Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Leerschool by Tara Westover

78 reviews

marissaboone's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense

5.0

I debated my rating of this book but ultimately decided that any book that makes me feel so much emotion is deserving of 5 stars. Truthfully this is a very difficult read (especially if you do it as an audiobook, which I did). Some of the cruelties Tara faced - both as a child and a young adult - are unimaginable until you’ve heard them described. Her telling of a life filled with extremist religious views, misogyny, and abuse is very detailed and sometimes graphic. However there are also glimpses of her own loyalty, passion, and perseverance. I was left wondering about her family and her own future. It was an interesting experience to say the least, and I found myself sending well wishes to her, a stranger, many times when she described both her familial hardships and academic successes. This is a worthy read if you are interested in the power of education.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Violence, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Sexism, Blood, Cancer, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Death, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Torture

ladyrecordia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Wow. Literally wow. I truly cannot get over how good this memoir is. I devoured the whole thing in about 3 days, and my mind is blown. Every section, every memory shared, oozes intentionality; everything is included for a reason. There is no fluff, not a single detail that doesn't serve a greater purpose within the narrative. That's a rare gift and one that Westover has clearly mastered, for she weaves together both memory and blossoming consciousness into a profound and meaningful tale of a woman attempting to reconcile who she was with who she wants to be. In short, it is a story of becoming, of overcoming all obstacles, and of the power of knowledge. Although some parts are difficult to read, the depictions of trauma and abuse are at least not too graphic. I appreciated the little footnotes included by the author when a memory is unclear or remembered differently by family members she consulted whilst writing her book. I can't recommend this book enough. It's raw, it's honest, and above all it's just incredibly moving. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Racial slurs

maiahhtratchh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Cursing, Gaslighting, Racism, Antisemitism, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Mental illness, and Racial slurs

satsumaorange's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

Holy cow. What is it with me and reading books at the EXACT right time in my life that I needed to read them? This was phenomenal. Gut-wrenching. Hard to listen to at some points (I listened to the audiobook). It was scary to be in the midst of the deepest, darkest parts of the author's life, and then out of nowhere, she would describe an experience so incredibly specific, but so deeply familiar to my own life, that it caught me completely off guard. This book made me think deeply about what it means to think for yourself. Who do we allow to do our thinking for us? Who do we allow to construct our reality? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, Gun violence, Abandonment, Ableism, Miscarriage, and Stalking

If you are reading these content warnings and are concerned about non-consensual sexual content:

The author does not describe any sexual touching or rape scenes, only scenes of physical abuse that may have themes of body shaming and/or humiliation. It's extremely uncomfortable, but there are no descriptions of rape in this book, if that is a hard limit for you.

applejacksbooks's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

1.5

I really need to find a new library book club to go to. These books are not hitting. 

That being said, I should have DNF'd at like 30% when I thought the story was boring asf. I don't think that Tara really got past her Christian extremist upbringing once she started getting educated. This whole book reads like trauma porn of the ex-mormon variety and I hated it. Like yeah, it's sad that this was how she was raised, but how was she supposed to turn out differently when the government allows these people to exist like this? This book's pacing is incredibly slow. I had to listen to it at 2.25x speed just to get through it. 

Tyler should have taken custody of Tara as soon as he was able to, ESPECIALLY after he basically witnessed Shawn assault her. I said this early on in my notes about this book and then doubled down on it later on. It could have saved her a lot of trauma. Another issue I had with this book is the liberal use of the N-word in the middle of it. Like yes, i know that this was something that affected Tara deeply, but there was no reason to have it used that much in the story.  It just doubled down on my dislike of Shawn (lowkey Tara should have let his brains leak out during the motorcycle crash). 

This book was so fucking painful to get through that I had to download Ice Planet Barbarians to listen to afterward because I need a palate cleanser from terrible main characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Antisemitism, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

aspvisualarts's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Child death, Medical trauma, Sexism, Body horror, Body shaming, Grief, Mental illness, and Violence

dlsmk's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Body horror, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Grief, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, and Gun violence

gellyreads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Grief, Blood, and Emotional abuse

sarahkinney's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

missrosymaplemoth's review against another edition

4.75

A page turner, yet so hard to read. Undoubtedly harder to live. I saw small slivers of my own childhood trauma in Tara’s story, although nothing nearly as extreme. Power to her for being able to chronicle this harrowing tale. I’m glad things are better for her now. A really gripping writing style that made me not want to put the book down.

I would rate it higher if it didn’t get frustrating at points. Once again, living this is obviously much harder than simply reading about it, but I wanted to reach through the page and slap so many people silly. It was hard to get through the descriptions of the physical and emotional abuse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Car accident, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Antisemitism, Mental illness, Cancer, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Racism