Educated: The international bestselling memoir

I'd had this book sitting on my shelf for a while - it had been recommended in many articles so I had high expectations.The book was first published in 2018, it has 377 pages and 40 chapters. First impression is good as there are some top quality quotes of praise at the start.I hadn't appreciated that so much of the book would be about the author's childhood. Her education at home was very limited and she describes the varying levels of work she had to do to survive.The writing is engaging and the reader is encouraged to care about Tara. The narrative is first person so is very personal - you can't help but feel her experiences with her.Alongside the straightforward narrative. the reader has to look behind the writing as the motives and emotions are a huge part of this story. Tara rarely judges and simply accepts most of her life - it's the reader who is given the space to analyse and has time to stand back to get the full picture.Tara's life is hard to comprehend - she tells us about it sensitivity yet managing to retain a disconnect that appears to be her coping mechanism. She thought that everything was normal and that there were no options. Its inspiring to read about her small moments of realisation when she starts to acknowledge what is happening, accepts them as wrong and starts to consider alternatives. I was surprised there wasn't one big moment of rebellion away from her world but just small movements and tiny mind shifts until one day she found she had gone far enough mentally not to have to go back. This multitude of tiny steps are almost imperceptible until she learns to believe in herself - this creates a wave of emotion for the reader and it can be seen how life changing the process was for Tara.Brilliant account of a life turning towards the world rather than running away from it.This is all well written as a retrospective account and it is as I would normally expect a memoir to be - evenly paced and with a consistent tone. This book seems to do so much more though - at the start the narrative is naïve and basic, as the author grows the phrasing becomes more confident and articulate. This development is cleverly written.

This was one of those books that had to sit and rest for a few days until I was ready to write a few words about it. It caused quite a turmoil inside me because of its powerful and courageous underlying message.There is no doubt that the author is an extremely intelligent and resilient person and that she risked her overall health in order to carve herself a life of her own, free of guilt and remorse.It's a stunning and often times harrowing account about what it takes to be truly authentic, how difficult it is to escape the spiral of abuse, both physical and emotional.At the end of the story, I realized that we need more awareness, more eyes and ears in our communities to actually detect and spot these underhanded abuses going on. This is not only valid for a community that is cut off from the mainstream society like the one described in the book, but it can be applied in any situation or circumstance. For that to happen, we need knowledge. Education plays a big role in spreading this awareness. We need the freedom to question, whether it is our parents' opinions or their behaviour, the allowance to question the very idea of a family and not see it as an untouchable taboo, and we need to address the false concepts of liberalism whether it is allowing belief systems or world views to run freely without boundaries nor any fundamental checks. The right to a basic education is a basic human right and can prevent people from being brainwashed. We need to develop better ways and measures to help, support and protect the victims and help validate their painful memories.The author had to leave home, leave a restrictive way of living in order to find an open and secure place where she was allowed to thrive mentally and emotionally and tell her story. There is no pill, nor fake misguided belief that can alleviate the pain of an abuse victim. Predators exist everywhere and sometimes the wounded bleed invisibly and never get to find their voice. I applaud the author for speaking up and for not sugar coating any aspect of her life nor the disturbing sense of betrayal by family members.“You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them,” she says now. “You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life.” These two quotes sum up perfectly what it takes to chose self-worth and independence over pretense and denial.

Fascinating read; she explains the power of education so beautifully and how the separation from her parents and family make her feel. A very interesting and powerful read.

This is a book of evolution, transformation, and the power of knowledge. And of how that can overcome the deep seated fears and ignorance that we all encounter to a greater or lesser degree. Highly recommended

Just the most incredible, brutally truthful, story of tenacity and courage. Such an interesting look at family relationships and how to navigate the world, when you don’t fit into the family you have been given. Would definitely recommend to anyone interested in stories of humanity - both good and bad.

a book so beautifully written and thought provoking. I think I would definitely recommend it. It pulls out a more understanding and open minded side of you.

A memoir written in the most honest way I have ever seen, touching and unforgettable. Thank you Tara, God bless you 🙏🏼

Had a client lend this to me after chatting about finding the right book to kick start me back to reading and at first I felt pressured to appease her BUT I couldn’t put it down. It was sooooo beautifully written and a definite rise above memoir. There are some hard parts to digest due to the nature of the book but I loved it so much I gifted TWO!

A primeira frase já alerta para um livro extremamente bem escrito. Com o passar dos capítulos, o livro se expande. Além da escrita maravilhosa da autora, aprendemos sobre a sua vida: que história forre e comovente. Ao final, a admiração pela autora e sua coragem em escrever este livro dominaram, não queria parar de ler. Foi uma ótima dica que peguei por acaso na newsletter do Bill Gates.

The book is a little heavy and uninteresting to begin with and doesn't hook you instantly, but when it does, oh my god, believe me when I say this, if you read it a little each day and let the words get absorbed in you, you'll find pure bliss. The details in this book has amazed me, disgusted me and overpowered me through the span of these 2 months. Nothing here looked superficial, everything was very raw, human like and that's what made it special. The art of storytelling is an amazing thing, it quite makes or breaks the experience of readers. I would indeed say, this was possibly the best book I've read in my entire life till now, (that includes all the mind boggling non-fiction novels too). Being a PhD student myself, was the reason I picked up this book, but when I finished it, I would understand the real value of 'Education' in life. How it changes a person, like really the 'self' of that person. It's like-'At most, there are 2 persons living inside this body, with one fractured mind. When it was time, she left, she stayed in the mirror. The incidents, decisions that followed were entirely mine, not hers anymore.'

Dieses Buch wirkt noch immer bei mir nach. Die Geschichte ist schier unglaublich. Tara, die in einer extremen Mormonenfamilie, die jegliche Berührung mit der Regierung strikt ablehnt, auf einem abgelegenen Berg in Idaho aufwächst, durfte nie eine Schule besuchen. Ebenso wenig weiß sie, wann sie geboren wurde. Die sieben Kinder der Familie sind durch den psychotischen Vater vielerlei Gefahren und des innerfamiliären Missbrauchs ausgesetzt. Trotzdem findet Tara ihren Weg in das Bildungssystem und erhält schließlich ein Stipendium im englischen Cambridge, wo sie auch ihren Doktorgrad in Geschichte erwirbt. Nichtsdestotrotz fällt es ihr schwer, sich von der Familie zu lösen und hat mir vielerlei Trauma zu kämpfen.Ein unglaubliche Geschichte, die an Herz und Nieren geht! Unbedingt lesen! Sollte auf keiner reading list fehlen!