Scan barcode
A review by applejacksbooks
Educated by Tara Westover
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.
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.
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