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.
π π π π
With over 330,000 ratings on Goodreads and an average rating of 4.48 (out of 5), you would think that you would be the majority of those that loved Educated. Sadly I did not.
Tara’s story is amazing. You would never think that what she went through happened in the last 30 years. She is so inspiring that she was able to go from no formal education to getting one of the top scholarships in the world.
The problem for me, was that I couldn’t connect with Tara and her story. I found the novel lacked an emotional element. I wanted to know more about Tara’s feelings – what was it like leaving America, what was it like taking an airplane for the first time, what was it liking being in a big city? I wanted to feel something.
I also found that some parts didn’t add up for me. There were different stories in the novel that Tara pointed out may not of happened the way she remembered. She remembers four people in the story, but out of those four, all have conflicting views on who was there. Tara also went through a time where she couldn’t rely on her own memory and had to rely on her boyfriend at the time. Because of this, I was hesitant on taking Tara’s story at face value.
2 calculators out of a potential 5. Sadly wasn’t the book for me or my book club (all gave the novel either a 2 or 3), but it still provided a lot of discussion!
I also agree with your rating. Despite the many glowing reviews on this book, I also found it to be lacking. The author did well to overcome her early years but this book was not what I had hoped for
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Same here! Very disappointing since I had high expectations.
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I’m so glad you wrote this review! I haven’t read the book, but I’ve been tempted to because so many people said it’s amazing. I’m glad to see you didn’t enjoy it that much. Reading just the synopsis, I didn’t connect to Tara either. I’m glad I’m not the only one.
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I haven’t seen many negative reviews, so I thought I was the only one. My book club wasn’t overwhelmed on the book as well. I think if it doesn’t call you, then you should skip this one.
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I’ll probably skip it!
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Good call!
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Sorry this one wasn’t for you🙈
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Thank you!
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This is on my TBR…… I’m a teacher so I am going to read it but I am very interested in how I will like it.
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I would be super curious on hearing your thoughts!
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Nice, honest review.
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Thank you Robin!
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I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you! Actually, I’m seeing more and more reviews agreeing with your views lately. I’ve never been too interested in this book for some reason, so I think I’m just going to continue to push it aside lol ><
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I would agree with that. I don’t think I would of read it if it weren’t for my book club.
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sorry it didnt work out for you
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Thanks!
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Too bad, I know exactly how you feel
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Hope your next book is amazing!
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Pity the book didn’t work for you (or your book club). Hopefully your next read will be better. Great review.
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Stories like this fascinate me but I don’t really read memoirs so I’m not sure how I’d fair. Thanks for the review.
Gemma @ Gemma’s Book Nook
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As a retired teacher and administrator, I wanted to read this one to see what happened and how it happened. I am sorry this book wasn’t for you. I felt all kinds of emotion while reading this one and am glad I read it. Everyone has different relationships with a book and that is okay. Nice, honest review Amanda.
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