Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

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

49 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

carriemae's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Violence, Misogyny, Gun violence, and Emotional abuse

kateyoutka's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

3.0

A deeply troubling assessment of one woman's experience in the Children of God, a cult known for troubling sex practices (among a myriad of other issues). This isn't so much a book *about* the cult as it is a memoir about one person's experience within said cult. I wish the history of the cult had been given throughout the book, rather than a rushed introduction -- I listened to the audiobook of this so it was impossible for me to flip back to the history section and cross-check anything I was confused about. 

That said, I feel for the author and her experiences and hope she is healing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, and Child abuse

Moderate: Religious bigotry

melchncookies's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

This book has graphic descriptions of sexual acts involving minors. It’s not for the faint hearted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

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

sunflowersabrina's review

challenging dark informative sad tense fast-paced

3.5

Very interesting book. I can’t exactly say I enjoyed reading it, but it’s not really the sort of book you’re meant to enjoy. A very clear look at how cults and systematic abuse shape your worldview as you grow up and how you can become attached to and complicit in a system that perpetrates terrible things even while suffering under that same system. At the same time, it shows resilience and the realities of facing the truth about what you’ve done and what’s been done to you and breaking out of a cycle of abuse. 

This book is very focused on the author’s own experience (understandable) and sexual abuse. It is often explicit and this may be hard or triggering for a lot of readers (it was for me). It also glosses over the strong undercurrent of racism within the family and how messed up a lot of elements are like Witnessing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

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

growintogardens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.25

I've read a lot about cults and personal memoirs from people in cults, but this one didn't really help me understand the cult itself. The descriptions of sexual abuse are so graphic, it's very difficult to get through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Addiction, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

The descriptions of assault are really graphic. Also, rape/assult continues throughout the book.