Reader Review: "Educated"
by Cathryn Conroy (Gaithersburg, Maryland): This is the best way to describe how I feel about this book: Shock and awe!
Author Tara Westover's life in the mountains of Idaho as the youngest child of a Mormon survivalist who shunned formal education—be it in a public school or homeschooling—shocked and angered me. And that isn't the only abuse Tara suffered. This little girl did a man's work in a junkyard under horrifically unsafe conditions. In addition, her older brother physically and painfully abused her for years, and their parents turned a blind eye to the violence in their own home. But score one for the human psyche. Somehow, Tara rose above all this and did the seemingly impossible at age 17: She went to college. On a scholarship. And with dogged determination she earned a Ph.D. from Cambridge University. But in changing her life so drastically, Tara was forced to make a choice no one should ever have to make: Education or a loving place in her family?
Tara Westover's shocking life story is nothing short of awe-inspiring. All of this is not a spoiler because WHAT happens is only secondary to how Tara responds to it. That is the real story and what makes this book so worth reading.
It's a good thing this is nonfiction because it would be absolutely unbelievable as a novel. It will grab your attention (and likely your heart) and not let go. This book is an absolutely riveting, all-consuming read that is beautifully written with intelligence and sympathy.
by Cathryn Conroy (Gaithersburg, Maryland): This is the best way to describe how I feel about this book: Shock and awe!
Author Tara Westover's life in the mountains of Idaho as the youngest child of a Mormon survivalist who shunned formal education—be it in a public school or homeschooling—shocked and angered me. And that isn't the only abuse Tara suffered. This little girl did a man's work in a junkyard under horrifically unsafe conditions. In addition, her older brother physically and painfully abused her for years, and their parents turned a blind eye to the violence in their own home. But score one for the human psyche. Somehow, Tara rose above all this and did the seemingly impossible at age 17: She went to college. On a scholarship. And with dogged determination she earned a Ph.D. from Cambridge University. But in changing her life so drastically, Tara was forced to make a choice no one should ever have to make: Education or a loving place in her family?
Tara Westover's shocking life story is nothing short of awe-inspiring. All of this is not a spoiler because WHAT happens is only secondary to how Tara responds to it. That is the real story and what makes this book so worth reading.
It's a good thing this is nonfiction because it would be absolutely unbelievable as a novel. It will grab your attention (and likely your heart) and not let go. This book is an absolutely riveting, all-consuming read that is beautifully written with intelligence and sympathy.
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