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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
I liked it. Maybe 3.5. I definitely learned a lot about Scientology. The Hollywood dynamics were a little much for me.
I honestly didn’t know much about Remini or Scientology before reading this and was just more and more horrified about what she went through, and what others are still going through. Thank you for being brave and sharing your story.
emotional
informative
medium-paced
I listened to the audiobook, read by the author and it was awesome. It is the biography of Leah Remini and the story of her relationship with Scientology. It was riveting.
It was great listening to the audio book. Hearing the author's words, in her strong Brooklyn accent, made the story all the more vivid. I honestly cannot imagine experiencing her story any other way.
What struck me the most is how, for Leah, Scientology was like catholicism is for any devout Catholic. She's been a member of her religion since she was 9 and never wanted to leave. She doesn't even speak against the religion until the very end. She expresses her heartbreak with her discontent and disillusionment with her faith and those running the religion. The vast majority of the book is about her life, her years in Hollywood, her romantic life and her various experiences with Scientology. But, she does tell it all - the good, bad, and the ugly. She details her interactions with Tom Cruise, being a member of the Sea Org, and the various punishments she suffered through for not being a good Scientologist. All in all, this was a fairly well written book and an engaging story.
What struck me the most is how, for Leah, Scientology was like catholicism is for any devout Catholic. She's been a member of her religion since she was 9 and never wanted to leave. She doesn't even speak against the religion until the very end. She expresses her heartbreak with her discontent and disillusionment with her faith and those running the religion. The vast majority of the book is about her life, her years in Hollywood, her romantic life and her various experiences with Scientology. But, she does tell it all - the good, bad, and the ugly. She details her interactions with Tom Cruise, being a member of the Sea Org, and the various punishments she suffered through for not being a good Scientologist. All in all, this was a fairly well written book and an engaging story.
funny
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I am completely fascinated by the cult that is Scientology. It's amazing to me that this cult has amassed such wealth and such a large following on such a banana pants concept. I mean, seriously????? The dude was a science fiction writer and created a "religion" based on his science fiction fantasies. Gimme a friggin' break.
There were a lot of fascinating tidbits in here for me that made sense how someone could get sucked into Scientology. Her mother was a bit of a free spirit hippie type with a verbally abusive soon to be ex-husband when she joins the church. Leah and her sister are very young when they join the church and I can see how as a young person you can get sucked into that sort of community. Where even though it's a bit nutso, you've got a group of people around you, helping you when you need it, helping you find a job when you are desperate, a couch or a floor to sleep on when you are broke and homeless. And as a kid, they don't treat you like a kid. Tell me what kid wouldn't like that??? I don't have to go to school anymore and you treat me like an adult??? As a young kid like Leah who is already a bit of a rebel, I can see her and other kids like her saying, "Yup, sign me up."
That being said, I was subjected to my fair share of crazy religions as a child. I grew up with a parent who was very susceptible to cult like religions and I got dragged right along with her to every one of them. The community feeling of it was fun, I guess - a whole set of friends outside of my school friends - but frankly, the church stuff didn't appeal to me AT ALL and even at a young age it all seemed very extreme and a bit much. We would stay at church for hours and hours. I remember being in church for 4 and 6 and 8 hours at a time on a Sunday. As a kid, that felt brutal. It was like having to go to school on the weekends and frankly, it cut into my sleeping schedule and that's not cool. I am an adult who needs an excessive amount of sleep. I was no different as a child and I didn't appreciate having to wake up at the butt crack of anyone's dawn to spend 8 hours in church with a bunch of people doing and saying weird stuff. I know...I'm a horrible person, but I'm okay with that. I came to terms with that at 15 or 16 when I was finally given the option of whether or not I wanted to go to church anymore and I promptly turned over, pulled the blankets over my head, went back to sleep and didn't go to church again until I got married in one 10 years later.
I'm not surprised that the LA center is the largest Scientology center. Creative types, especially actors, who are insecure from continually being rejected at work and life are yearning for validation and I guess Scientologist gives them that. Or maybe they are distracted by so many BS courses that they don't have enough time to think about anything else. But let's be frank here, I would have kicked them all to the curb the first time that they try to strong arm me into a large donation. If it's true that so many of their members are in debt or losing homes and livelihoods trying to achieve this "religion," I mean, I just don't understand. It's one thing to tithe. It's another thing for your tithing to leave you destitute.
So crazy...so fascinating.
There were a lot of fascinating tidbits in here for me that made sense how someone could get sucked into Scientology. Her mother was a bit of a free spirit hippie type with a verbally abusive soon to be ex-husband when she joins the church. Leah and her sister are very young when they join the church and I can see how as a young person you can get sucked into that sort of community. Where even though it's a bit nutso, you've got a group of people around you, helping you when you need it, helping you find a job when you are desperate, a couch or a floor to sleep on when you are broke and homeless. And as a kid, they don't treat you like a kid. Tell me what kid wouldn't like that??? I don't have to go to school anymore and you treat me like an adult??? As a young kid like Leah who is already a bit of a rebel, I can see her and other kids like her saying, "Yup, sign me up."
That being said, I was subjected to my fair share of crazy religions as a child. I grew up with a parent who was very susceptible to cult like religions and I got dragged right along with her to every one of them. The community feeling of it was fun, I guess - a whole set of friends outside of my school friends - but frankly, the church stuff didn't appeal to me AT ALL and even at a young age it all seemed very extreme and a bit much. We would stay at church for hours and hours. I remember being in church for 4 and 6 and 8 hours at a time on a Sunday. As a kid, that felt brutal. It was like having to go to school on the weekends and frankly, it cut into my sleeping schedule and that's not cool. I am an adult who needs an excessive amount of sleep. I was no different as a child and I didn't appreciate having to wake up at the butt crack of anyone's dawn to spend 8 hours in church with a bunch of people doing and saying weird stuff. I know...I'm a horrible person, but I'm okay with that. I came to terms with that at 15 or 16 when I was finally given the option of whether or not I wanted to go to church anymore and I promptly turned over, pulled the blankets over my head, went back to sleep and didn't go to church again until I got married in one 10 years later.
I'm not surprised that the LA center is the largest Scientology center. Creative types, especially actors, who are insecure from continually being rejected at work and life are yearning for validation and I guess Scientologist gives them that. Or maybe they are distracted by so many BS courses that they don't have enough time to think about anything else. But let's be frank here, I would have kicked them all to the curb the first time that they try to strong arm me into a large donation. If it's true that so many of their members are in debt or losing homes and livelihoods trying to achieve this "religion," I mean, I just don't understand. It's one thing to tithe. It's another thing for your tithing to leave you destitute.
So crazy...so fascinating.
funny
informative
fast-paced
