Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

Educated by Tara Westover

12 reviews

elderwoodreads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I was a bit hesitant to read this as I feel memoirs in this genre (person denied education receives education) can be a little one note. This is the book of the genre. Westover is an amazing writer both in her storytelling as well as her reflection. Must read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

booksoversecondbreakfast's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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.

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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

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. 

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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

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

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

inneriara's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

lilacwhisker's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

5.0

Really interesting story about a girl learning about the world around her. I thought it was interesting how while she was educated in an academic way, she was also educated socially. She understood social norms and where she fit in, and made friends and other great relationships along the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Antisemitism, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infertility, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Cancer, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Islamophobia, Dementia, and Death of parent

brookey8888's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

Wow was this interesting. It’s honestly scary that there are people like this out there. I feel so bad for everyone involved because they all need some type of help. I would highly recommend this. I do have to say it wasn’t what I was expecting. All the reviews I heard didn’t say anything about the physical and emotional abuse so I was a little shocked. 

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Content Warnings

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

aklovekorn's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gun violence and Islamophobia

neni's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

 This was amazing. The way the author writes is incredibly gripping and compelling. Her life and her experiences are so far from anything I’ve experience or even thought it was possible to experience nowadays, that I kept needing to remind myself the story was true and not some indredibly elaborate fiction. And yet I was still able to empathise and engage with the story on an emotional level, because the writing was so good.
 

It was painful and yet fascinating to read about her interactions with her family, with all the gaslighting and the toxicity, and yet experience some beautiful, wholesome moments with her too. I think the author did a fantastic job of telling the story in a way that felt just and appropriate to the gravity anfd complexity of the situation, didn’t diminish the validity of her experiences and feelings, and yet wasn’t an angry manifesto about how singularly evil her family was. There was pain and violence, but also compassion in there, and that made it an even more valuable read because people, and life, are just like that. Messy and incoherent and unresolved in a way that is not necessarily “satisfying” like fiction is. 

I was also just overall immensely impressed with her life’s journey. Having no access to an education and then ending up with degrees from Cambridge and Harvard, being super talented at writing, is just like WOW. Not to mention the ammount of growth, work and self-reflection that processing and getting through all that trauma must have necessitated. Truly astonishing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Islamophobia, and Dysphoria

accidentalspaceexplorer's review against another edition

challenging inspiring slow-paced

5.0

This is an extremely powerful book about the power of education and how it changed one woman's life. But it's also about white supremacy, mental illness, abusive families, and how all of those things impact children as they grow up. I couldn't put it down, even though it was very dark at times, and I think a lot of people would get a lot from this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia

Minor: Animal death