Reviews and Comments

This is, hands-down, the best book I've read this year, and easily all-time top 5 non-fiction for me.

I'm going to have to do some processing, and hopefully write a longer review. But I cannot recommend this highly enough. It is thorough, well-written, and will make you very uncomfortable.

This story took a while for me to get into. Partly, it's that the protagonist isn't terribly likeable, and the main plot seems to be her just being horrible to people.

However, as things go on, you begin to enjoy getting to know her, and observing her interactions with people, her simultaneous intelligence and social cluelessness, it's hard not to start pulling for her. Even though you know very well that the crush she has on the musician (which drives a large part of the plot) is not going to turn out well.

It's a fascinating portrait of a person who has experienced deep trauma.

MILD SPOILER AHEAD

In the end, the emotional transformation is very satisfying, as is the ending, where she finally starts putting pieces together.

Good info, mildly amusing, pretty dated. I mean, that last one is obvious, but I'm putting it out there in case you missed it somehow.

Amazing, original, unlike anything I've read before.

Great read, very well written. It's about a lot more than Westover's story, though that would be enough.

There's a lot about memory, and how we can remake our memories of events as our circumstances change. Westover's journals are key in this: At times they force her to deal with what she actually experienced. Other times, her journals are not reliable as she wrote some things to make herself believe a false narrative.

There's also the idea of loyalty, and complex family dynamics.

There are a few things I wish had been addressed more, and some things seemed glossed over or even ignored. This may seem to be a strange complaint of a book that is so brutal in what it does reveal.

Still, very well written and compelling.

I'm not sure why I have not read this until now. Beautiful, engrossing, and I couldn't read it fast enough.

I had high hopes for this book, and it did not disappoint.

I listened to the audiobook, which I recommend. Savages reads it himself, and hearing it in his voice, with his inflection on what's most important, was very enjoyable. He's a showman, and that makes high perfect for recording, especially his own book.

The book is extremely encouraging, and part of it is letting people know it's OK to be creating whatever moves them, be it models, software, or even cooking. It's not all just a pep talk, however: There is a lot of very practical advice. Part of the advice is how he does things, and part is how you might find your own way.

I especially appreciated his references to being a generalist. I'm a software developer, and consider myself a generalist as well. His take on that helped me immensely.

I highly recommend you pick this up and give it a go.