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I went into this book thinking it might be a more personal deep dive into the hidden abuses revealed in the shiny happy people documentary. It was more about Jill talking about how uncomfortable it was to be on camera all the time, the double standard of how her brother was treated by her father versus how she was treated, and later financial abuse. I‘m glad Jill found her way out of the fundamentalist stranglehold, but I think she‘s still in⬇️

Montell explores the connections between the manipulative language tactics cults we normally think of (Jonestown, Heaven‘s Gate) with organizations and trends we might not think of as cults such as MLMs, boutique fitness trends and followings, conspiracy theories and my favorite, corporate techno-babble. It‘s not to say that these other things are cults, but that they exhibit some features, not always negative. This book is good; maybe not great.

#CharacterCharm #Survivor

4 Stars • Clover Blue by Eldonna Edwards follows a 12-year-old kid named Clover growing up in a 1970s California commune. He loves his quirky family of hippies and misfits, led by guru Goji, but starts wondering about his real mom and past. With his friend Harmony pushing him, Clover digs for answers Goji won‘t give. ⬇️

#CharacterCharm Prophet Wow! I never really heard this song before, lol. And I love queen. Really love the voices with no instruments. @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

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!