Mini Reviews | Cults

 Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It always gets me when books like this show the authors as children (much like Jenna MisCavige Hill's book on escaping Scientology). They're so young and innocent and have no idea that what is happening to them is abuse, and they deserve so much better.

Rachel Jeffs is one of Warren Jeffs' 53 children whom he has with perhaps as many as 80 wives and in this she book recounts is excruciating detail what life was like living within the confines of the FLDS Church, run by her father and self-proclaimed Prophet. Jeffs' stranglehold on the cult is so strong that despite a life sentence plus twenty years, he still issues edicts from behind bars that his followers adhere to. Never doubt, he is still very much in control.

Yet Rachel found a way out and I deeply admire her courage and strength as she made her plans to escape. After years of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at the hands of her father, she knew this was not okay, nothing about this was right, and she had to get away. Rachel was often punished for what the church viewed as transgressions by being isolated in a house by herself, and her children kept from her.

In 2015 though, Rachel pulled the trigger on her escape, fleeing with her children to her grandparents' home, finally safe from the only home she had ever known.

 Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I wish people would stop calling this a religion, it's a cult and we all know it.

That's really my only issue with the book - the subtitle.

Otherwise, this shit is bananas just like every other Scientology book I have read so far and I am HERE. FOR. IT.

It is so batshit insane that I can't stop picking up books about this cult. I mentioned above the memoir written by Jenna Miscavige Hill, but there are many others out there as well, and still more I want to read.

I was really surprised at just how cooperative the "church" was with Reitman. She was given access to current members and officials for interviews, as well as confidential documents that we might never know about otherwise. Yet still I wonder how much they also kept from her. She also interviewed numerous former members to keep the perspective balanced.

Reitman is a journalist and takes the approach of telling a factual story about Scientology. There are, of course, celebrity stories and Tom Cruise will forever be the couch-jumping poster boy, but there is tons of actual information here. Of course, a lot of those facts are ridiculous and terrible, so Scientologists still come off looking ridiculous and terrible, which a lot of them are.

For all the good the "church" claims it has done, such as volunteer ministers travelling to sites of devastation to render aid, whether natural or man-made disasters, all the negative can not be and must not be overlooked.

One need only to seek out interviews with former members, some of whom had previously dedicated their whole lives to the organization - not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And that right there is the root of it all - the money.

L. Ron Hubbard was a con man of the worst kind, bilking people out of their life savings for a chance at salvation. Yes, there is some level of personal responsibility that must be realized, but what about children born into Scientology, who never know any other way of life? Or those who are such outcasts, feel like they don't belong anywhere, and suddenly within the "church" they become someone?

It makes you wonder how much longer this can go on. How many more people have to come forward with the insane stories of being sent to far-flung outposts to 'plant a new church'? How many more will be harassed and see their lives destroyed because Miscavige is so rich, he's practically untouchable?

Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me

Rating: 3 Stars

Okay, honesty time: I am completely fascinated by Scientology. Not in a Tom-Cruise-Jump-On-All-The-Couches-Kind-Of-Way, but in an "OMG WTF?!" kind of way. This is complete insanity to me. But then I remember I live in a country that recently elected an orangutan/Cheetoh for president, so nothing should REALLY surprise me in the level of gullibility or stupidity that exists. And yet, here we are.

There is a review in particular on Goodreads I would like to point you to if you have not seen it, which really sums up the book nicely. The user's name is Meg and her review is as follow: "No matter how bad things get, just remember: at least your dad never wrote a book about how you're a sociopath." And yes! This is such a true statement, on all levels. Firstly, because that is exactly what Ron Miscavige did and secondly, because his psycho son David really is a sociopath. And I  came to the conclusion about the sociopathiness of Miscavige when reading his niece's book a few months ago. This one confirmed it even more.

This is a quick read and is by no means groundbreaking. There is very little information about the elder Miscavige and his son, because there seemed to not really be any relationship to speak of. This could be due to the honesty of the author in depicting how difficult life was for his children growing up because of how much he and their mother fought. I don't blame the younger Miscavige for wanting to get away from home ASAP.

