Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Una educación by Tara Westover

830 reviews

riley_abc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Racial slurs

amy_park's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.5

This memoir was not what I expected. From the blurb and title, I thought we would follow Tara's path to education as within her early childhood there was no opportunity for her to encounter mainstream learning due to her family's beliefs, which caused restrictions on access. In a sense this book does look at this but it's not the sole basis of the book, which was slightly disappointing for me.
To be honest, I found the book quite disconnected from her path to education as some areas didn't make sense and too me maybe wasn't believable. There was no exploration on how she got into Cambridge, and a disconnect on how a person who doesn't go to "traditional" school and be able to acheieve a PhD at Cambridge within 10 years! Finances was briefly touched upon at the start but after getting to England it wasn't, this is a big when looking at access and achieving a higher education, by not discussing this again, I found irritating.
I also think this book centred on way way way too much injury and accident detail, I felt every other chapter focused on an accident (not including the abuse, which was horrific in it's self). Maybe listening to this on audio made the details even more harder to stomach but this wasn't what I expected, I felt injury and accidents were more the main focus of this book than Tara's education.
This all being said, I did think this was a good book. Tara's childhood and family life was surreal to read about. I also like the discussion on recollection at the end of the written book and how memories, recollection and stories differ from each person's point of view, especially when facing a traumatic event. 
If you enjoy memoirs, do read! But there is a LOT of gruesome injuries along the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Religious bigotry

elisacarlene's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

hkell13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book was truly incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Car accident

tamteaches's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

hannamlindsley's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty

ksilvio's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

shainabriley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

dreamsonpaper's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This poignant narrative of self education is immersive, vulnerable and self- actualizing.  It is a must-read for anyone who ever felt unheard and had to make a new path for themselves.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

wogslandwriter's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

This book deserves all the hype. It is a phenomenal memoir and it is obvious that it was loving writing by an author with a PhD in history. Westover has an elegant and immersive writing style that captures the reader's attention and communicates the nuance and true danger of her past. She is able to tell stories of abuse and control and toxic family dynamics while still holding the love she has for her family at the same time. As someone with a controlling father, it was hard to read, but also very cathartic to get Westover's perspective and hear her story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail