The author documents her ambivalence and her family’s—which all of us experience if we’re honest about

I congratulate the author, not for not only for writing such an excellent account, but also for giving us a tour de force of the complexity of the human psyche.

Obviously brilliant, the author who never attended school until she went to college—and her early homeschooling was spotty at best—was able to educate herself and to find the resources to get the help she needed to complete her education into Ph.D. and beyond, in top US and British institutions

Kudos to wonderful author for telling her story for all of us to embrace.

The author writes so well and takes us into her heart as she struggles to live with her disfunctional family.

In my opinion, there are not enough stars to accurately reward the author for withstanding not only the brutality of her life, but of recording and editing that life

The author overcomes so much to accomplish greatness

She’s an incredibly brave, courageous and intelligent woman and author.

The abuse and out-and-out weirdness the author lived through was unbelievable and the fact she could escape her home

The author articulated, in a way I never could, my own journey with my family.

I have to congratulate the author for her brilliant success in obtaining the highest level of education from the two most prestigious academic institutions in the world amidst her emotional and mental struggles with family's rejection of it and of all mainstream institutions, and the religious fanaticism that had been defining her upbringing

The family members are often heroic and the author exceptional in her insistence on wresting her own perception and sense of self from the tangle.

at this point tara has bcome my absolute favorite author and i cannot wait until she writes her next book!

But it also made me sad that the author experienced so much emotional and mental abuse from her father

I enjoyed the way the author was honest without showing judgement.

Certainly the author is telling her story, but other than being cathartic, I fail to see the message for the reader

This book is inspiring and the author is courageous!

The author is so intelligent in academics and common sense.

The fact that the author escapes death of body and soul is a tribute to her strong will and ultimate rationality ... and most of all, her love of life.

First, not really the author's fault

Based on the reviews I read, I expected a book mostly about how the author would discover the difficulties and challenges from entering the formal education system, coming from a restricted, narrow minded home schooling environment

I admire greatly the author whose harrowing experience out of this restrictive and abusive situation situates her in the heroine category, in my view

But all that aside, Educated is a great read, written by a talented author.

The author deserves utmost admiration, respect and recognition for what she accomplished, emancipating herself from authoritarian and myopic and violent parents and elder brother and to seek and get and eventually excel in a formal education on a global level

I feel like this author's family is far right, and she went far left

The author isn’t any more liberated at the end of the book that she is at the beginning

Yes - the author overcame great odds to achieve what she did and that is admirable .

This was not an ordinary life in any way!The author's willingness to share her life, her self-doubts and her conclusions - all of this and even more, make the reading of this book unforgettable!

Clearly, the author still struggles to work through her childhood and figure out her future.

fascinating, wild story and great author

The author does an outstanding job of sharing her emotions and struggles with tremendous insight, balance and integrity

I was thinking I would contact the author and complain about how tired I was at work the next day

The author makes the break from mother and dad, but not without guilt, she so well describes

Excellent memoir of a very different type of family and the author's early life as she struggles to reconcile her domineering parents with her desire to become an educated woman.

I loved the author's honesty and in-depth self-reflection

I appreciate the author's honesty.

Being from a modest but comfortable family this story makes me admire this tenacious author

I liked the fact that the author overcame her lack of education and took rare opportunities to improve herself through higher learning.

Clearly, the author still struggles to work through her childhood and figure out her future.

The author’s determined and successful efforts to wrest an education from the system after an almost zero

Exceptional memoir, exceptional author.

Loved the author's writing style

I found this book to be heartbreaking and inspiring - I admire the author for being so open about her life - the good, the bad and the ugly and have a great deal of respect for her and the choice she made to live an emotionally healthier life apart from her family.

It is as though the author has Stockholm Syndrome of a sort.

The author writes so well and takes us into her heart as she struggles to live with her disfunctional family.

Obviously brilliant, the author who never attended school until she went to college—and her early homeschooling was spotty at best—was able to educate herself and to find the resources to get the help she needed to complete her education into Ph.D. and beyond, in top US and British institutions

In my opinion, there are not enough stars to accurately reward the author for withstanding not only the brutality of her life, but of recording and editing that life

It is almost as if the author is working for the department of education.

I tend to stick with my fave authors

I admire the author for her ability to face the truth of her immediate family life so that she might be able to move rumor

The author is honest and was able to finally find a balanced in response to the rejection by her parents

The author was so vivid in her description of her life events, one felt they were living it right beside her

fascinating, wild story and great author

But what a bright spirit the author had and so great her writing and telling of her story.

The author must be a genius to have been able to self-educate like she did.

The author was blessed that she had the intelligence that gave her an opportunity to become her own person

You always know there are people out there who grow up in unusual and different circumstances, even painful and violent places that you don't want to think about or can't suppose really still exist today, but the author here has given us a masterpiece as she recounts her most strange, dysfunctional and abusive background in the mountains of Idaho.

The author can show that her parents truly love and care about her and her siblings, but still make it clear that their worldview allows them to endanger their children's physical and mental health and welfare.

An incredible read, while contemplating the author's anguish, both during her life and probably while composing the memoire.

Some (the family, mainly) have suggested that this author has presented a fiction in this memoir

Author just lucked out having connected with those who took pity on her.

Since he owned a scrapyard and also did industrial construction, his nonchalant attitude about safety had put all his children in untold risks of limbs and life, yet the author never reached the point when, as an adult with clear eyes refuted his claims that the severe injuries his ongoing negligence caused his children were God’s tests and the proof was in the fact that each lived through these major injuries

By leaving, the author is educated on regular societal norms, like washing your hands and what a textbook is that most of us learn as children

I respect this young author so much

I am an avid reader and an author

I appreciated the authors candor and excellent writing skills and also the glimpse into the inner workings of a survivalist family

I should think that abuse as brutal as she described and the family denial will take her much longer to recover from than she describe

Tara’s story might help people to better understand who they are and inspire them to make themselves a fundamental change in their lives, as well as it might help the world, the public opinion, and people in position of leadership to better understand the dramatic lives of people isolated from education and health services

Furthermore, like her old sect, her new religion will reward her so long as she follows its tenets.

Brave as in everything she went

n’t put down but dread seeing it end.

n’t write another book unless she has actually freed her mind.

n’t think the author is lying (as others claim)