“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 North of Normal and Nearly Normal
“Powerful, moving, brave, 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. . . . 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 and Glitter & Glue
“An astonishing account of deprivation, confusion, survival, and success.” - Kirkus
“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. . . . 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
“Incredible . . . a powerful book . . . beautiful.” - Ellen DeGeneres
“This harrowing memoir shows a young woman’s grit melding her work ethic and dazzling intellect as she freed herself from the narratives imposed on her by family and her constricted world--all to achieve a fact-based, enchanting life of the mind, a true education.” - Los Angeles Times
“A brilliant, heartfelt and illuminating book.” - Boise Weekly
“Educated brings to life the importance of reinvention and growth in even the most unlikely of situations.” - Ginni Rometty, Chairperson and CEO, IBM
“One of the most exceptional books of the year.” - The Independent (UK) Best Book of 2018
“One of the best and most surprising memoirs in years.” - Vail Daily Best Book of the Year
“I haven’t read a memoir this gripping since The Glass Castle.” - Steamboat Pilot & Today Best Book of the Year
“Westover’s riveting Educated has definitely caught the collective imagination.” - Books + Publishing
“Wow! A memoir by a woman who never went to highschool yet earned a PhD from Cambridge University. Amazing book, beautifully written.” - Daphne Zuniga
“A compelling testament to the transformative power of education.” - rabble.ca
“Cutting, emotional, devastating and numinous.” - M. Night Shyamalan
“For the rebel in your family . . . Horrifying and enthralling at once . . . epic.” - NBC News
“Phenomenal . . . an engrossing read, a fresh perspective on the power of an education, and it’s also a testament to the way grit and resilience can shape our lives.” - Michelle Obama
“Tara’s process of self-discovery is beautifully captured . . . It’s the kind of book that I think everyone will enjoy, no matter what genre you usually pick up.” - Bill Gates (A Best Book of the Year)
“If you decide to choose only one memoir in the year 2019 pick up Educated.” - Florida Times-Union
“From the very first pages, Westover’s exquisitely vivid and disarmingly honest writing drew me into a subject I hadn’t spent much time thinking about: the gift of an education.” - Jezebel (Best Book of the Year)
“Astounding.” - San Francisco Chronicle
“A powerful story of triumph and perseverance.” - CBC Books
“Astonishing . . . You will be amazed at her upbringing and mightily impressed by her strength of character.” - Sydney Morning Herald
“The power of an education shines in Westover’s memoir of overcoming her incredibly harsh upbringing in favor of academia.” - Parade (A Best Book of the Year)
“Ane of the most dazzling books of 2018.” - The Atlantic
“Searing.” - Seattle Times
“Extraordinary.” - The Globe and Mail
“A remarkable memoir of a young woman raised in a survivalist family in Idaho who strives for education while showing great understanding and love for the world she leaves behind.” - Barack Obama
“Combining an extraordinary narrative with beautiful writing, Tara Westover’s memoir delivers a powerful coming-of-age saga.” - Paste magazine (The Best Book of the Year)
“A stunning read.” - Daily Hampshire Gazette (Best Book of the Year)
“2018’s runaway hit — with good reason.” - New York Post Best Book of the Year
“A really eye-opening, incredible read. I completely lost myself in it and was canceling plans to go home and read it. It was so, so, so unique.” - Emma Roberts, American Horror Story
“One of the year’s very biggest books.” - Entertainment Weekly
“A memoir to stand alongside classics by the likes of Jeanette Winterson and Lorna Sage . . . a compelling and ultimately joyous account of self-determination.” - Sunday Times
“[A] fascinating, jaw-dropping memoir” - Observer
“Astounding . . . Westover examines her childhood with unsparing clarity, and, more startlingly, with curiosity and love, even for those who have seriously failed or wronged her.” - New Yorker
“A deeply inspiring and thought-provoking read on the fire within each and every one of us to overcome adversity should we fight hard enough for it.” - Psychology Today
“Wow and double wow. As riveting and mind-blowing as you’d expect. The true surprise is the majesty of Tara Westover’s writing.” - Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette
“In the long process of escape, [Westover] acquired an independent sense of self, an ability to choose what she wants to be . . . A detailed and touching–sometimes harrowing–account.” - National Post
“Memoirs of difficult childhoods have a high bar to cross these days, but Westover’s struggle to make sense of the world and of her upbringing sails right over.” - Time
“An extraordinary memoir of self-invention, family and loyalty . . . Educated should be the next book you read.” - The Loop
“Westover’s perseverance and her sense of self is inspiring, and her writing is skillful and engrossing.” - The Day
“Marvelous.” - Tampa Bay Times
“She recounts her experiences with a matter-of-fact lyricism that is extraordinarily evocative.” - The Irish Times
“Westover writes with uncommon intelligence and grace. Educated recounts one of the most improbable and fascinating journeys I’ve read in recent years.” - Newsday
“A story of resiliency amid many obstacles, including shame, violence, mental illness, family dysfunction and betrayal.” - Winnipeg Free Press
“Educated is so powerful, so haunting.” - Belfast Telegraph
“A coming-of-age memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle.”
