A story of amazing fortitude and sense of self that emerges even while being held down by a dominating zealot father and a cowering subservient mother.

Her bi-polar father and compliant, yet successful mother protected the rage of their sons and discouraged the longings of their daughters

Her father treated her terrible without regard for her age or sex.

The abuse from her over zealous religious survivalist father and her very physically abusive older brother made it at times difficult to

Even though the father loved his family his bipolar disorder and paranoia put his family In Harm's Way

Tara Westover tells the story of her life (up until recently) and how she was denied an education by her strict, mentally unbalanced father and her mother who was complicit in his exploitative and cruel tactics to control her family

The second half was basically an attempt to shine up her halo and tarnish her father's

Another crazy father

I think if anything, she has spared the reader the sexual abuse that likely occurred at the hands of her tyrannical brother and father

Her father owned a junkyard and built barns and sheds without a contractor’s license, and her mother was a midwife and herbalist, also unlicensed.

but her father was obsessed about Y2K

If my father gave me no freedom at all in my life, I probably would’ve done the same as Tara and escape

Her dad used the founding fathers, and the Mormon church, to abuse her and control her.

god’s pharmacy” and she used her healing skills to heal all of the terrible injuries that her family suffered while working in the father’s scrap yard

Shawn should have been disciplined way before he has Ger own to a size that even the Father is afraid of him, period!

Tara tells the powerful story of her painful evolution from an uneducated daughter of a strong, but ignorant, father to her coming to terms with who she is and how she wishes to live.

I had to keep reminding myself of her tender age (under ten years) when her father’s irrational, dual personality behavior began to take control of not only himself but also his family, becoming a powerful force that held each member in its grip, some more than others

Her father and brother are abusive (so they deserve to be thrown under the bus), but she implies that their lifestyle and ideology are to blame

This book is an interesting, captivating read that provides insight into the difficulty of separating one's self from an abusive relationship (father in this case).

By the end of the book the parents have somehow become millionaires based on a successful scrapyard business (the father) and a successful homeopathic medicine business (the mother)

The father doesn’t trust anyone and wants to live off the grid as much as possible

Tara describes horrible accidents – fingers cut off, legs gashed, an explosion which severely burns her father – made worse by her father’s refusal to allow any of the injured to get medical attention, other than from his wife’s oils and poultices, which he calls

Having been raised in a violent, extremist family with a mentally ill, authoritarian father, Tara takes us on her journey of choosing to be herself

Tara is a very gifted author, and far from making herself the hero of her story, she lays bare the truth of her upbringing as a Mormon survivalist, led by an erratic father, juxtaposed to a bright girl who aches to learn more about the world.

Was it the designated role she was assigned at birth- a girl in a fanatically religious family by a dominating father and brother

She realized she bore the brunt of extreme religious beliefs and practices as well as beset by her father’s and brother’s mental illness and distorted thinking and their abusive behavior toward her

Her father was mentally ill and a religious zealot.

Agirl manages to escape the fanaticism of her crazy fundamentalist father and get an education!

The book seemed to imply that even the church in her community agreed with her father’s warped views which she did learn were incorrect when attending BYU.

The irresponsible, misguided parents who not only denied their offspring the opportunity for an education, but the father (and brother) who were overtly abusive, was sickening

My father-in-law is much like Tara`s father though without the anti-establishment paranoia and the bipolar issues.

The most disturbing was the mother's total subjugation to an obviously mentally unstable father, putting her children in perpetual danger.

Abusive father, abusive brother, herself and another brother victimized by their sibling and a mother manipulated by her husband and son

Very interesting life but difficult to see the crazy bi-polar father be so consumed by his illness

Living with an abusive father, it was hard to read all that she went through, all that she almost threw away

The mother and the crazy father.

I come from a rural background with an alcoholic father and submissive

Westover’s clinging to her mad and dogmatic father extends well into the years where her studies shown her that there was no way to reason with his fanaticism

So far, I can't find anyone even curious to know who is currently involved in protecting those children from their horribly abusive father.

Westover’s clinging to her mad and dogmatic father extends well into the years where her studies shown her that there was no way to reason with his fanaticism

tyrannical survivalist father and an abusive brother

she PRAISES her father in one breath regarding his knowledge of Algebra

Even at the end of the book I feel she is still protecting her emotionally damaged father

I was angered and shocked by Tara’s father’s unbelievable, and for sure, unacceptable behavior

what a powerful story--true--about the quest of a woman to honor her father and mother and still "to thine own self be true

Like her siblings, she spent her time working in her father’s scrapping and construction business, where injury on the job appears to have been a regular occurrence

Her father distorted it’s premise, but it is a major player in her

The triumph of the human spirit , the compassionate way she deals with her abusive father ( in telling memories

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)