Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Educated by Tara Westover

28 reviews

theshanana's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Car accident, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Cancer, Dementia, Death, and Death of parent

pandemonicbaby's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

I think this book might have changed my life.
This book is such a marvelous, deeply interesting exploration of the power of education, of the meaning of family, of struggling with abuse and still being able to forge an identity for yourself afterward. Her path towards education is also a path towards being able to think for herself, instead of being told what to think by others. This might be the strongest, most powerful message woven in between the threads of this memoir, an ode to finding yourself through education.
So much nuance, so many tiny little intricacies present in the text show that Tara Westover truly is a historian -- that she's able to see the many different versions of a story and present them to the reader, making them reflect upon the significance and meaning of each unique account. "[...] nothing final can be known", as she quotes John Stuart Mill.
I feel like I'm going to reread this soon, just so I can underline the passages in this book that are so powerful they would make anyone stop reading just to reflect upon them. I shouldn't have been scared of underlining this book, gosh!! I gotta start being more willing to do that, whenever I think it might be important to me.
All in all, wonderful book. Marvelously crafted, beautiful writing, moving and powerful message. I cried reading this. I think it will stay with me forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Sexism, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Blood, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Murder, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Vomit, Racism, Miscarriage, Mass/school shootings, and Genocide

hcop's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Antisemitism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Police brutality

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Terminal illness

rsagarin's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Blood, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Animal death, Classism, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

alexklinect's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Philosophy meets memoir meets coming of age. I really loved this one, although some parts were difficult for me to understand and could have used more description. It was somehow both cerebral and tangible at the same time. There are many things to be aware of in terms of content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Police brutality

Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, and Gun violence

scoobygirl93's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Gore, Grief, Violence, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Cursing, Abandonment, Ableism, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, Stalking, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Death, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Sexism

tigerkind's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Both praising and criticizing this  feels wrong, as it contains  fairly detailed accounts of abuse. However, it was extremely well written and constructed, allowing for a reflection on the broader systematic workings of power relations in religion, family and education. Even though a memoir, it was at times written with so much detail and emotion that I had to remind myself I was listening to a non-fiction work and not a novel by Barbara Kingsolver. Unfortunately, it feels like the legal challenges the author apparently faced, which forced her to include disclaimers, paraphrase and use pseudonyms, somewhat hampered the overall impact of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Car accident, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Gaslighting, Body horror, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Child abuse, and Medical content

Moderate: Classism, Slavery, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Cancer, and Terminal illness

Minor: Genocide, Islamophobia, Murder, and Police brutality

noedki's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Car accident, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

emcheym's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Cancer, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

thekiwibibliophile's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring tense medium-paced

4.5

A well written memoirs, I actually thought it was fiction for the first chapter!
I was hooked from the start & really loved the message. Everyone needs to read this!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: War and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Antisemitism