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From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books

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What Members Thought

Karen
Feb 06, 2019 rated it really liked it
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
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Tammy AZ
Oct 08, 2018 rated it really liked it
Shelves: obama
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 ...more
Rachel N.
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 ...more
Lara
Jan 25, 2019 rated it really liked it
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
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Wes F
Mar 11, 2019 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
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. ...more
Susie LaBelle
Feb 07, 2019 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: memoirs
devastatingly wonderful
Sadok Rouai
May 25, 2018 rated it it was amazing
Karyl
Oct 20, 2019 rated it it was amazing
Katie
Jun 21, 2018 marked it as to-read
Shelves: nonfiction
Brenda
Jun 24, 2018 marked it as to-read
Lisa
Jun 27, 2018 rated it really liked it
Nov 2018
Shanna
Aug 07, 2018 rated it liked it
Natasha
Feb 10, 2019 rated it it was amazing
Crystal
Aug 08, 2018 marked it as to-read
Stacey Matson
Oct 14, 2018 rated it really liked it
Carolyn
Sep 10, 2021 rated it it was amazing
Anika
Oct 28, 2020 rated it really liked it
SandyC
Jan 26, 2019 rated it really liked it
Charlene Oleah
Dec 27, 2019 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: memoir, non-fiction
Diane
Mar 31, 2019 rated it really liked it
TR Ryan
Sep 01, 2020 rated it it was amazing
Kent Winward
Jun 14, 2019 rated it really liked it
Doug
Jun 07, 2019 rated it it was amazing
Ellen
Jul 22, 2019 rated it it was ok
Jenna
Dec 27, 2020 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: library
Kathie
Sep 28, 2022 rated it it was amazing
Leroy
Jul 30, 2020 rated it it was amazing
Daina
Jul 28, 2020 marked it as to-read