As opposed to Ron's granddaughter's book that I mentioned previously (Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape by Jenna Miscavige-Hill), the thing I found most useful in this one is that the author delved a little deeper in actual Scientology practices and core beliefs. However, I still don't understand what Scientology actually does. I mean, I get the auditing and the e-meters and all that shit, but when they talk about going on "missions", what are they doing? Just constantly asking for money and building huge worship centers? Except worship is not even the right word, because what do they worship, besides David Miscavige and $$$? They don't believe in God, yet celebrate Christmas. I just don't get it. And maybe that is okay, because it is all just nuts.

I can't help but feel sorry for the author in a few ways, however. As a parent, it would be very difficult to hear that your son had not only instructed private investigators to continue following you long after you left Scientology, but that in a moment where they thought you might be having a heart attack as you reached in your pocket for your phone, your son's words were, "If he dies, he dies. Don't intervene." That has to be hard for a parent to hear.

Ultimately though, there is nothing really new here that you could not have found elsewhere, such as in Jenna's book, or seeing what all the hullabaloo was when Leah Remini's book first came out. The thing is, so much of the author's information was second-hand also, as he was kind of on the outside for a long time before he and his second (I think. Maybe third?) wife finally left the group for good. 

In the end, this is one you can take or leave. But, if you are having a bad day, it might make you feel better about your own life!

Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

I don't even know where to begin. At 7% in I was thinking how batshit insane this all was, how this amounted to nothing more than straight up child abuse. This is not religion, this is not faith, this a money-making scheme built on the backs of children - from those who were unfortunate enough to be born to Sea Org members (the most highly committed Scientology members) and separated from their families for months or years at a time, to others who did forced manual labor to build The Ranch, all while receiving no actual education in anything but the doctrine of LRH (L. Ron Hubbard). There is no way on earth that I could ever be separated from Eleanor in that way for so long. No job or commitment is worth that. Ever. Nothing. Yet without batting an eye Jenna's parents relocated away from Justin (her brother) and Jenna WITHOUT TELLING THEM. The siblings found out from the family living with them what was happening, and by then their parents were already gone. I can't even.

It absolutely breaks my heart to even look at this cover and see this sweet face, and to know that her childhood was completely destroyed by these monsters - her own family being among the perpetrators. Worse still, to know that there are so many who went through and continue to go through the exact same thing she did - the psychological torture, the emotional abuse, even physical abuse. Heartbreaking is the only way to describe it.

Prior to reading this book I had very little knowledge of Scientology. I know it is a super expensive, super secret cult 'religion' that does not believe in pain medication or psychiatry. And it makes Tom Cruise jump around on couches acting like a damn fool. I mean really, would he have done that BEFORE becoming more involved with the cult 'Church'? No. Before that, when he was still married to Nicole, he was normal. There are still many, many things I do not understand (like why are adults called Mr. regardless of gender?) and so I am no expert, but I know what the experience was like for THIS child. I also do not understand why, at the age of seven, Jenna's job at The Ranch was to be the health monitor, keep track of all the illnesses the other children had, and to administer vitamins and help those who were injured. I also do not understand why when books like this come out, these abuses and allegations are not looked into by the authorities. Jenna, however, made a good point after her parents had left the cult 'Church' and didn't talk bad to Jenna about it at all, who was still very much involved. She made the statement that you can't tell a brainwashed person that they are brainwashed, they won't believe it. Perhaps this is why even if any authorities were to look into the allegations, they would come up with nothing, or very uncooperative people who do not see anything wrong with the way they and those around them are treated.

This was a very engaging, horribly heartbreaking story. Ultimately though, Jenna escapes (as the subtitle states, so no spoilers here) and has gone on to speak out against the cult 'Church'. I hope that now that she is free, raising a family of her own, that she can really put her life back together and find peace and happiness that she certainly never would have had if she had remained. Highly recommended.