Educated by Tara Westover

Educated

by Tara Westover

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

'A memoir to stand alongside the classics by the likes of Jeanette Winterson and Lorna Sage ... compelling and ultimately joyous' Sunday Times

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Tara Westover grew up preparing for the End of Days, watching for the sun to darken, for the moon to drip as if with blood. She spent her summers bottling peaches and her winters rotating emergency supplies, hoping that when the World of Men failed, her family would continue on, unaffected.

She hadn't been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she'd never set foot in a classroom, and no medical records because her father didn't believe in doctors or hospitals. According to the state and federal government, she didn't exist.

As she grew older, her father became more radical, and her brother, more violent. At sixteen Tara decided to educate herself. Her struggle for knowledge would take her far from her Idaho mountains, over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd travelled 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 the severing of the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, from her singular experience 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.
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* Shortlisted for the 2018 BAMB Readers' Awards
* Recommended as a summer read by Barack Obama, Antony Beevor, India Knight, Blake Morrison and Nina Stibbe

Reviewed by mrs_mander_reads on

5 of 5 stars

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I can't adequately explain how good this book is. I'm always so hesitant about nonfiction, but Westover does an amazing job of creating a captivating narrative. Her story is compelling and at times, insane. I definitely recommend to anyone who was raised in a household that was formed by faith (radical or not).

** I read the audio - fantastic job narrating by Whelan. **

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  • Started reading
  • 18 October, 2019: Finished reading
  • 18 October, 2019: Reviewed