Tara Westover
This book altered my brain chemistry.
It was one of the first books I read as an adult, and I read it before I went to college and was exposed to other ways of growing up and different cultures etc.
Tara grows up in the Appalachian mountains in one of the most abusive, neglectful homes you can imagine.
She learns how to read through the books she is given access to, so her writing style develops in a very specific way. This is part of what made this book special – you could tell it was a genuine, true story, behind told by someone who had been through it.
This book places a spotlight on the children still living these lifestyles and awareness of the different populations and socioeconomic groups within the United States.
There is every trigger you can imagine in this book so proceed with caution.
In my opinion, the triggers are worth it for you to understand the environments some children grow up in, and they add to the book itself. I do not find this to be the same regarding fictional characters. With fictional stories, adding in random triggers and horrible traumatizing scenes and flawed characters seems to poke a gag bear over and over again, something I think a lot of readers are tired of seeing.
The main backlash for Colleen Hoover in fact is that she writes disturbing content. I unfortunately have found much worse content in dark romance books and other books that were marketed as being humorous reads – Colleen at least markets the scary books as thrillers, not so much funny reads.
This book puts into perspective how truly lucky many of us are, and is a testament to the fact that anyone can write a book if they set their mind to it.
I think about this book on a weekly basis at least. I loved it so so much.
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