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Oprah.com (Best Book)“The extremity of Westover’s upbringing emerges gradually through her telling, which only makes the telling more alluring and harrowing.” - The New York Times
“Fascinating.” - Wall Street Journal
“I’ve never read a story like this . . . amazing.” - CBS This Morning
“Astonishing, harrowing and brave . . . a shocking and powerfully moving memoir . . . It is remarkable that she has lived to tell the tale.” - Daily Mail (UK)
“Westover’s story is as much about her difficult childhood and what it’s like to grow up on fringe beliefs as it is about seeing the world through the eyes of a singular, intelligent, and observant person.” - Vanity Fair
“One of a kind.” - The Atlantic
“A riveting memoir of a brutal upbringing . . . That someone who grew up in [Westover’s] circumstances could achieve as much as she has is astonishing.” - The Economist
“Jaw dropping.” - Daily Mail (UK)
“I just read a bok I did splits over: Educated by Tara Westover, about finding your own voice, and no matter what the odds are, answering that voice.” - Mandy Patinkin
“A powerful memoir . . . extraordinary.” - The Guardian
“An absolutely astonishing account of an extraordinary mind overcoming even more extraordinary matter and finding freedom.” - Lucy Mangan, author of Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading
“Elegantly written . . . a beautiful and propulsive new memoir.” - Vogue
“This remarkable story of triumphing over a survivalist upbringing is fit to stand alongside the great modern memoirs . . . Powerful . . . a compelling and ultimately joyous account of self-determination.” - Mail on Sunday
“The book has a striking directness that comes from being written in the immediate aftermath of the often shocking events it describes.” - Harper's Bazaar
“Westover manages both tenderness and a savage honesty that spares no one, not even herself.” - Booklist
“The story of a transformation so courageous, so entire, as to beggar belief . . . Westover’s triumph in forging a grounded self, and a coherent narrative, from such a maelstrom.” - Financial Times
“An unflinching account of love and brutality, of the strength of blood ties and the power of imagination, and of a young woman whose intellect, self-knowledge and courage illuminate every page . . . Both the book and its writer are remarkable in every respect.” - Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent
“Absolutely superb . . . the last 100 pages were so gripping I could hardly breathe.” - Sophie Hannah, author of Keep Her Safe
“An extraordinary story, beautifully told.” - Louise O'Neill, author of Only Ever Yours
“Emotionally and intellectually acute, profoundly brave in confronting the injuries most people survive by turning away from… and acknowledging that dysfunction follows even when you escape… It’s moved me hugely.” - Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock
“A dazzling example of what you can achieve if you set your mind to something . . . an inspirational, truly unique coming-of-age tale.” - BBC
“Educated, in showing us the unstoppable power of a young women determined to make her own decisions and find her own way, is an inspiring and important tale for our times.” - Rebecca Stott, author of In the Days of Rain
“Beautifully written. . . . Westover’s powerful tale—of trying to find a place for herself in the world, without losing her connection to her family or her beloved home—deserves to be widely read. My Mamaw would have been rooting for Tara.” - JD Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy
“One of the best, most absorbing memoirs I’ve ever read.” - Stylist
“[A] searing debut memoir. . . . Westover’s vivid prose makes this saga of the pressures of conformity and self-assertion that warp a family seem both terrifying and ordinary.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Fascinating . . . this book is a testament to willpower and freedom in knowledge.” - Canadian Living
“Marvellous. There is no feeling like discovering a young writer who is springing up fully armed with so much talent.” - Stephen Fry
“Extraordinary . . . ranks alongside Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight in its blistering portrayal of landscape, hardship, violence, family and the ties that bind . . . As powerful a story about the transforming potential of education as you’ll ever read.” - The Bookseller (UK) Book of the Month
“Tara Westover is living proof that some people are flat-out, boots-always-laced-up indomitable . . . a heartbreaking, heartwarming, best-in-years memoir.” - USA Today (four stars)
“Superb.” - The Times (UK)
“Breathtaking, heart-wrenching, inspirational. . . A powerful, jaw-dropper of a book . . . 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 striking story, beautifully told. Tara is an incredible new talent.” - Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of A Manual for Heartache
