Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Educated by Tara Westover

319 reviews

tommierayel's review against another edition

challenging inspiring sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

h_oflanagan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

4.0

Very good, well written. Difficult subject matter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, and Bullying

kaitlyncookies's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

While I generally liked this book, I found the content to be a bit repetitive, and the pacing to be quite slow. I think I was just not in the mood for a book that had so many domestic abuse scenes. To be fair I couldn't help but compare it to the memoir "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls, so this story sounded very familiar to me. Nevertheless, it was well-written, and quite shocking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

katiey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

This is such a worthwhile read. It took me a bit to get through the first 1/4 of the book, adjusting to the writing and the depth of the things that happen in the novel. It's very dark and difficult to read, especially initially, and I had to take short breaks in reading because of the emotion. The writing is vivid and immerses you in the tension and difficulty of her childhood. It made me reflect upon the value of education and how lucky I am to be a person with access to education. I also really valued the commentary on feminism, the healing process, and family. An incredibly impactful read and brought up a lot of emotion in me. I only didn't rate it 5 stars because it was so emotionally difficult to read throughout, but it is so worth reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Blood, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, and Antisemitism

becandthebooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

“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.”

I think this is one of the best books I've ever read! Not just memoirs and non-fiction, but out of any genre.

Educated is a vast array of emotions. It's fascinating, sad, hopeful, confronting, inspiring, unbelievable, addictive and educational. Tara is truly a force to be reckoned with. The bravery she shows by writing and publishing a book like this would have be been very difficult emotionally for her, but I also imagine very healing as well. She has run the risk of shutting herself off from her family forever, but in gaining her education she has learnt how important it is to record and understand history, and that is exactly why she has shared her story.

I honestly wish Tara the absolute best, she has been through so much and deserves peace.

“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.” 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

alpettit's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Wow, what an incredible human story. It’s a story about finding your own strength, of perseverance, of survival. It’s about self discovery and renewal. I couldn’t put it down. The retelling was vivid and dramatic. I was committed to every phase of the Tara’s development. I’m glad she found her peace. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

kinleydoes's review against another edition

emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

4.75

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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

in_the_pines_'s review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Blood, and Car accident

jsanders05's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

I still don’t understand the whole ‘point’ of this novel. Was it to inform people that they can change their lives for the better? Was it to make us feel bad for the author? Was it to enlighten people about the crazy Idahoan Mormans? I’m left a tad confused.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

catcherinthepi's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

What a memoir. This is an incredibly detailed and often grotesque account of a life under the thumb of religious extremism in an extraordinarily abusive household. I was shocked at how casually violence happened in this house...and how so much was brushed under the rug of "God's plan" or "God will strengthen us through this". Chilling stuff. 

Westover being a historian makes a lot of sense, with the way she tells her story and how her life taught her the importance of how we tell stories to ourselves to make sense of the world. People will be studying this one for a long time, I hope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail