Tara Westover

I thought I was going to join a book club and this was the book the leader had chosen. I'm a slow reader, partly because I'm too busy to "manually" read print, or, if I'm going to listen instead, because as much time as I spend driving it's more practical to consume books that way, because reading aloud takes longer than reading the same amount of words would to yourself --but now we're back to, "I'm a slow reader" so perhaps that's not even true with me. I'm not a 'glance at a paragraph and parse the important words' kind of reader, I'm a, 'relish every single word, tone, or nuance' reader.
So, as soon as I agreed to attend the book club, I was anxious to get it and read it so I would be up to speed at the first meeting. Every library had multiple holds on every version of the book already, so when I saw it for sale at my favorite used-bookshop I snatched it up and began reading.
I'd gotten permission to adjust my work schedule so I could attend the 1st meeting that was going to be about establishing a meeting time for the future meetings, and I wasn't sure what else.
The day came and went and I didn't realize it until a week later when I thought, "Did I miss that meeting, or is it tomorrow?"
Once I realized I had missed it, I thought better of the whole idea of attending---no time. I guess I'd been hoping they'd decide to conduct it online somehow--maybe in Canvas on a discussion forum, but I doubted it because most people who like joining book clubs probably like the real-time, face to face interactions of them.
When I e-mailed my apology for not showing and simultaneously resigned my patronage, explaining my lack of time, there was no response, which I figure confirmed my doubt that anyone considered conducting it online.
Meanwhile though, I'd started reading it, and while I thought my husband would enjoy listening to the audio, because there are many things in it I think he'd relate to, I was already hooked and couldn't wait for the audio.
In fact, when my turn in the audio-book hold queue finally comes up, I wouldn't mind a second time through. That's saying a lot for the book because I'm typically not a repeat reader. There are too many excellent as yet un-read books that one must shun when one is re-doing one, so it's got to be REALLY good to be worth a second go.
This one is. It's so good that I vowed to myself I would read anything written by this young lady, and had to Google her to see if her dissertation was available--uh-oh, is that a spoiler? I don't think so, it's kind of in all the summaries about the book if you don't suspect it from the title, but I apologize if it spoiled anything.
I was distracted from my search by the video thumbnails though, and had to watch the Ellen Degeneres interview, so I don't know if it's available. Probably not.
I expected her demeanor to be a little tough--a little tom-boyish, not because she wanted an education, as the detractors in her world might have thought, but because of the description of her childhood. But no. She's an adorably fragile looking thing. I'd love to explain the many reasons I liked this book, but I'll stop here. Otherwise, I really WILL spoil the book.
Suffice it to say I think it's one of the very best autobiographies I've read.… (altro)

What is the value of an education? In the memoir Educated, it is an opportunity to free yourself from the shackles of repression. Raised by survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover is taught the ways of her father. Believing that God will take care of all their needs, hospitals and doctors are forbidden. Women are to be subservient to men. Her mother becomes a mid-wife and healer with home remedies, her father a self-proclaimed prophet. When an older brother becomes violent, there is no one to protect her.

But Tara decides to educate herself, slowly opening her eyes to a new world. She is accepted to Brigham Young University and against her father's wishes she goes to college, eventually earning scholarships to Harvard and Cambridge. But through it all, the calls from family are strong and she struggles for acceptance from her parents and six siblings. Educated is an amazing story of survival. In Tara we see the courage and strength to rise up from suppression in the face of ignorance.… (altro)