"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
