, this was a book I snuck off to the bathroom to read- if only for a few extra minutes. This book is like Hillbilly Elegy on steroids. With beautiful and haunting accounts, Tara Westover shares with us her childhood as one of seven children born to Mormon survivalists in the mountains of Idaho. Tara's father forbade doctors, but that didn't stop him from endangering his children. He felt that schooling was a waste of time, so his wife’s half-hearted attempts at home-schooling eventually waned until there was just no schooling. Instead, Tara and her siblings were made to work scrapping metal and operating dangerous equipment in her father's junkyard, and mixing herbs for their mother, an unlicensed midwife. With the support of one of her older brothers, Tara sets out to educate herself- teaching herself grammar and mathematics. She was admitted to Brigham Young at age 17. From there, she won the allegiance and respect of several teachers and friends who supported both her healing and her academic accomplishments. Tara's storytelling is powerful and beautiful. I don't think I have ever made that many highlights in a story and actually gone back to review them. Hers is a harrowing account of ideological extremism, mental illness, and abuse that would be enough to destroy a person. But hers is also a story of resilience that is both heroic and amazing.
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Such an affecting story and addictive read. I did audio for this and thoroughly enjoyed my time. Julia Whelan is one of my favourite narrators and she did an incredible job on this. The book is such a brave and true expression of how Tara lived her life thus far and is remarkably respectful and mature in its reflection on circumstance, choice and the influence of religion on those who seek guidance. Some parts where more in depth than others and some events and people didn’t get as much “screentime” as I’d hoped - but such is a life lived. I do commend and appreciate Tara for trying to fill in her gaps and showcase different lived experiences of the same event. This book oozes reality and grace in a beautiful mix that I haven’t encountered in many memoirs.