Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult by Faith Jones

42 reviews

byashleylamar's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Minor: Abortion, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Misogyny, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Addiction, Incest, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Rape, and Sexual harassment

erebus53's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This is not a book you want to start into without first being in a good place. It tells the personal story of a child born to a family pivotal to the Children of God, or "The Family"; a cult organisation based on some twisted interpretations of Christian gospel.

There is overt sexual content in the book, and descriptions of children brought up in a sexualised environment, with authoritarian discipline and privations of scarcity and poverty.

I think I would have not understood this quite so well if I had not already read about various social controls and the nature of Domestic Abuse and trauma healing. The descriptions clearly outline the methods that were used to create submissiveness, dependence, and unquestioning loyalty in people whose fundamental rights were being violated regularly.

Honestly the whole concept in such an extreme social context just makes me consider the societal norms and methods of oppression that we have in our daily lives and just normalise.. "that's just how things are".

It's a powerful account, but not really a fun read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Sexual content, Incest, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Violence, Cancer, and Deadnaming

sapphisms's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Incest, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, and Misogyny

shostakofish's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Incest, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Rape

playswithstring's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This book was tough. It’s hundreds of pages of abuse. I knew what the Children of God cult was about after reading Uncultured (Daniella Mestyanek) last year, but Faith Jones goes so much more into detail about the abuse she suffered. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Deportation, Eating disorder, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Body shaming, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

pamelaaaa's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

hookerkitty's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

2.0

It’s so sad how one charismatic asshole can destroy so many people’s lives.

This had potential, but missed the mark. While the first chapter about the history could’ve been interesting, it ended up being so incredibly dry that I almost gave up then.

After that there was SO MUCH unnecessarily graphic depictions of child physical and sexual abuse, and sexual abuse of adults. She didn’t need to go into so much detail; it was wildly uncomfortable and difficult to get through. It doesn't help that she wrote everything in the present tense. She wrote somewhat childlike for instances that happened when she was younger, but also used words that no 3 or 4 year old would use (or hell, most of the people there since they were only allowed a sixth grade education — side note: them having at least one spelling error in the titles of their educational material cracked me up).

I also find it hard to believe she remembered all that stuff in such detail from when she was that young. There were other instances throughout the book that also seemed like they skirted the lines of truth. (I’m not at all accusing her of fabricating her story, just that some instances here and there seem a little embellished).

There was more than one instance where she used a word without telling the reader what it meant. It was annoying to have to Google stuff to understand what she was talking about. I didn’t realize until I had finished the book that there was a glossary at the end. While that’s nice to have, a short definition when the word is introduced would’ve been much more appreciated.

It started to get better (or less uncomfortable) halfway through the book, but then dear god (hah) did her superiority complex come out. Lots of cringey thoughts and behaviors. The end had some stuff in it that I found useful, or at least could be a building block for some of my trauma processing.

I decided to look at her website (prompted by another review) and it seems that she has turned into the people she says she escaped from. Tons of red flags of courses that’ll fix your life with no mention of price, only an email, and she even went on Dr. Oz. Yikes on trikes all around.

I’m definitely disappointed with this book. I’ve always been fascinated by cults, but this went waaaay too graphic about the multitudes of abuse that happened (to both adults and children), with hardly any reflection of how it affected her. She can still be quite defensive about everything. I’m also disappointed in how she went from having no self esteem to rocketing over to pretentious and egotistical. I’m really glad I got this on Prime Day instead of paying full price for it.

Another side note - did anyone else get the feeling that she might be bi or gay? Her portrayal of some of the girls/women were much more descriptive and seemed like she was way more attracted to them than any of the boys/men in this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Medical content

Moderate: Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Blood, Excrement, Pregnancy, Grief, Confinement, Racism, and Incest

Minor: Police brutality, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Alcohol, Death, Deportation, Terminal illness, Suicide, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, War, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, and Bullying

sara_m_martins's review

This book is far too graphic in the abuse described. 
Plus, the writing style and the form feel weird and dissonant, as the sequence of events goes from pages of different but relatively-mundane life (like building a wall) to extremely abusive and traumatic scenarios. 
Additionally, I think I would rather read a more removed perspective - i.e. a biography instead of an autobiography

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Sexual content, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Incest, Animal death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Mental illness, Rape, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, and Drug use

lcoffey's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Something in me changed while reading this book. Emotionally it was very difficult to get through at times. She tells of experiences at each age from the frame of reference or attitude of a person at that age, so the reader experiences things through a lens of innocence or trust on through questioning and disillusionment. I was so proud of her by the end of the book, truly rooting for her success and happiness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Incest, and Emotional abuse

smilagros's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

I feel very odd rating someone’s story. This is not fiction. This actually happened. I think that is what is so terrifying. I do want to acknowledge the bravery it must have taken to write this book. The story telling made me forget at times that this is someone’s life. Cults fascinate me but I also think it’s important to acknowledge that even though they fascinate me, it still is someone’s life. As someone who works with children, I flinched and semi yelled whenever an abuse was about to occur. I wanted to protect Faith and her siblings. I truly believe that everyone should read this because it gives a bigger perspective on the meaning of religion, power and the need to abuse people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Incest, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Classism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking