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4.49 AVERAGE
4.49 AVERAGE
This book was moving. It was a heavy read that focused on some hard topics, through a more compassionate lens than the situations warranted. The different feelings I experienced throughout reading this book were ao intense; whether frustration, anger, sadness, or thoughtfulness. Tara does a wonderful job of painting the picture of her life vividly in a way that's digestible to people who have no understanding of her background. I'll be haunted by thoughts and curiosities regarding her life for some time.
I'd recommend reading this book
I'd recommend reading this book
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Educated is the 2018 memoir of growing up in a wildly abusive Mormon cult-esque family before Tara Westover eventually leaves her small mountain Idaho town and enrolls in college and eventually gets her doctorate. Tara is one of several children, most whom were born at home and never had a birth certificate or anything else like public schooling, vaccinations, doctors, etc. Her father mainly, but also her mother, was an extremely paranoid survivalist Mormon who also feels like a chosen prophet who leads his family according to his bipolar manic states of mind. Tara had never been to school but after an older brother leaves the house to enroll in college, she decides to try to as well.
The next decade from her first class at BYU to getting her phd was a wild journey of constantly struggling with feeling like she’s abandoned her family as she’s gaslit about her own memories of their abuse and neglect. With each accomplishment and shift to “normal” society, she feels more guilt and disappointment at herself. This book reads like a novel, it’s so gripping and full of contention and the writing is so good it’s almost easy to forget this happened to a real life human in real human life. I was hooked throughout and finished this book quickly at 2x speed on audio. I’m not usually a fan of Julia Whelan’s narrating, but she did an amazing job on this one. Especially with the father’s voice, I felt completely taken in.
dark
medium-paced
I can’t believe I hadn’t read this book after seeing it on must-read lists for so long. Now I’ll have to recommend it to everyone I know. I could not put it down and will be thinking about it for a long time. Definitely 5 stars.
5++ stars.
Wow. Tara's memoir is really touching. That she was able to escape fundamentalism and abuse to succeed so spectacularly academically is mind blowing. But still, at the heart of the story is a girl that is seeking her family's love and approval even as she pulls away from them. I've seen this happen with some of my students and I feel like I now better understand their viewpoints after reading this book.
Wow. Tara's memoir is really touching. That she was able to escape fundamentalism and abuse to succeed so spectacularly academically is mind blowing. But still, at the heart of the story is a girl that is seeking her family's love and approval even as she pulls away from them. I've seen this happen with some of my students and I feel like I now better understand their viewpoints after reading this book.
informative
inspiring