Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

342 reviews

jmyodafriend's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

"Educated" was not at all what I expected, although it is very well written. The memoir reads more like a novel than non-fiction, and kept me turning pages even after each shocking or horrifying recollection of the author's life. I'm amazed at how she was able to reshape herself and her life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

emmmmmaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Mental illness, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Car accident

krhe's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

2.75

Qué dolor y qué denso de leer. Una mierda de experiencia pero la forma de escribir pues pffff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kathleentcarroll's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

2.0

I felt like almost every chapter was unnecessarily filled with traumatic and gory details with very little payoff; I’ve read memoirs from other authors who have experienced traumatic events without feeling like I was reading a slog of someone’s every trauma, but westover couldn’t do that. I also felt like she omitted so much detail about HOW she became educated, achieved these impossible feats, and made it out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

jenna0818's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Every chapter my jaw dropped even further. The writing is so visceral, I felt like I was on the same emotional journey as Tara in her head. It was maddening but honest and caused me to reflect on a lot of themes. I completely believe her accounting of her life, real life is crazier than fiction. Thank you Tara for sharing your bravery and reflection.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal cruelty, Violence, and Car accident

maria_thebookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

"There's a world out there, Tara. And it will look a lot different once Dad is no longer whispering his view of it in your ear." 

This book will definitely stay with me forever and is one of my top books of the year so far. 

Educated is a remarkable memoir about Tara Westwood, who grew up in rural Idaho as the youngest child in a large Mormon family. Her father believed doctors were evil, so Tara never received legitimate medical attention as a child, despite needing it many times. Her father was also terrified of the government, so Tara (and some of her siblings) didn't have a birth certificate for years and her mother didn't even remember her real birthday. 

Tara had no education whatsoever growing up, as her father didnt allow her to attend school and neither of her parents legitimately homeschooled her. She got into college by studying for the ACT with the help of her brother. Tara writes in her memoir, "I don't understand why I wasn't allowed to get a decent education as a child.” 

Tara's entire childhood consisted of manual labor, including salvaging in a junk yard and working in construction. As her family didn't believe in going to doctors or hospitals, they suffered through many accidents (gashes, stabs, falls, multiple car accidents), with no medical intervention. Her mother was a midwife who believed in "energy healing", and she "treated" any medical issues with homeopathic remedies. Tara never took painkillers or over the counter medicine of any kind as a child. After a car accident, when Tara likely had a concussion, she only received assistance from an "energy specialist." 

The physical, emotional, and educational neglect was absolutely infuriating to read about, along with the descriptions of physical abuse that Tara experienced at the hands of her violent brother. The gaslighting and betrayal from her family caused deep self-doubt in Tara. However, Tara is incredibly resilient and defied all the odds to receive not only a university degree but also, ultimately, a PhD. 

Reading this book was a brutal roller coaster of emotions.

On a personal level, I related to Tara in growing up in a very strict religious environment with certain beliefs surrounding modesty and modern medicine. Tara had to distance herself from the radical beliefs of her parents and the culture in which she grew up, which is something I relate to, although not to the same extremes. 

The themes of growing up, moving away, forming your own beliefs, and realizing everything you've been taught is either narrow-minded, untrue, or simply evil, are powerful. Tara's incredible writing does not sugarcoat these challenges but rather reveals these experiences in her own life. Healing is not linear, and navigating one's way out of a cult is not easy, but Tara desrcibes her journey with raw and intense self-reflection.  

I highly recommend this book because you will not turn the last page unchanged.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

soupqueen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Dementia, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

edencho's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Blood

steffigb's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

moonbasket'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