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Cult memoirs fascinate me. I didn't watch One Tree Hill, so I'm not familiar with this author, but this memoir was captivating; she's an excellent story teller. (I prefer audiobook format for memoirs.)

⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Informative and interesting, as it delves into the use of words and phrasing in cultish groups at varying levels.
Not sure why there's so much vitriol on gr (though the repeating 'we'll discuss x more in y section' and the author's immunity to cultish behaviour is a bit tiresome). It's a pop sociology book, not pretending to be academic. And it does what it sets out to do - discusses the language used in cultish circles.

Overall a pick, although if I had my choice its voice would have been less journalist-y and more academic. Some interesting insights about why Americans are more vulnerable to cults (both a tradition of protestant revival movements and their capitalist prosperity ethics and a lack of a social safety net) and a little bit less language than I thought. Still a pick, but if I did stars it'd get like 3.5.

The text is once again not showing (thanks, litsy's image processing plugin), but it's talking about system 1 vs system 2 thinking which I deal with daily at work but hadn't through of from this angle.

I liked this book very much. We read about 5 survivors of a cult, 120 of whom disappeared almost 15 years ago. DiLouie weaves their present and past together giving them this tortured and tragic, kicked out of Eden vibes mixed with “what did happen to us? Maybe we should go back and find out?” I loved it all and really wished the best for these people. I listened to it on audio while roadtripping and was hooked the whole time. Pick!

Island daughters run—
summer wild, winters broken,
hunger sparks the flame. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧📖 True Crime and cults are right up my alley so this should have been an easy pick. Unfortunately it was an absolute slog. I guess it was the writing style, think it could have used some editing. It was just really hard to get through as it didn't hold my attention at all. Disappointing.

"[AA] was changing my friend's life for the better."
Was it, though? Research has shown that AA's methods really only works if you're a middle age or older white professional, male, christian, who binge drinks alcohol.
Anyway, this book so far is more "magazine story" than serious non-fiction, and I need my facts to be presented academically to take them seriously at this point. Not terrible so far though.

How fitting that I started tagged book today which discusses the Jonestown event.