Bestselling author Tara Westover sat down with Ellen to talk about her compelling memoir, "Educated," and how she escaped from a life with her survivalist parents by pursuing higher education. #TaraWestover #Educated #TheEllenShow
Angelo Bartolome i am almost finishing the book but am scouring the internet for the talkshows she is in to get more perspective and also put a name to a face
For someone who has been through so much she doesn’t talk poorly of her parents on the show! If anyone who deserves to speak ill of their family it’s her and yet she doesn’t.. that’s incredible, she’s incredible!
Speaking as a child of horrendous abuse myself, the more you grow up and delve into psychology, the more you realize how deeply disturbed and mentally unstable your parents were along with how some of them were raised to be this way themselves. No one is immune to mental illness, not even our parents. While I will never forgive the abuse done to me, I understand the working of my mother's mind a lot better than I used to. I can move past it.
Perhaps her story is not an indictment of home education but a testament to it. Her parents with all their faults, taught her to think independently and to learn independently, instead of how to pass tests, and look at the results.
Great book! More authors, Ellen... more authors!!! Some of us still read and would love to see authors of books we love on your show!! -- on ANY talk show!! Authors NEVER get the attention they deserve! Promote reading!
after reading this memoir then watching this interview, she barely even scrapes the surface of this family, the hardships she went through and how hard she had to work in university to even get through each week!!! she’s so brilliant and spectacular, yet so humble about it. lovely woman
To any abuse survivors out there who are feeling a little invalidated... It is NOT your resposibility to keep your abusive family together. You are not resposible for healing your abusers, you're responsible for healing yourself. Well-meaning people may praise you for 'keeping your family together,' but if you choose not to have contact with your family, that is completely vaild. I love you and you're a good person ❤
I just finished the book at 4 am after starting the book 3 days ago. Tara Westover needs a big hug and a pat on the back for all that she has accomplished and been through. I would also like to thank her three brothers Tyler, Tony, and Richard for helping her with this book and for being there for her when everyone else in her family wasn’t.
I just finished reading Educated last night. And woah. One of the best memoir I've ever read. It's speaks loud of perseverance and courage. Her life story is not like any other, and she told it in the most beautiful and genuine way. I highly recommend this book to everyone. There is so much to applaud about Tara Westover, but to me the most admirable thing she'd done was choosing to accept the truth, no matter how hard it is.
I recommend you come back to this book in about 10 years. The life experience you gain in those 10 years will allow you to pick up more of the nuance in the book and get more out of it. I’m in my early 30s and I plan to do the same.
I grew up in a cult so I really relate to this. Especially what she said about her parents loving her, they just really had strong beliefs that they thought was right for their children.
that sounded like someone who couldn't quite face the fact that there was no love for her at all. which is a harrowing thing to face. i don't think her parents had/have the capacity to love anyone.
Just finished her book for a college assignment! Her story is so shocking that I had to keep reminding myself it’s not fiction! Incredible and Inspirational!
@@thumpermater5550 😂😂 I havent read the book itself but the reviews of people that doubt how truly off the grid they were and she apparently leaves a lot of holes as far as how her parents paid for the things when they broke down, I think it was a tractor...Im interested in reading the book but I think one thing we should remember of memoirs is that there still has to be an element of fiction to it
Tara was the commencement speaker at my daughter's graduation from Northeastern University (Boston) in 2019. She did a great job speaking (she was very down-to-earth and relatable) and I bought her book not long after.
I read her book and admire her courage and fortitude. She is incredibly gifted and would have done well in any profession. She was lucky to find mentors that helped her to get money for her education. I cannot imagine to be in her shoes.
her story resonates me so much, i never thought i could find someone out there that lived a life similar to as i did. i cannot begin to say how much this book has done for me, i will always treasure it
I read this last year and it goes down as one of the most amazing and inspiring memoirs I have ever read. I was really happy to see Tara on Ellen! More authors, Ellen!
I just finished this book last night in my room, the book name "Educated" is translated into "你当像鸟飞往你的山" (You should fly to your mountain like a bird) in China. I can't imagine what the author went through and finally achieved such an achievement, really admire her.
she is such an inspiration. i actually had to read educated for a college class. even though i had a full education and got into a good college i found myself relating to her a lot, especially how much she talks about feeling like she doesn’t belong in a college setting. i often feel this way too and it was such a wonderful feeling knowing that someone who feels like me got an amazing education from world class schools. thank you tara you are wonderful!
Excellent book and I too am proud of this strong, curious woman that overcame a compelling complicated life to thrive and live her life to the fullest. 🕊.
I recently finished Ms. Westover's book, and the writing is masterfully eloquent. I commend her strength of character in such a difficult upbringing. I highly recommend this work.
Ellen, the way you describe how you felt reading the book sums it up perfectly with how it impacted me as well. And the pride you feel for Tara’s accomplishments! Thank you for sharing your story Tara!
I’m reading 📖 it at the moment. I gave about 2 chapters left. I didn’t want to put the book 📖 down. OMG 😮 it’s beyond profounding. She’s an awesome and super strong lady! I’m recommending her book to my friends and family!📚
Tara is so resilient and strong. Such a good book. She’s also a beautiful singer, there’s a clip of her singing a Mormon hymn on RU-vid and she sounds like an angel.
