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Educated
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
An unforgettable memoir in the tradition of The Glass Castle about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her head-for-the-hills bag. In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her fathers junkyard. Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Taras older brothers became violent. Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if shed traveled too far, if there was still a way home. Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the grief that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see ones life through new eyes, and the will to change it. Advance praise for Educated Powerful, moving, brave, naked and completely at home in its form, Tara Westovers Educated gives us homegrown American originals, who find their Mormon congregation too conventional, and raise their children on a western mountain, refusing them birth certificates and not allowing them to attend school. This is a daughters story of how she grew into herself and comes to understand her home. This book would be far less harrowing if it were a novel.Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary western landscape of her coming of age and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt growing up among fanatics.Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble
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REPollock
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Bailedbailed

Bailing at 56%. This is the type of memoir that is composed of one traumatic incident after another, relentlessly. I commend this author for surviving her shocking childhood and mentally ill, abusive family. I do not however have the voyeur‘s desire to rubberneck at the details.

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Bibliophile_22
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

Gut wrenching and eye opening memoir

11 likes1 stack add
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GingerAntics
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Loved this book. The last sentence here seems to get more important every year since I first read this in 2020.
#TaraWestover #Educated #yourvoicematters #youarestrongerthanyouknow

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TheHungryBookworms
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Such a hard book to read but it was so good I couldn't put it down.

4/5 ⭐

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Beccaf
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
Pickpick

Such an honest and interesting account of life. Really enjoyed.

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Quirkybookworm
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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So many to choose from! Got these for four bucks! #thelastromantics #educated

MerlinTheSlightlyAwkward Educated is a heck of a read! Get your eyebrow raises warmed up ahead of time 🤐 9mo
Caroline2 I loved Educated. 👍 ❤️ 9mo
53 likes2 comments
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Jemmygem
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

Wow what a life and inspiration to have gotten out of that family.

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gebbxl
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
Pickpick

Wowwwwwowowoww there is no way Tara is real. Her degree of strength is inconceivable and I‘m so envious of her drive to do well in school without basically any education or money. I wish my life was this interesting but without the gaslighting and trauma…

Ryab Ugh if only mormons were real 😥 12mo
5 likes1 comment
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CarrieStavish
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Mehso-so

Growing up I knew people from families like this… homeschooling, keeping off the “feds watchlist”, trusting that 100% of everything is God‘s plan, even injuries or fatalities. I know a lot of people think that many things in this book are sensationalized and maybe some of them are, but growing up around people like this, I tend to believe the author. I have a lot more to say about this book but@it will take more than 451 characters.

SamAnne I believe the author. I live close enough to some crazy, messed up insular communities. 13mo
Pogue This book brought up some stuff didn‘t it. 12mo
13 likes2 comments
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eol
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

A tale of how complicated abuse is—especially when it happens within your own family. A case study of gaslighting, administered from all sides. Of how fragile memory is—what is memory, after all, but our personal history, and history is written post-factum by people. How trauma doesn‘t go away. And finally, it‘s a book about understanding and writing one‘s own history, and of overcoming oneself.

With education.

5/5

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Sara_Planz
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick


This book has been on my TBR for way too long and I am so mad that I waited so long to read this. This memoir is one of self discovery, the meaning of family, and a powerful story of loyalty. After everything Tara is put through by her family, she mourns their estrangement from each other. But she also recognizes that these relationships were holding her back from her own goals and life.

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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Well dang, I don‘t know whether to call this book my last of 2022 or my first of 2023, kind of like Jamie being in two places at once in “A Walk to Remember”! 🤪

I resonated with so much of Tara‘s topsy turvey, sometimes very ass backwards journey to obtain her prestigious education.
I‘m still not done with college and often wonder if I really will make it across the stage someday.
Tara proves that against all odds it can be done.

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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover

What is a person to do, I asked, when their obligations to their family conflict with other obligations—to friends, to society, to themselves?

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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover

The past was a ghost, insubstantial, unaffecting. Only the future had weight.

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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover

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.

Suet624 Her life story is really something. 14mo
Chelseabillups30 @Suet624, sure is! I‘m so captivated by it! 14mo
31 likes2 comments
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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover

But God will provide either trials for growth or the means to succeed.

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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover

To admit uncertainty is to admit to weakness, to powerlessness, and to believe in yourself despite both. It is a frailty, but in this frailty there is a strength: the courage to live in your own mind, and not in someone else‘s.

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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover

It was a long shot, but I was the queen of long shots.

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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover

I believed then—and part of me will always believe—that my father‘s words ought to be my own.

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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover

I understood that no future could hold them; no destiny could tolerate him and her. I would remain a child, in perpetuity, always, or I would lose him.

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ETALTON
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

As a bipolar person and someone who often suffers from bipolar disorder, some of Educated was emotionally difficult to read.

The manipulation and toxicity in how her family communicates remind me of my childhood. And my current life at times. Bible verses followed by eerily calm, casual conversations then threats and aggression, later followed by love and guilt stirs up so much emotion it makes me nauseous.

Continued in comments

ETALTON While this book was a challenging read for me, it was also inspiring and heartwarming—a must-read. As Tara takes you on her incredible life journey, you must decide what to call it. You could call it transformation or metamorphosis or falsity or betrayal. She calls it education. 1y
16 likes1 comment
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EclecticBookLover
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

Well, that's one way to kick off #Roll100. I absolutely devoured this book. Just an incredible roller coaster of a story. @PuddleJumper

elisebarker Ugh. One of my favorite reads of last year!!! 1y
PuddleJumper Brilliant! 1y
ETALTON I just finished this as well and roller coaster is a great way to describe it. I have a feeling this will stay on my top ten list for 2023. 1y
EclecticBookLover @ETALTON This one will definitely stay with me for a while. A very powerful read. 1y
KCofKaysville @EclecticBookLover I was totally absorbed in it as well. 1y
43 likes5 comments
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ETALTON
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Excuse me while I go cry….

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BitchinBooks
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

“Curiosity is a luxury for the financially secure…. I began to experience the most powerful advantage of money: the ability to think of things besides money.”

“He said positive liberty is self-mastery—the rule of the self, by the self. To have positive liberty, he explained, is to take control of one‘s own mind; to be liberated from irrational fears and beliefs, from addictions, superstitions and all other forms of self-coercion.”

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TheRiehlDeal
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

Pretty amazing what Tara went through to get where she is today. Tara‘s parents might not have fully supported her educational endeavors, but that wouldn‘t stop her from being accepted to a couple Ivy League schools and even Cambridge! And Julia Whelan is quickly becoming one of my favorite narrators.

4⭐️
12/14/22

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j.rye
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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I‘ve been feeling feeling down and overwhelmed since my big move last year. I pulled away from Litsy and people in my life. So it was a big shock to get such a thoughtful surprise from @Sleepswithbooks

It feels really good that someone put in the time to check my tbr list and send me a book for Christmas. Thank you so much for bringing a smile to my face during such a hard time.

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks ❤️❤️❤️ 1y
SamAnne ❤️❤️❤️ 1y
Sleepswithbooks My #litsylove friends bring so many smiles to my face and lift my spirits often. I often hope I can do the same in return 💛📬 1y
LiteraryinLawrence 💗💗 1y
47 likes4 comments
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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Choose the good.

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NikkiCureton
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

I don‘t even know where to start with this one. I literally couldn‘t stop listening. I kept asking myself “how is this somebody‘s real life?” Tara Westover is a testament to the notion that it‘s never too late to become what you‘re meant to be and to overcoming a very unconventional/dangerous/crazy upbringing. This book will stay with me for a long time, I think.

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Chelseabillups30
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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There‘s a lot of really messed up stuff that started to unfold this month after I made a quick move that was supposed to open up a new and better chapter for me…

But a right move that my landlord/person I‘m currently living with made is asking me if I had read this book yet, and it‘s been on my TBR for literal and actual AGES!!

Now the question is, can I get it read and give it back to her by January when I‘m supposed to relocate again?!?

Ruthiella It‘s a pretty quick read, once you get started. A very traumatic childhood, however. It‘s kinda like a car accident you can‘t take your eyes off. Best of luck to you for your next move. 1y
37 likes1 comment
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Booksbymybed
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

This was a difficult, and yet a fascinating read. The trauma, the perseverance, the healing. Lot to ponder.

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elisebarker
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

Wow wow wow. What an excellent book. So very sad, but Westover‘s ability to escape it all was so inspiring. A must read if you liked The Glass Castle.

26 likes1 stack add
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Deblovestoread
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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I couldn‘t choose just one. All different but all good. The tagged is a great memoir. Here are the other three

The Enchanted April
Exit West
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Have you been playing along? @bthegood @BookwormAHN @DaveGreen7777

Thanks for the tag, Misty 💜

sherrisilvera Loved Exit West! 2y
DaveGreen7777 Thanks for the tag! 😊 2y
bthegood Thx for the tag😊 2y
40 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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RebeccaRoo7
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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"My father & I looked at the temple. He saw God; I saw granite. We looked at each other. He saw a woman damned; I saw an unhinged old man, literally disfigured by his beliefs. And yet, triumphant. I remember the words of Sancho Panza:' An adventuring knight is someone who's beaten & then finds himself emperor.'"

#nonfiction #family #dysfunctional #religion #memior #readKY #summer #amreading #coffeetime #education

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Jenb2022
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
Pickpick

Very interesting read, well worth it.

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IselaKay
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

I loved this one! I‘m so happy for the author for finding her own voice! I found it relatable as I grew up in a relatively small and conservative town within a religious family. When I left home for the military, I also felt like I was a step behind others and had to become ‘Educated‘ in a lot of ways—outside a classroom. …And now, thankfully, inside one too!

Definitely recommend!

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smalldogs_bigbooks2419
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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I really hope I‘m not wrong in thinking this book, which has been on my TBR list since it‘s release, is one of the required textbooks for the College Composition course I‘ll be taking in the fall.
This also happened in my first college level English class, in which The Glass Castle was our textbook. I had already read it at that point and was not at all upset about reading it for a second time and getting to discuss it in class. 🤓📚❤️

36 likes1 stack add
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BookedBySunrise
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Bailedbailed

Ok, Probably an unpopular opinion but I've decided to bail on this one. The writing is slow and I've found myself rereading Passages because her writing style is confusing to me. Half way thru it and just not liking it at all. The picture is of My finch so if anyone has the app you will understand why he's so cute. My code is L8Z2HEL3VX is interested in being my neighbor

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BookedBySunrise
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Finished and Enjoyed Where The Crawdads Sing so I decided to try this one. As someone who grew up in a strict Pentecostal household during the summer months when I went to visit my mother , this may hit close to home.

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DHill
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Just started this and it‘s already captured my attention. I‘m not sure why I waited so long.

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SiameseCatsRead
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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This is a prime struggle that Tara has throughout this book. It is interesting to see how she chooses to grow, abs if she will choose to make herself happy, or to make everyone else happy out of obligation.
#memoir #autobiography #educated

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bibliothecarivs
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

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SiameseCatsRead
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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These are my reading #cats. They love laying on me as I read. Sometimes they even try to sneak their way in front of the book for more attention!
Top left: Hemingway-Siamese seal point kitten
Top Right: Edison-Siamese blue point cat
Bottom Left: Churchill-Siamese blue point cat
Bottom Right: Siamese puddle

wanderinglynn So sweet! ❤️🐱 2y
Kshakal They are beautiful!! 2y
SiameseCatsRead @Kshakal thank you! They look quite dapper in bow ties. 2y
20 likes4 comments
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SiameseCatsRead
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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I've actually been reading physical books and visiting libraries. I'm literally only 25 pages into the book, but so far I'd give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. The only time I highlight books is if I'm using my Kindle or if I'm reading an academic book where I'm taking notes. @MoonWitch94

What do you do, @Librarybelle and @Enchanted_Bibliophile ?

Librarybelle Thanks for the tag! 2y
Enchanted_Bibliophile Thanks for the tag 🌷 2y
11 likes4 comments
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bibliothecarivs
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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'The curry arrived and I focused my attention on it. Mother had grown tired of the lecture, and asked Dad to talk about something else. "But the world is about to end!" he said. He was shouting now. "Of course it is," Mother said. "But let's not discuss it over dinner."'

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JacintaMCarter
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
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Pickpick

#2022Book43
This was my third time reading this and it still made me just as angry, yet hopeful, as the first time. And my students really loved it as well.

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kayleigh7747
Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover
Pickpick

Not for the faint of heart, this book pricked at religious and family trauma from my past and carried me along with the author through her life, leaving me speechless multiple times.