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This memoir reminded me of J.D. Vance's book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard, and The Glass Castle Families that are completely dysfunctional, and yet a child is able to rise above the abuse and dysfunction.
I loved the parts that discussed how Tara Westover educated herself, even though she had so little tools to do so ...more
I loved the parts that discussed how Tara Westover educated herself, even though she had so little tools to do so ...more

I usually read books a little at a time, in small moments during the day and right before bed. Once I got partway through this one, I could not put it down. That said, I'm more than a tad skeptical that the depiction of her early education is factual. I've no doubt Ms. Westover is intelligent but her complete self-reliance on learning to read and perform high level math is almost laughable. Completely left out is how, being the young calf being raised for veal she is, she was able to find off ca
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Tara Westover was raised by parents who were very anti-government. She received minimal homeschooling, spending more time as a child working in her father's scrap yard. She managed to get her GED and go to college. The book details some pretty horrific accidents that Tara and her family were in, most of which received no medical care beyond her mother's homemade remedies and natural energy treatments. She was also physically and emotionally abused by an older brother. I've read her parents denia
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4.5 stars for the first 2/3, 3 stars for the last 1/3. Her childhood was certainly unusual and her father clearly delusional but you don't realize how sinister their family dynamics are going to be in the first few chapters.
Keeping her home from school turns into pushing her to work with dangerous equipment, then evolves into increasingly manipulative control games that her brother joins in on and, finally, escalates to physical and emotional abuse. Westover's slow unfolding of their domestic d ...more
Keeping her home from school turns into pushing her to work with dangerous equipment, then evolves into increasingly manipulative control games that her brother joins in on and, finally, escalates to physical and emotional abuse. Westover's slow unfolding of their domestic d ...more

An amazing read (thanks, Jason, for the tip)...intriguing, befuddling, sickening, engaging, captivating, unbelievable in so many ways in these days. I mean--there's stuff that you're...just...not...going...to...believe.
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Jun 24, 2018
Brenda
marked it as to-read

Aug 08, 2018
Crystal
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Oct 17, 2019
Michelle
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Jul 28, 2020
Daina
marked it as to-read