Both a fascinating snapshot of survivalist, rural America and an uplifting tribute to the power of learning, Westover’s memoir charts her journey from a bleak Idaho childhood to a Cambridge-educated academic.
Longlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize 2019
On the highway below, the school bus rolls past without stopping.
I am only seven, but I understand that it is this fact, more than any other, that makes my family different: we do not go to school.
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.
Publisher: Cornerstone
ISBN: 9780099511021
Number of pages: 400
Weight: 279 g
Dimensions: 198 x 128 x 24 mm
A memoir to stand alongside classics by the likes of Jeanette Winterson and Lorna Sage . . . a compelling and ultimately joyous account of self-determination - Sunday Times
[A] fascinating, jaw-dropping memoir - Observer
[A] superb memoir… Westover’s journey from a remote corner of the American west to one of the world’s grandest seats of learning is extraordinary . . . Her story, of fighting to be herself, is as old as the hills she came from, but Westover gives us such a fresh, absorbing take that it deserves to bring her own private Idaho into the bestseller lists, book groups and, eventually, cinemas. - The Times
Brilliantly recounts her journey towards knowledge and enlightenment - Guardian
An amazing story, and truly inspiring. The kind of book everyone will enjoy. IT’S EVEN BETTER THAN YOU’VE HEARD.
Her story is remarkable, as each extreme anecdote described in tidy prose attests. That someone who grew up in her circumstances could achieve as much as she has is astonishing . . . The central tension she wrestles with throughout her book is how to be true to herself without alienating her family. Her upbringing was extraordinary, but that struggle is not. - The Economist
This memoir [is] one of the wisest accounts of family love and betrayal that I’ve read - Mail on Sunday
[An] astonishing autobiography
Heartbreaking in its honesty...[an] intelligent and powerful memoir - Literary Review
An astonishing and uplifting story about the transformative power of education - Mail on Sunday, 2018 Cultural Highlights
Educated is quite simply one of the best books I have ever read. What a writer, what a thinker and what a gift for the rest of us to be able to read her story. Unbelievably moving and profoundly thought-provoking.
Educated is an unflinching account of love and brutality, of the strength of blood ties and the power of imagination, and of a young woman whose intellect, self-knowledge and courage illuminate every page. There are passages so painfully vivid that they sear themselves into the memory, yet Westover is never prurient or punitive: even when writing from the depths, she does so with compassion and grace. Both the book and its writer are remarkable in every respect
Westover has a story to tell that shouldn't be ignored - The Guardian
This fiercely intelligent memoir is a fascinating and compassionate view of another world and the author’s struggle to both escape from and understand it as she heads out into the world - The Pool, Ones to Watch in 2018
A dazzling example of what you can achieve if you set your mind to something… an inspirational, truly unique coming-of-age tale - BBC Ones to Watch in 2018
A shocking and powerfully moving memoir - Daily Express
What comes through is Tara’s grit, determination and instinctive sense that somewhere within education lies her redemption ... There is pain and adversity in this heart-wrenching memoir but ultimately what Tara leaves us with is hope - Sunday Express
Marvellous. There is no feeling like discovering a young writer who is springing up fully armed with so much talent
Absolutely superb . . . the last 100 pages were so gripping I could hardly breathe
Tara Westover's beautifully written memoir shines a light on a part of our country that we too often overlook. Her powerful tale—of trying to find a place for herself in the world, without losing her connection to her family or her beloved home—deserves to be widely read. My Mamaw would have been rooting for Tara.
This book is characterised by the word resilience.
Tara is brought up in a strict Mormon household with a father who is preparing for the Apocalypse (especially around the year 1999 when the computers were all...
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This was a captivating read. Religion always amazes me , that there are so many religions out here with heir own interpretation of meaning in the bible and in even one religion in one church different people will have... More
I finished this book days ago but I felt I could not write a review that would do this book justice. I wished to inspire everyone to pick it up and read it, so I waited and thought, tried, failed and waited again.
In...
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