Educated memoir- Tara Westover

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have now found her sister and more recent photos of her dad (2017). He does not have any visible scars from what I can tell. I'm really surprised her family didn't lock down their accounts and photos.

What photos? How do you know you have the right person?

I’m a DP who made the same comment about the dad upthread a few months ago. I found her mom’s FB page where she had a picture of him labeled with his name from about 2009. I haven’t seen the 2017 pictures.

And no it wasn’t the same guy in the linked commercial

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok guys, do you tho knits her dad in this commercial?
https://youtu.be/hiI0fL3hN4E


If so, I might start buying the oils myself

Is that ad for real? Like really something they made for the business??

[Anonymous]

What names are you all searching on FB?

Faye Westover?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have now found her sister and more recent photos of her dad (2017). He does not have any visible scars from what I can tell. I'm really surprised her family didn't lock down their accounts and photos.

It's weird that he doesn't have any visible scars. His lips were mentioned multiple times. Now I am really wondering about her account.

And the “claw hand”. Didn’t see that either.

Also, the incidents in the junkyard, the “who walked him back down the mountain” comments, well, the junkyard IS the backyard. Too much embellishment. She should have know people would have stalked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I enjoyed the story but wasn't blown away like the others here seem to have been. I've read memoir's that drew me in more and where the evolution of the person made more sense to me.

It wasn't clear where her drive to learn and change came from. Her decisions seemed to just happen.

Not that she isn't incredible and her story isn't meaningful. Just the narrative didn't strike me as it seemed to others.

Just got off the library waitlist.

Agree with this. I am still marveling as to how you can go from no schooling to a 28 on the ACT. Not that she wasn't smart but there had to be huge gaps in her learning and it would seem she needed a lot of remedial work. While growing up, her reading material was extremely limited. She seemed to gloss over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I enjoyed the story but wasn't blown away like the others here seem to have been. I've read memoir's that drew me in more and where the evolution of the person made more sense to me.

It wasn't clear where her drive to learn and change came from. Her decisions seemed to just happen.

Not that she isn't incredible and her story isn't meaningful. Just the narrative didn't strike me as it seemed to others.

Just got off the library waitlist.

Agree with this. I am still marveling as to how you can go from no schooling to a 28 on the ACT. Not that she wasn't smart but there had to be huge gaps in her learning and it would seem she needed a lot of remedial work. While growing up, her reading material was extremely limited. She seemed to gloss over it.

There's obviously intelligence in the family. Two of her brothers have PhDs in science, right?

[Anonymous]

If you like American rags to riches stories, may I also suggest Rabbit by Patricia Williams? There's also Hillbilly Elegy, but that guy is a bit too earnest for my taste.

And my favorite subgenre of escaping religious fundamentalism is the leaving Hasidism stories, especially All Who Go Do Not Return, by Shulem Deen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I enjoyed the story but wasn't blown away like the others here seem to have been. I've read memoir's that drew me in more and where the evolution of the person made more sense to me.

It wasn't clear where her drive to learn and change came from. Her decisions seemed to just happen.

Not that she isn't incredible and her story isn't meaningful. Just the narrative didn't strike me as it seemed to others.

Just got off the library waitlist.

Agree with this. I am still marveling as to how you can go from no schooling to a 28 on the ACT. Not that she wasn't smart but there had to be huge gaps in her learning and it would seem she needed a lot of remedial work. While growing up, her reading material was extremely limited. She seemed to gloss over it.

There's obviously intelligence in the family. Two of her brothers have PhDs in science, right?

Oh, I don't doubt that at all. It's just that standardized tests assume common knowledge that she was not exposed to. And she was the youngest with the least schooling, home or public.
Now that I've completed the book, she wasn't merely talking about scholastic achievement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was shocked by the health issues they left untreated and the casual cruelty of her father at the junk yard. Throwing things like sheet metal and injuring others daily? Also the moms oils are such a hoax!

Did anyone think her brother sexually abused her? The way she wrote about the physical abuse from him made me think it was really sexual abuse and she didn't want to put that in a memoir. She has a lock on her door for instance.

Absolutely she was sexually assaulted by her brother. Her sister’s remorse for not protecting her, the parents’ denial, Tara’s dissociation to survive the pain as well as her flashbacks, are all classic surrounds of sexual abuse. It is disappointing that she could not name what the book was really about. Her very high intellect and fortunate association with people who encouraged and helped her allowed her to survive and succeed, but did not erase the abuse. Her sister was not so fortunate. Although very well written, the book is really about complex trauma.

[Anonymous]

I’m listening to it now and have about 2 hours ago and I gotta say, I’m not blown away.

The Glass Castle blew me away.

This book doesn’t for some reason. It’s a crappy life for sure but she had opportunities. I don’t know...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m listening to it now and have about 2 hours ago and I gotta say, I’m not blown away.

The Glass Castle blew me away.

This book doesn’t for some reason. It’s a crappy life for sure but she had opportunities. I don’t know...

If you loved The Glass Castle, you should check out North of Normal and its follow up, Nearly Normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was shocked by the health issues they left untreated and the casual cruelty of her father at the junk yard. Throwing things like sheet metal and injuring others daily? Also the moms oils are such a hoax!

Did anyone think her brother sexually abused her? The way she wrote about the physical abuse from him made me think it was really sexual abuse and she didn't want to put that in a memoir. She has a lock on her door for instance.

Absolutely she was sexually assaulted by her brother. Her sister’s remorse for not protecting her, the parents’ denial, Tara’s dissociation to survive the pain as well as her flashbacks, are all classic surrounds of sexual abuse. It is disappointing that she could not name what the book was really about. Her very high intellect and fortunate association with people who encouraged and helped her allowed her to survive and succeed, but did not erase the abuse. Her sister was not so fortunate. Although very well written, the book is really about [b]complex trauma[/b].

Agree 100%.

[Anonymous]

I had some difficulty with Educated, but on the whole I really liked it. I do agree that it's really about complex trauma. I also think it's possible there was sexual abuse. Clearly the abuse was more than she actually published (her hints about re-reading her own journals and how she glossed over it all made it clear it was far more pervasive than the incidents she covered). I also just felt like once she left undergrad it got a little high level and left out a lot of details Wanted to se - how she lived, how she budgeted, how it all happened.

On the other hand, I read The Glass Castle a few years ago, and I really did not like it at all. I can't remember why, now, just remember wondering why everyone loved it when I absolutely did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had some difficulty with Educated, but on the whole I really liked it. I do agree that it's really about complex trauma. I also think it's possible there was sexual abuse. Clearly the abuse was more than she actually published (her hints about re-reading her own journals and how she glossed over it all made it clear it was far more pervasive than the incidents she covered). I also just felt like once she left undergrad it got a little high level and left out a lot of details Wanted to se - how she lived, how she budgeted, how it all happened.

On the other hand, I read The Glass Castle a few years ago, and I really did not like it at all. I can't remember why, now, just remember wondering why everyone loved it when I absolutely did not.

What! I am the opposite. I didn't really like Educated. But Glass Castle blew me away. I couldn't BELIEVE she got out of that situation. But I *could* believe Tara did.

[Anonymous]

I just finished it and I'd love to discuss it. Anyone?