Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Educated by Tara Westover

34 reviews

alreads420's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

poppyedition's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, and Toxic relationship

rachealcroucher's review

challenging dark inspiring tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Forced institutionalization

venetia_rose's review

challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

This such an amazing book, one of the best I’ve read this year! Please check trigger warnings, though, the author’s life is sometimes brutally and graphically described. I’d wait to read this if your mental health isn’t the best at the moment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Racial slurs

sasshq's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Antisemitism, Body shaming, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cancer, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Grief, Genocide, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Stalking, Dementia, and Medical content

madamelacy's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This was like the polar opposite of a parenting handbook.

A real page turner of a book. I felt that Tara gave a really even-handed account of her childhood, with caveats when she felt her memory varied from others. 

She was brought up in a Mormon household with a dad who was a prepper and her mum who was a herbalist and untrained midwife. She accepted her dad’s worldview and did what she was told, despite the physical harm that was caused. Her parent’s’ rejection of The Government meant that she and her siblings didn’t go to school and were not treated by doctors when they were injured. One of her brothers was incredibly physically abusive, and it was the parents’ defending of him which ultimately caused the demise of Tara’s relationship with her parents. 

Tara’s eventual separation from her family was painful and protracted, and clearly took a lot of courage. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, Bullying, and Violence

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Racial slurs

aluminij's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Gaslighting, Violence, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Torture, and Domestic abuse

marissaboone's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense

5.0

I debated my rating of this book but ultimately decided that any book that makes me feel so much emotion is deserving of 5 stars. Truthfully this is a very difficult read (especially if you do it as an audiobook, which I did). Some of the cruelties Tara faced - both as a child and a young adult - are unimaginable until you’ve heard them described. Her telling of a life filled with extremist religious views, misogyny, and abuse is very detailed and sometimes graphic. However there are also glimpses of her own loyalty, passion, and perseverance. I was left wondering about her family and her own future. It was an interesting experience to say the least, and I found myself sending well wishes to her, a stranger, many times when she described both her familial hardships and academic successes. This is a worthy read if you are interested in the power of education.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Violence, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Sexism, Blood, Cancer, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Death, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Torture

satsumaorange's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

Holy cow. What is it with me and reading books at the EXACT right time in my life that I needed to read them? This was phenomenal. Gut-wrenching. Hard to listen to at some points (I listened to the audiobook). It was scary to be in the midst of the deepest, darkest parts of the author's life, and then out of nowhere, she would describe an experience so incredibly specific, but so deeply familiar to my own life, that it caught me completely off guard. This book made me think deeply about what it means to think for yourself. Who do we allow to do our thinking for us? Who do we allow to construct our reality? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, Gun violence, Abandonment, Ableism, Miscarriage, and Stalking

If you are reading these content warnings and are concerned about non-consensual sexual content:

The author does not describe any sexual touching or rape scenes, only scenes of physical abuse that may have themes of body shaming and/or humiliation. It's extremely uncomfortable, but there are no descriptions of rape in this book, if that is a hard limit for you.

aspvisualarts's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Child death, Medical trauma, Sexism, Body horror, Body shaming, Grief, Mental illness, and Violence