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hasna03's review against another edition
5.0
“It’s strange how you give the people you love so much power over you.”
Faith can be a very very dangerous thing if not properly placed.
I am having a hard time to collect my thoughts and write something about this book. I haven't read many memoirs to be able to judge this. But What an incredibly well written memoir! There were times I had to stop reading and grasp the sheer awfulness of the situation. There were times I had to remind myself that all the things that happened, actually happened, that these things are not fiction, someone lived through these and yet emerged to be a beautiful, successful, powerful, independent woman. It is nearly baffling how someone without formal education could excel as she did—receiving a PhD at the end of her studies. And not only this, her two brothers also went on to receive formal education and did very very well. So the thing is, this family, the people there are genius, talented people some of whose perspectives have not been mainstream and that led to a formation of a family like hers.
“My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs.”
Tara Westover grew up under the watchful eye of a survivalist, unconventional family. And she never went to a school until she was 17. Her parents(specifically her father) did not believe in government, did not believe in sending children to school for fear of being brainwashed, they did not believe in doctors, hospitals or medication, always used to live with the fear of world abomination. Whenever a member of the family was injured, be it smallest cut to grave head injury, burn or even explosion, they would be treated at home with herbs, tinctures and homemade essential oils.
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?”
Here Westover shares her story about being caught between loyalty to family and God, and the desire to find her own way, to learn things on her own. She talks about the constant conflicts she faces about how she was raised, how her perception was while growing up, and how she sees the actual world now. She also shares what it is like to constantly have your self-worth weakened by those who claim to love you and want what's best for you. She had to struggle to come to terms with the fact that you could ever truly deserve a life in which you don't have to worry about abuse, humiliation and mortification, when it is your own family causing these things. There were times I was infuriated at her for not believing that she deserves the things she has achieved, for believing that she deserves to be treated the way she was by her brother Shawn.
Yes, Some parts/memories did feel far-fetched and didn't really add up well with the whole story. But, the author herself clarifies that these are entirely her memories and there are different perspectives. So, I do not want to see this as a fault.
“You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them,” she says now. “You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life.”
There's a belief that when you love someone immensely, be it your family, or anyone, you are supposed to put up with everything that comes in your way. And if you miss them, you can't be glad that they are finally gone from your life. But is it really what love is? Love is something you give to someone for free without any conditions, without the constant urge that they need to change themselves for you to love them. But, it is easier said than done. Tara westover constantly fights with her perceptions that comes with the education and her love for her family that urges her to go back to what she was before. And finally, she wins. She stops being the daughter her father raised and becomes her own self. The power that requires to do this, to let go of what is in front of you and see for what else it could be, is unimaginable.
"The decisions I made after that moment were not the ones she would have made. They were the choices of a changed person, a new self. You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal.
I call it an education."
This is a book that has made me appreciate things I took for granted, things that have been and are so accessible and easy for me. A book I recommend reading specially now when the world has literally stopped moving.
Faith can be a very very dangerous thing if not properly placed.
I am having a hard time to collect my thoughts and write something about this book. I haven't read many memoirs to be able to judge this. But What an incredibly well written memoir! There were times I had to stop reading and grasp the sheer awfulness of the situation. There were times I had to remind myself that all the things that happened, actually happened, that these things are not fiction, someone lived through these and yet emerged to be a beautiful, successful, powerful, independent woman. It is nearly baffling how someone without formal education could excel as she did—receiving a PhD at the end of her studies. And not only this, her two brothers also went on to receive formal education and did very very well. So the thing is, this family, the people there are genius, talented people some of whose perspectives have not been mainstream and that led to a formation of a family like hers.
“My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs.”
Tara Westover grew up under the watchful eye of a survivalist, unconventional family. And she never went to a school until she was 17. Her parents(specifically her father) did not believe in government, did not believe in sending children to school for fear of being brainwashed, they did not believe in doctors, hospitals or medication, always used to live with the fear of world abomination. Whenever a member of the family was injured, be it smallest cut to grave head injury, burn or even explosion, they would be treated at home with herbs, tinctures and homemade essential oils.
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?”
Here Westover shares her story about being caught between loyalty to family and God, and the desire to find her own way, to learn things on her own. She talks about the constant conflicts she faces about how she was raised, how her perception was while growing up, and how she sees the actual world now. She also shares what it is like to constantly have your self-worth weakened by those who claim to love you and want what's best for you. She had to struggle to come to terms with the fact that you could ever truly deserve a life in which you don't have to worry about abuse, humiliation and mortification, when it is your own family causing these things. There were times I was infuriated at her for not believing that she deserves the things she has achieved, for believing that she deserves to be treated the way she was by her brother Shawn.
Yes, Some parts/memories did feel far-fetched and didn't really add up well with the whole story. But, the author herself clarifies that these are entirely her memories and there are different perspectives. So, I do not want to see this as a fault.
“You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them,” she says now. “You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life.”
There's a belief that when you love someone immensely, be it your family, or anyone, you are supposed to put up with everything that comes in your way. And if you miss them, you can't be glad that they are finally gone from your life. But is it really what love is? Love is something you give to someone for free without any conditions, without the constant urge that they need to change themselves for you to love them. But, it is easier said than done. Tara westover constantly fights with her perceptions that comes with the education and her love for her family that urges her to go back to what she was before. And finally, she wins. She stops being the daughter her father raised and becomes her own self. The power that requires to do this, to let go of what is in front of you and see for what else it could be, is unimaginable.