I think she is where she is now because of the way she was raised. And of course of the perseverance and curiosity that lives in her. Her story is very inspiring. I just finished her book.
Just finished the incredibly read audiobook version this morning driving to work. One of the most powerful, compelling, personally uplifting books I have found in years. Read it. It will change your life. all of us believe that we are less than whole and all of us need this book.
I thought the same thing at times. He seems like a genuinely horrible human being. But it was the fault of his upbringing and could be reasonably blamed on his father. So I don't know. It's so complicated.
The brother sort of taking insulting and controlling others as a pleasure. Mental hospital in a prison should be his place to live. But the father is the very resource of all these tragedy. Without a father like that, there wouldn't be a 'Shawn' like this.
The parents, especially the dad, certainly contributed to the brother's emotional makeup, but they had other sons who didn't turn out so diabolical. This son is responsible for his actions, even if he was raised in an abusive environment. I hope CPS is getting involved now. I am concerned about his wife and children.
The book has me shook. Brilliant how she understood the differences between her and her family as her world view change and kept her well being as well as loving towards her family intact. It would be much easier to be bitter but she strived, struggled and chose empathy, love and courage. Such an inspiration!
I'm almost finished with her book and I wish I had enough time in the day to finish it all at once. The interview doesn't do the book justice. It's an excellent, must read book!
When I was in a Freshman Seminar class at Idaho State University in 2001, the instructor referenced the Holocaust. There were twenty-two students in the class, and I was the only one who HAD heard of it. The instructor was just staggered (me, too).
Will they ever make a movie out of this bestselling story? I think a lot of people would want to watch it...including me. The story is unorthodox and beautiful, well done Tara.
in this case willful ignorance though. i think it boils down to her father's need to control and abusiveness, which poisoned his entire family. he removed them from everything, and the mother enabled it.
@@DelphiaBlize Absolutely agree. The father was controlling and cruel and the mother an enabler: a weak woman whose priority was to please her man instead of protecting her children.
@@nek2327 ummmm...it was ignorance. The father caused so much damage to the family and trauma, and the mother just enabled it as others said. Not treating major injuries in a car crash or a pipe through the leg or an abusive brother with things other than herbs and sun is damaging...and the dad was also just emotionally abusive
Three years too late. After finishing her memoir last night, I’m so glad to see her looking so happy, healthy, and confident in these talk shows and interviews. 🥺🤍
I am almost through with the book, and, "through" is a wrong word...i am finishing this powerful book on one breath. You are very brave! Thank you so much for sharing your story!
I just finished her book ( in french, I live in Switzerland). I don't understand how it is possible be completely out of society. 7 children witdraw from school = abuse. It's basic right of every child be educated. Children in this family were brainwashed. Only 3 of them were strong enough to find their own way. Really tragic story. Sorry for my broken english.
I had to take a creative nonfiction class in college and my professor had us read this book, which was her memoir, and it’s one of those rare instances where I absolutely enjoyed an assigned reading in class
Thank you I found the word that describe how to keep stay safe with toxic siblings, “distance”. I didn’t know how to describe that thing and now I know.
Incredible read! We have alot of homeschooled children here in Montana and I have always wondered what happens on the farms miles away from town. This was certainly a read I couldn't put down and recommend for any reading club.
The book is amazing because of the very rigid, restrictive upbringing she had. I am really enjoying this interview. I like the fact that she has totally remade her life and become her own person, yet she is not resentful of her parents and family, but rather she just realizes there is a different way to live a fuller life. Very nice interview.
Her dad was a strong believer of Christian Science. If I remember correctly that strained his relationship with Ellen's mom at the end because she couldn't bare watching Ellen and her brother not receiving medical care when they were really ill.
I'm so moved by this book and by Tara that I also recommend it to all my friends. I think people with childhood trauma would really appreciate this book. But also just young people, because let's admit it, all of us are one way or another, lost in adolescence. And the difficulties one encounter when growing up, the mentality of a family obligation, all of it is exposed and talked about without a lie. That's what so powerful about this story!
Now the whole world knows about her and she must be very at peace. I really couldn't think of that book as a memoir but a fiction drama but this is the truth .. More power to her 👍👍👍 .
I was assigned to read this book in a college class and I had never heard of it. But after finding out that she was mormon in the beginning, it caught my interest because I happen to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka mormons). So it was interesting to read about how extreme her family was in thier beliefs. I mean, I dont live in Utah or Idaho, but this family was definitely off thier rockers in thier practices. Haha! Very interesting and inspiring story overall.
The educated was one of my favorites I ever read. At the time of reading this book, I was imagining things happened in the book. Also, reminds me that the childhood I had been maintained 20 years ago.
I finally read this book. It was so good I couldn't put it down. I grew up in an extremely strict mormon household with 7 kids too. I could relate exactly to some things in this book. But her family was so extreme in survivalist, no education, hatred of drs I couldn't relate to those parts of it. I get where she is coming from in so many parts of this book. But overall it's just an awesome read.