Awards
- Winner of Alex Awards 2019
Overview
#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University “Extraordinary . . . an act of courage and self-invention.”—The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE CENTURY • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award • Los Angeles Times Book Prize Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her 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. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home. “Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover’s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?”—Vogue ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, Time, NPR, Good Morning America, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, The Economist, Financial Times, Newsday, New York Post, theSkimm, Refinery29, Bloomberg, Self, Real Simple, Town & Country, Bustle, Paste, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, LibraryReads, Book Riot, Pamela Paul, KQED, New York Public Library
Reviews
Westover has somehow managed not only to capture her unsurpassably exceptional upbringing, but to make her current situation seem not so exceptional at all, and resonant for many others. -The New York Times Book Review Westover is a keen and honest guide to the difficulties of filial love, and to the enchantment of embracing a life of the mind. -The New Yorker An amazing story, and truly inspiring. It's even better than you've heard. -Bill Gates Heart-wrenching . . . a beautiful testament to the power of education to open eyes and change lives. -Amy Chua, The New York Times Book Review A coming-of-age memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle. -O: The Oprah Magazine Westover's one-of-a-kind memoir is about the shaping of a mind. . . . In briskly paced prose, she evokes a childhood that completely defined her. Yet it was also, she gradually sensed, deforming her. -The Atlantic Tara Westover is living proof that some people are flat-out, boots-always-laced-up indomitable. Her new book, Educated, is a heartbreaking, heartwarming, best-in-years memoir about striding beyond the limitations of birth and environment into a better life. . . . out of four. -USA Today [Educated] left me speechless with wonder. [Westover's] lyrical prose is mesmerizing, as is her personal story, growing up in a family in which girls were supposed to aspire only to become wives-and in which coveting an education was considered sinful. Her journey will surprise and inspire men and women alike. -Refinery29 Riveting . . . Westover brings readers deep into this world, a milieu usually hidden from outsiders. . . . Her story is remarkable, as each extreme anecdote described in tidy prose attests. -The Economist A subtle, nuanced study of how dysfunction of any kind can be normalized even within the most conventional family structure, and of the damage such containment can do. -Financial Times Whether narrating scenes of fury and violence or evoking rural landscapes or tortured self-analysis, Westover writes with uncommon intelligence and grace. . . . One of the most improbable and fascinating journeys I've read in recent years. -Newsday
This remarkable memoir--one of the best I've ever read--is my kind of miracle. The book made me cringe, cry out, cover my eyes, shake with anger, beam with pride, and appreciate the trials that led to my own education. Tara's story will find a place alongside modern classic memoirs, like Wild and The Glass Castle. It's that special. --Susannah Cahalan, author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness Like The Glass Castle, Educated is a wise and deep reflection about surviving one's family. I bow down to Tara Westover, not only for her marvelous, sentence-by-sentence craftsmanship but also for making sense and meaning from a confounding and hair-raising childhood. This is memoir at its best. --Kelly Corrigan, author of The Middle Place Tara is marvelous. There is no feeling like discovering a young writer springing up fully armed with so much talent. --Stephen Fry An incredible memoir of triumph over seemingly endless adversity. The author's ability to write about her experiences in a clear-eyed, nonjudgmental way makes her story a pleasure to read. A study in the power and wonder of resilience. --Cea Sunrise Person, author of the bestselling North of Normal and Nearly Normal Powerful, moving, brave in its revelation of profound humiliations, naked and completely at home in its form, Tara Westover's Educated gives us homegrown American originals who find their Mormon congregation too conventional and raise their children on a western mountain, refusing them birth certificates and not allowing them to attend school. This is a daughter's story of how she grew into herself and came to understand her home. This book would be far less harrowing if it were a novel. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary western landscape of her coming of age and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt growing up among fanatics. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman. --Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble Powerful, moving, brave in its revelation of profound humiliations, naked and completely at home in its form, Tara Westover's Educated gives us homegrown American originals who find their Mormon congregation too conventional and raise their children on a western mountain, refusing them birth certificates and not allowing them to attend school. This is a daughter's story of how she grew into herself and came to understand her home. This book would be far less harrowing if it were a novel. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary western landscape of her coming of age and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt growing up among fanatics. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman. --Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble Powerful, moving, brave, naked and completely at home in its form, Tara Westover's Educated gives us homegrown American originals, who find their Mormon congregation too conventional, and raise their children on a western mountain, refusing them birth certificates and not allowing them to attend school. This is a daughter's story of how she grew into herself and comes to understand her home. This book would be far less harrowing if it were a novel. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary western landscape of her coming of age and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt growing up among fanatics. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman. --Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble Advance praise for Educated Powerful, moving, brave in its revelation of profound humiliations naked and completely at home in its form. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter. --Claire Dederer, New York Times bestselling author of Love and Trouble
