Educated A Memoir

"A coming-of-age memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle."-O: The Oprah Magazine

"Beautiful and propulsive . . . [Tara Westover's] voice is so sui generis it feels in debt to no one. . . . And 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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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