Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

17 reviews

kinleydoes's review against another edition

emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Genocide, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, and War

eve81's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer

booksoversecondbreakfast's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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.

---

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

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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

rebah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

taracoleman's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Genocide, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Sexism, Slavery, Antisemitism, and Grief

tigertheory'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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Genocide, Police brutality, Islamophobia, and Murder

alreads420's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child abuse, Gore, Torture, Medical content, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, and Antisemitism

aliwhaley's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This book is fantastic and tragic and inspiring all at once. It’s hard to believe people like this really exist, and the fact that they do is so harrowing. With or without the Mormonism and end-of-days bent, these stories of manipulation and abuse play out time and again, and it is so difficult to read it from inside the mind of the victim. I am so impressed by Dr. Tara Westover.

As a writer, her ability to convey at once how she felt at the time events unfolded, whilst also conveying the incongruity of those feelings now that she has reflected and grown, but also having compassion for her former self is astonishing. She writes terrifying people, and yet their moments of loveableness are believable. You feel every blow with her.

And, as a human, her strength is just incredible. I wish everybody in a similar situation could read this book and know they’re not in the wrong

All the content warnings - this is not a light read 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide and Gun violence

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

rumay's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence and Vomit

Minor: Genocide