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I found Westover's writing gripping. It is hard to believe a childhood such as the one described in the book. As she said, the book is not about their religion or about poverty, it is about mental health. I feel sad that she, and at least two of her siblings, had to endure such physical abuse from an older brother and such lack of support/gaslighting and threats from their parents. I was glad for her and the two brothers who went on to become educated and explore the world beyond.
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What a life. It's amazing what people go through to get to one part of their life to another. This is a very amazing story and example of really finding out who you are. Great book.
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Took some time for me to get pulled in to it, but then I couldn’t stop reading for the sake of finding out what terrible thing could possibly happen next. I felt more like a voyeur than I have reading anything in a long time. Fascinating, but hard to think of this reality being contemporary - sounded way more like her family was living in the Middle Ages, at least in terms of patriarchal control and access to medicine and education. I’m glad she got to write her history.

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Nadia
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Oct 26, 2019
Kirsten Barber
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