Picked up to better understand one of my kids, but found that it was helpful for both. Tons of great strategies and nuggets in here for any type of child.

Listened to the audio book and enjoyed the story but could definitely see enjoying it more in print or with a different narrator. There was something overly emphatic or allusive in this narrator’s tone for me. I would have appreciated a more subtle or darker take. Interested in the prequel that came out this year and curious to read her writing with a different voice in my head.

This book is about as opposite as you can get from the Harry Potter series. It’s about several average families and small-town politics, in an ordinary English community. It seems to pride itself on a realism that is alternatingly gritty and mundane. The pacing especially is quite different from the page-turning Harry Potter books. The perspective is split between so many characters that the story never really gains momentum until the end, and the plot is almost non existent.

However, I found the driving themes and some central characters rather compelling. The ending left me feeling unsatisfied, deflated, and unsure of whether I “liked it” per say. But it did make me think and feel and I don’t regret the time I took to read it. It’s definitely a book that’s more about the journey than the destination.

Probably more like a 3.5. There was a lot I really liked and some aspects that disappointed. I was totally smitten with the first half, then it started to drag a little. The pacing felt very hurry up and wait for a while and didn’t deliver in terms of plot twists. The world building was exquisite though. And I think I would come back for book two.

Such a fun read! I listened on audio and (other than not liking the male narrator’s Dimple voice) it was a total delight. Lighthearted, rich, with very interesting, 2-dimensional protagonists who balance each other in the best way. Kind of makes me want to squee just thinking about their story again.

This is not an easy read. Sure, it's fairly short and the syntax and vocabulary are straight-forward (you could probably breeze through it in a day or two if you wanted), but the subject matter is jarring. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted. I think you honor yourself and the material best by reading this one slow, a couple chapters at a time. Let the characters introduce themselves to you, give yourself time to process the hard parts, let the upsetting truths slowly shatter your own preconceived notions, of justice and hope and redemption. I think you'll find, as I did, that the story lingers in your mind for days afterward, refusing to be let go and it will break you in every good way.

This book has been endlessly compared to The Glass Castle, and while the content is very similar (rural dysfunctional childhood, protagonist manages to get an education and have a successful career), there are also important differences. The most striking of these is the writing style. As an academic, Westover’s righting style is straight-forward and almost technical. As a historian, she is extremely concerned with factuality and the question of whose version of the past is right or can be trusted, which very much becomes a theme in the memoir. This is very different from the more lyrical prose of The Glass Castle, in which the reliability of the narrator is never questioned. I preferred the Glass Castle a little more stylistically, but found both works equally compelling in their own way. And I’ll be sitting with the very interesting questions raised in Educated for a long while.