Powerful, moving, brave, naked and completely at home in its form, Tara Westover's Educated gives us homegrown American originals, who find their Mormon congregation too conventional, and raise their children on a western mountain, refusing them birth certificates and not allowing them to attend school. This is a daughter's story of how she grew into herself and comes to understand her home. This book would be far less harrowing if it were a novel. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary western landscape of her coming of age and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt growing up among fanatics. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman. --Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble Powerful, moving, brave in its revelation of profound humiliations, naked and completely at home in its form. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary western landscape of her coming of age and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt growing up among fanatics. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman. --Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble Advance praise for Educated Powerful, moving, brave in its revelation of profound humiliations naked and completely at home in its form. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter. --Claire Dederer, New York Times bestselling author of Love and Trouble
Powerful, moving, brave in its revelation of profound humiliations, naked and completely at home in its form, Tara Westover's Educated gives us homegrown American originals who find their Mormon congregation too conventional and raise their children on a western mountain, refusing them birth certificates and not allowing them to attend school. This is a daughter's story of how she grew into herself and came to understand her home. This book would be far less harrowing if it were a novel. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary western landscape of her coming of age and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt growing up among fanatics. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman. --Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble Powerful, moving, brave, naked and completely at home in its form, Tara Westover's Educated gives us homegrown American originals, who find their Mormon congregation too conventional, and raise their children on a western mountain, refusing them birth certificates and not allowing them to attend school. This is a daughter's story of how she grew into herself and comes to understand her home. This book would be far less harrowing if it were a novel. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary western landscape of her coming of age and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt growing up among fanatics. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman. --Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble Advance praise for Educated Powerful, moving, brave in its revelation of profound humiliations naked and completely at home in its form. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter. --Claire Dederer, New York Times bestselling author of Love and Trouble
If [J. D.] Vance's memoir offered street-heroin-grade drama, [Tara] Westover's is carfentanil, the stuff that tranquilizes elephants. The extremity of Westover's upbringing emerges gradually through her telling, which only makes the telling more alluring and harrowing. . . . By the end, Westover has somehow managed not only to capture her unsurpassably exceptional upbringing, but to make her current situation seem not so exceptional at all, and resonant for many others. --The New York Times Book Review Living proof that some people are flat-out, boots-always-laced-up indomitable . . . a heartbreaking, heartwarming, best-in-years memoir about striding beyond the limitations of birth and environment into a better life. --USA Today Riveting . . . Westover brings readers deep into this world, a milieu usually hidden from outsiders. . . . Her story is remarkable, as each extreme anecdote described in tidy prose attests. --The Economist A coming-of-age memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle. --O: The Oprah Magazine Incredibly thought-provoking . . . so much more than a memoir about a woman who graduated college without a formal education. It is about a woman who must learn how to learn. --The Harvard Crimson Heart-wrenching . . . a beautiful testament to the power of education to open eyes and change lives. --Amy Chua, The New York Times Propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of her childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up? --Vogue A subtle, nuanced study of how dysfunction of any kind can be normalized even within the most conventional family structure, and of the damage such containment can do. --Financial Times Westover's extraordinary memoir is haunting in the best way, delivering a powerful coming-of-age saga. --Paste Westover's one-of-a-kind memoir is about the shaping of a mind. . . . In briskly paced prose, she evokes a childhood that completely defined her. Yet it was also, she gradually sensed, deforming her. --The Atlantic Whether narrating scenes of fury and violence or evoking rural landscapes or tortured self-analysis, Westover writes with uncommon intelligence and grace. . . . One of the most improbable and fascinating journeys I've read in recent years. --Newsday This gripping coming-of-age story shows a woman's world being opened through education. --Refinery29 Raw and unflinching . . . lyrical and literary. --Library Journal An astonishing account of deprivation, confusion, survival, and success. --Kirkus Reviews At its heart, her memoir is a family history: not just a tale of overcoming but an uncertain elegy to the life that she ultimately rejected. Westover manages both tenderness and a savage honesty that spares no one, not even herself. --Booklist
