Scan barcode
soupqueen's review against another edition
4.0
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
ksilvio's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
elderwoodreads's review against another edition
5.0
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
laurajordensharris's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
sierra_n's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
pandemonicbaby's review against another edition
5.0
This book is such a marvelous, deeply interesting exploration of the power of education, of the meaning of family, of struggling with abuse and still being able to forge an identity for yourself afterward. Her path towards education is also a path towards being able to think for herself, instead of being told what to think by others. This might be the strongest, most powerful message woven in between the threads of this memoir, an ode to finding yourself through education.
So much nuance, so many tiny little intricacies present in the text show that Tara Westover truly is a historian -- that she's able to see the many different versions of a story and present them to the reader, making them reflect upon the significance and meaning of each unique account. "[...] nothing final can be known", as she quotes John Stuart Mill.
I feel like I'm going to reread this soon, just so I can underline the passages in this book that are so powerful they would make anyone stop reading just to reflect upon them. I shouldn't have been scared of underlining this book, gosh!! I gotta start being more willing to do that, whenever I think it might be important to me.
All in all, wonderful book. Marvelously crafted, beautiful writing, moving and powerful message. I cried reading this. I think it will stay with me forever.
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Genocide, Miscarriage, Racism, Vomit, and Mass/school shootings
littlelikkel's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Racial slurs, and Car accident
val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition
5.0
- Happy International Women’s Day! I didn’t plan to read this for this day, but I’m so glad that I did because Tara Westover is such an strong woman.
- This book was so powerful. This was Tara owning her story and telling it the way it was from HER perspective, the way she lived her life. I have so much respect for her, this was published in 2018 and I would not be surprised if she's still healing.
"You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them.
You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life."
-Tara Westover
- I'm genuinely surprised she didn't talk about menstruation. And I have to admit I was so scared for her when she was a child that Shawn would rape her, then I was scared he would kill her. Can we talk about how she barely looked or talked to boys and yet when Shawn said she had a "reputation" they were horrified of her being pregnant, SHE thought she was pregnant and looked at herself in the mirror... The lack of sexual education. And then when they confirmed she wasn't??? I'm scared of just thinking how they confirmed it.
- I feel so so sorry for those kids of the siblings who don't support her. but especially for the ones of Audrey and Shawn, because they are just the living image of their parents which means their childhood will be just like hers unless they run.
- She is right by mentioning that this is not about Mormonism. Maybe religion played a role in this, but her brother and parent’s evil in my opinion belonged to them, not to any Satan and of course is not the will of any God they believe in.
- I have to admit that I didn’t cry. I understand the moments that I “should’ve”, I understand why other people would’ve cried. But I’ve never lived abused so I can’t say I was reliving something, and I’ve always been the “strongest” child who didn’t cry easily because I had a “cold heart”, that’s how I view myself and maybe there’s something wrong with me too that I can’t see, but that’s the truth.
- I didn’t cry, instead I was shocked, stunned, angry, I could not believe it, it was all just so crazy. When you think of stories of more kids living like this, that’s it, they’re just stories you hear of someone else living far far away, they didn’t happen to you, you don’t read about them with more detail in a book. It’s is eye opening to finally read this story and realize “this is real, this has happened, this is still happening not only in her family but probably so many others”
- I can’t stop thinking on how powerful this book is and how more people should read it, yes it was Number 1, yes it’s acclaimed, yes it has Awards, and somehow it’s not enough. It will neve be enough.
- I want this book in my library, highlighted with tabs, with annotations written by me and other people, I want to have discussions around it, I want to check on it from time to time. I want to highlight with a pencil all the obstacles, and with colors her support system, her quotes, her growing up and changing her mind. There’s so many things to point out, so many things to discuss.
- I feel so overwhelmed by this whole book. She’s powerful, she’s brave, she’s inspiring. She got over the obstacles, she got her education. Education IS a privilege and it could be life changing for some.
- The fact that she dedicated this to her brother Tyler, because he was always nice to her, he always supported her, he is the one who kept telling her to go to college.
- This is so far away from my fantasy books, hell I WISH this was some dystopian shit, but it’s a MEMOIR and I just can’t stop thinking about it. This is not fantasy, and yet this is one of the few examples of why I must keep getting out of my comfort zone tbr every once in a while, to discover stories (fiction or not) like this one.
- I want to keep reading so many reviews now, from all the ratings. I need to read more opinions. I even want to read the thesis she presented for her PhD.
- This makes me think of the kind of parent I would be, consuming books, blogs, podcasts about parenting the second I learn I was pregnant. I almost want to study psychology just to help kids.
- I'm thankful my healthcare and education were priorities in my family. I'm thankful I was not forced into any religion. I'm thankful I was loved. I'm thankful I didn't live an abuse like this and I pray I never will, thankful that I can recognize the signs of when something is wrong and I must ask for help. I'm thankful for my family (we are not perfect, and of course I have many complains about them lol but I'm thankful for them)
- I keep thinking and thinking and thinking, and there is no denial to me. I can’t rate the same way I do my fantasy books (or any other fiction book for that matter). I can’t even compare it to other non fiction I’ve read because they are self help, and I’ve read just a couple of memoirs. So this is a very unique book to me, and as such it has to be rated for it’s own reasons. At the beginning I thought how difficult it would be to rate it, but now I think it's a 5 ⭐
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol
Please read the trigger warnings before reading the book (there might be spoilers here):
- Emotional abuse / Physical abuse / Child abuse: The way the mother and father (especially) raised the children had me sick, the emotional and physical abuse those kids had to endure…
- Domestic abuse / Violence: Her brother would beat her up and humiliate her.
- Gaslighting: I swear her parents were living in another reality, all the stories they got in their heads and the lies of how the world worked (the end of the world, how the government was evil and it was dangerous to go to school or the hospital)
- Racial slurs: Her brother kept calling her by the N word because when she worked with them she got her face dirty…
- Animal death / cruelty: Her brother killed his dog with a knife, who the fuck does that.
- Injury detail / Blood / Fire Injury: When she was a child she had to help her brother with his leg because there was another “job incident” with their father. And later her father is near an explosion and ends up pretty bad. Her other brother also injured his head twice.
- Mental illness: She’s convinced her father is bipolar.
- Car accident: As children they had not one but TWO car accidents. And then his brother had yet another car accident on his own.
- Sexism / Misogyny: Basically what her father and brother are. Her father treating her like shit inside the house because she was a woman and she could not even have short sleeves. I don’t know a lot of stupid ideas about women and how they should behave.
- Medical trauma: From all the injuries, accident, simply being sick and going to the hospital for the first time.
- Panic attacks: She experienced this at college.
- Cancer: One of her grandmothers had cancer and died of it.
- Adult / minor relationship / Pregnancy: Her brother was like 27 with a 17-18 yo he ends up marrying. And later she has two dangerous pregnancies.
- Drug abuse / Alcohol: Her brother, of course.
- Toxic relationship: Pretty obvious with who (her family)
sarahnella's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
mothstrand's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Antisemitism, and Medical content