Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape

This book piqued my interest since I knew that Shelley Miscavige is the (probably) missing wife of the leader of scientology, so I figured a book from one of her family members was interesting, and it definitely was. I didn't know a whole lot about scientology going in other than the basics. Frankly, it just was never a rabbit hole that I fell down, but wow there's a ton out there. Learning about what it's like on the inside from someone who experienced it first hand as a child was an experience.

Hill's accounts of her time in scientology, training from an early age to be a "good" scientologist is fascinating and heartbreaking - I'm so, so glad she got out but I'm now more disturbed knowing what's happening to those who are still inside. I definitely found this book was slow at points. Hill's account was detailed, but sometimes to the point of being overly detailed or repetitive, but it was still a solid read.

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stepnic's review against another edition

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dark hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

3.5

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

3.5 stars- I thought for a memoir the narration was excellent. It was quite slow-moving, yet there was a lot going on. I was so glad in the end that the outcome was what it was. I never realized quite how bad Scientology was. I knew it was bad, but not this much of a total cult. The fact it has been declared a religion in the US is terrifying!

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