"The decisions I made after that moment were not the ones she would have made. They were the choices of a changed person, a new self. You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal.
I call it an education."
This is a book that has made me appreciate things I took for granted, things that have been and are so accessible and easy for me. A book I recommend reading specially now when the world has literally stopped moving.
pennyviss's review against another edition
Not my type of book.
Could not get into it.
Could not get into it.
itambean's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.5
another book that i read as a junior that summons my analytical writing skills
cyndireadsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
A few notes on this book (that I recommend wholeheartedly) after reading a few negative reviews on Goodreads.
1. Educated is not quite as literal as it sounds. This isn’t just a book about how an unschooled girl gets schooling. So know that going in.
2. While there is certainly a survivalist and fundamentalist bent to this books, this isn’t a Warren Jeffs or even a David Koresh scenario. I think a good bit of this perception comes from how the book is being marketed somewhat inaccurately. I think this has more to do with mental illness than religious fundamentalism. The mental illness manifests as their religion in some ways. This family didn’t practice the same religion as the rest of their community. They weren’t AT Ruby Ridge or even living a particularly similar life and once the author gets some facts about real news events, she herself has some revelations about what she thought her life/reality was, based on what information she received from her father and mother. See: mental illness above.
3. Yes. It does seem unrealistic. But after the James Frey fiasco, these books are pretty well fact checked. The author herself points out the way memories differ amongst witnesses, but the facts (if not some of the minutia) in the book have been corroborated by three of her brothers and her then boyfriend and by printed documentation in some cases. In general, those who disagree are the ones who were the perpetrators - those with a vested interest in saying it is false in order to protect their reputation and finances.
4. There are gaps. How can she afford plane tickets. When did she go from unable to wear rounded collar shirts to living with someone. Why was it ok for XY to go to the hospital but not XYZ. Those things were not the story she chose to tell. It’s a relatively short book and she’s telling a very specific story. You won’t have every question answered but that doesn’t mean the whole thing is then false.
5. As with so many GR reviews, a fair number of the complaints I read were simply people not reading carefully. A lot of the questions people had were actually explained in the narrative. Specifically. In some detail. For two pages. One example - how did this poor family suddenly become wealthy? Covered. Repeatedly. And it’s not an insignificant thing. So I’m not sure how they still have those types of question. I see that A LOT in negative reviews of many many books.
6. I think the comparisons to The Glass Castle are inevitable. There are a great number of similarities, but the story is different enough, the journey is unique enough, to leave room for both. I am glad that I read them many years apart rather than side by side. It would have been a monotony of tragedy.
1. Educated is not quite as literal as it sounds. This isn’t just a book about how an unschooled girl gets schooling. So know that going in.
2. While there is certainly a survivalist and fundamentalist bent to this books, this isn’t a Warren Jeffs or even a David Koresh scenario. I think a good bit of this perception comes from how the book is being marketed somewhat inaccurately. I think this has more to do with mental illness than religious fundamentalism. The mental illness manifests as their religion in some ways. This family didn’t practice the same religion as the rest of their community. They weren’t AT Ruby Ridge or even living a particularly similar life and once the author gets some facts about real news events, she herself has some revelations about what she thought her life/reality was, based on what information she received from her father and mother. See: mental illness above.
3. Yes. It does seem unrealistic. But after the James Frey fiasco, these books are pretty well fact checked. The author herself points out the way memories differ amongst witnesses, but the facts (if not some of the minutia) in the book have been corroborated by three of her brothers and her then boyfriend and by printed documentation in some cases. In general, those who disagree are the ones who were the perpetrators - those with a vested interest in saying it is false in order to protect their reputation and finances.
4. There are gaps. How can she afford plane tickets. When did she go from unable to wear rounded collar shirts to living with someone. Why was it ok for XY to go to the hospital but not XYZ. Those things were not the story she chose to tell. It’s a relatively short book and she’s telling a very specific story. You won’t have every question answered but that doesn’t mean the whole thing is then false.
5. As with so many GR reviews, a fair number of the complaints I read were simply people not reading carefully. A lot of the questions people had were actually explained in the narrative. Specifically. In some detail. For two pages. One example - how did this poor family suddenly become wealthy? Covered. Repeatedly. And it’s not an insignificant thing. So I’m not sure how they still have those types of question. I see that A LOT in negative reviews of many many books.
6. I think the comparisons to The Glass Castle are inevitable. There are a great number of similarities, but the story is different enough, the journey is unique enough, to leave room for both. I am glad that I read them many years apart rather than side by side. It would have been a monotony of tragedy.
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.
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
kellyfrecca's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
nataalia_sanchez's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
leighgoodmark's review against another edition
4.0
Westover is a strong writer, and it's a compelling story, but I felt a bit wrong while reading it. The whole point of memoir is to learn from someone else's life, and maybe what she needs is for others to bear witness to her pain, but a little voice kept asking whether we would be reading about her life if her family hadn't been so abusive, and whether that should be entertainment.