If [J. D.] Vance's memoir offered street-heroin-grade drama, Westover's is carfentanil, the stuff that tranquilizes elephants. The extremity of Westover's upbringing emerges gradually through her telling, which only makes the telling more alluring and harrowing. --The New York Times Book Review Westover is a keen and honest guide to the difficulties of filial love, and to the enchantment of embracing a life of the mind. --The New Yorker An amazing story, and truly inspiring. The kind of book everyone will enjoy. It's even better than you've heard. --Bill Gates Heart-wrenching . . . a beautiful testament to the power of education to open eyes and change lives. --Amy Chua, The New York Times Book Review A coming-of-age memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle. --O: The Oprah Magazine Westover's one-of-a-kind memoir is about the shaping of a mind. . . . In briskly paced prose, she evokes a childhood that completely defined her. Yet it was also, she gradually sensed, deforming her. --The Atlantic Tara Westover is living proof that some people are flat-out, boots-always-laced-up indomitable. Her new book, Educated, is a heartbreaking, heartwarming, best-in-years memoir about striding beyond the limitations of birth and environment into a better life. . . . out of four. --USA Today [Educated] left me speechless with wonder. [Westover's] lyrical prose is mesmerizing, as is her personal story, growing up in a family in which girls were supposed to aspire only to become wives--and in which coveting an education was considered sinful. Her journey will surprise and inspire men and women alike. --Refinery29 Riveting . . . Westover brings readers deep into this world, a milieu usually hidden from outsiders. . . . Her story is remarkable, as each extreme anecdote described in tidy prose attests. --The Economist Incredibly thought-provoking . . . so much more than a memoir about a woman who graduated college without a formal education. It is about a woman who must learn how to learn. --The Harvard Crimson A subtle, nuanced study of how dysfunction of any kind can be normalized even within the most conventional family structure, and of the damage such containment can do. --Financial Times Whether narrating scenes of fury and violence or evoking rural landscapes or tortured self-analysis, Westover writes with uncommon intelligence and grace. . . . One of the most improbable and fascinating journeys I've read in recent years. --Newsday
This remarkable memoir--one of the best I've ever read--is my kind of miracle. The book made me cringe, cry out, cover my eyes, shake with anger, beam with pride, and appreciate the trials that led to my own education. Tara Westover's story will find a place alongside modern classic memoirs like Wild and The Glass Castle. It's that special. --Susannah Cahalan, author of Brain on Fire Breathtaking, heart-wrenching, inspirational--I've never read anything like this. Educated tells the story of a young girl's escape from violence and emotional prison. It is about the love of family and the pain of family both, the ferocity of the human spirit, and the power of education to change lives. Educated is one of the best books, and Westover one of the most gifted writers, that I've read in a very long time. --Amy Chua, Yale law professor and author of Political Tribes and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary Western landscape of her coming of age, and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt, growing up among fanatics. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman. --Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble Like The Glass Castle, Educated is a wise and deep reflection about surviving one's family. I bow down to Tara Westover, not only for her marvelous, sentence-by-sentence craftsmanship but also for making sense and meaning from a confounding and hair-raising childhood. This is memoir at its best. --Kelly Corrigan, author of The Middle Place Tara is marvelous. There is no feeling like discovering a young writer springing up fully armed with so much talent. --Stephen Fry Powerful, moving, brave, naked, and completely at home in its form, Tara Westover's Educated gives us homegrown American originals who find their Mormon congregation too conventional and raise their children on a western mountain, refusing them birth certificates and not allowing them to attend school. This is a daughter's story of how she grew into herself and came to understand her home. This book would be far less harrowing if it were a novel. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere but Here Powerful, moving, brave in its revelation of profound humiliations, naked and completely at home in its form, Tara Westover's Educated gives us homegrown American originals who find their Mormon congregation too conventional and raise their children on a western mountain, refusing them birth certificates and not allowing them to attend school. This is a daughter's story of how she grew into herself and came to understand her home. This book would be far less harrowing if it were a novel. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary western landscape of her coming of age and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt growing up among fanatics. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman. --Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble Powerful, moving, brave, naked and completely at home in its form, Tara Westover's Educated gives us homegrown American originals, who find their Mormon congregation too conventional, and raise their children on a western mountain, refusing them birth certificates and not allowing them to attend school. This is a daughter's story of how she grew into herself and comes to understand her home. This book would be far less harrowing if it were a novel. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary western landscape of her coming of age and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt growing up among fanatics. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman. --Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble Advance praise for Educated Powerful, moving, brave in its revelation of profound humiliations naked and completely at home in its form. --Mona Simpson, author of Casebook and Anywhere But Here A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter. --Claire Dederer, New York Times bestselling author of Love and Trouble
