Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Una educación by Tara Westover

300 reviews

simone_ebony's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

An incredible story, and an incredible storyteller. This will stick with me and I can definitely see myself rereading this in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

ahoyitsjoy's review against another edition

dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Such a good memoir. Westover relates the most harrowing and heartbreaking events of her life with the detached perspective of a reporter. Letting these events stands on their own just makes them hit you in the gut even harder. Her skill as a writer is all the more incredible considering her upbringing.

To everyone who understands too well why the author kept going back to her family, again and again: I hope we all find our peace someday.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Racism and Antisemitism

tattedtrashreader's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

3.0

Tara Westover is a great writer and I appreciate that her childhood and adolescence was difficult and what she has overcome. I also understand that removing yourself from abuse is excruciatingly hard and that often survivors go back because it’s familiar. She’s incredible for overcoming her situation to get a doctorate and make her life her own. To preface my review, I grew up in a home similar to, but significantly less intense than Dr. Westover and I could relate to her feelings and to the messages pushed on her as a child because I heard similar ones. 

I, however, struggled with the repeated acts of violence that were ignored, justified, and manipulated by her parents and siblings (and her a lot of times) and that her siblings that left did not support or help the others get out who wanted to. I wanted to hear more in-depth about her studies, what she discovered for the first time but that was rarely touched on. 

The repeated head injuries, car accidents, and major trauma that they each endured without seeing a medical professional is astounding to me. 

I have many of the same concerns as others who read the book and wondered where their family got the money and how her mother’s tinctures became so popular (that they became millionaires?) and why no one in their town ever said anything about the abuse and such going on, even when they “hired” the other women to work (but apparently women aren’t supposed to work) for their tincture business. I don’t understand how there were basically no witnesses ever. 

I wanted to understand how her worldview changed when she got to college and learn about how she overcame her education challenges but that’s not explored deeply in the second half of the book. It’s just parental abuse. The abuse is the main theme of the book, not getting an education. 

I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with everything her parents and Shawn did to the point where I just wanted the book to be over. Idk. About halfway through I was over it and hate-finished it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

ajnagle's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

emileemaree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Car accident, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content

vicreads24's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Fire/Fire injury

booksoversecondbreakfast's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

I share so much of my story with this author. We have so many shared experiences and I had never heard those experiences expressed so clearly until I read this book. She made me feel like I was there beside her throughout her life and she summarized the main points she was making very thoroughly. I really liked this book, and subtract a quarter of a star only because of how negatively she cast a light towards being uneducated. It made me feel a bit too uncomfortable how angry she was, but I remain understanding of it due to the fact that she has been through so much. There were so many quoteworthy parts to this book, however, and I expect it will be a book I come back to throughout my life. She shared so many great lessons and ways of seeing the world, and I'm really grateful for that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Miscarriage, Blood, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Colonisation

em1115's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Amazing story but very violent. Wanted to stop reading from the content but also wanted to keep reading to know how she got through it.

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Humans are such wonderful and terrifying beings, which I think this book really spells out. They can be so incredibly hurtful and so helpful and dangerous and damaging and also somehow make it out okay. This book is really shocking, but it also shows how deeply mental illness can affect a family and community. I'm really proud of Tara for making it out. This book was a wild read because most memoirs are on lives that happened before Google and you can't actually buy essential oils from their parents at this very moment. The writing style wasn't my favorite, but I thought it was fitting for the story and subject. Definitely a book that I would recommend folks to read. I think it got the publicity that it deserved. I just feel for all the children (all the children) still trapped in that family system. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, and Alcohol

Big content warnings about bodily injuries.

caqui_caqui's review against another edition

inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty