Reviews tagging 'Death'

Educated by Tara Westover

136 reviews

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

katlinstirling_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

Educated by Tara Westover is a well-written,thought-provoking, fascinating and a powerful memoir. Overcoming and breaking free from her survivalist Mormon family  in order to go to college. This is Tara’s reminder to everything that education extends beyond the walls of the community and encompasses our everyday experiences and to question our ingrained beliefs. Emotional, heartbreaking yet utterly moving and deeply inspiring. I applaud Tara for her honesty and resilience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

katharina90's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

4.0

A harrowing memoir about a woman who broke away from an incredibly abusive family to pursue an education.

Difficult to read due to the graphic abuse, neglect and layers of trauma. I'm sure I didn't even capture all of the CWs.

I mostly found it sad and not particularly hopeful which I think just reflects where the author was in her healing journey at the time of writing. 

By the end of the book, the author has managed to separate herself from most of her family and is setting boundaries (which is a huge accomplishment!), but it doesn't seem like she's at peace as she keeps trying to pursue a relationship with her mother who both enabled and participated in the abuse and neglect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Antisemitism, and Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, and Colonisation

miggyfool's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mvr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

gabrielab's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, 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

amy_park's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.5

This memoir was not what I expected. From the blurb and title, I thought we would follow Tara's path to education as within her early childhood there was no opportunity for her to encounter mainstream learning due to her family's beliefs, which caused restrictions on access. In a sense this book does look at this but it's not the sole basis of the book, which was slightly disappointing for me.
To be honest, I found the book quite disconnected from her path to education as some areas didn't make sense and too me maybe wasn't believable. There was no exploration on how she got into Cambridge, and a disconnect on how a person who doesn't go to "traditional" school and be able to acheieve a PhD at Cambridge within 10 years! Finances was briefly touched upon at the start but after getting to England it wasn't, this is a big when looking at access and achieving a higher education, by not discussing this again, I found irritating.
I also think this book centred on way way way too much injury and accident detail, I felt every other chapter focused on an accident (not including the abuse, which was horrific in it's self). Maybe listening to this on audio made the details even more harder to stomach but this wasn't what I expected, I felt injury and accidents were more the main focus of this book than Tara's education.
This all being said, I did think this was a good book. Tara's childhood and family life was surreal to read about. I also like the discussion on recollection at the end of the written book and how memories, recollection and stories differ from each person's point of view, especially when facing a traumatic event. 
If you enjoy memoirs, do read! But there is a LOT of gruesome injuries along the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Religious bigotry

kennaisreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting