22 January 2021
Educated
Tara Westover was 17 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 father's 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 Tara's 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 she'd 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 one's life through new eyes and the will to change it.
Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here
| Title | : | Educated |
| Edition Language | : | English |
| ISBN | : | null |
| Format Type | : |
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I’ve always prided myself on my ability to teach myself things. Whenever I don’t know a lot about something, I’ll read a textbook or watch an online course until I do.I thought I was pretty good...
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"It's strange how you give the people you love so much power over you"I am in the minority on this one, but this did not blow me away. I wanted to read this after seeing so many high ratings. I was ex...
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2 stars and I know, I am an outlier.I have been born with a gene called the "doubting Thomas" gene. It has made me very leery of trusting and believing a lot of things and unfortunately this gene kick...
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Difficult to read. Impossible to put down. A powerful, powerful book that you shouldn’t miss. I can’t just leave it at that because Tara Westover’s story deserves more than those few words. I do...
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Westover is clearly a decent writer, but I felt underwhelmed by this book. Some things didn't seem to add up. Such as how an uneducated mountain wildgirl clicked her heels together, magicked up thousa...
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I had a really tough time reading this book.The physical and emotional abuse made me want to put it down and forget about it. The manipulation, the abuse she went through left me speechless. While not...
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Every second of this book is enthralling!EVERY.SINGLE.SECOND.The tales in here are true. The stories are mind-blowing. The events are not from a time long ago - they happened in the past 20 years! You...
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5 brilliant stars to Educated! 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 I grew up in a home of readers with a teacher mom and a dad who questioned my effort when I made an A-minus on my report card. When I began read...
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