Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Cultos by Amanda Montell

44 reviews

deezy's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicide, and Religious bigotry

bootsmom3's review against another edition

funny informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Child death, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Body shaming, Death, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

kerttuli's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Mental illness and Bullying

dfbballinger's review against another edition

medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Eating disorder, and Child abuse

taelights's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Cults are a topic that deeply interests me so this one was a fun read despite being very surface-level information but it was interesting and I did learn a few things I didn't know before. Plus the exploration of more "untraditional" cults was cool as well. I don't think I would have gotten through this if I hadn't listened to the audiobook version because this way it was like a long podcast on cults but I think it would drag on too much and be too repetitive if I had tried to read it in any other format. I probably would have dnf it if it wasn't for the audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Violence, Body shaming, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

youreawizardjerry's review against another edition

informative lighthearted reflective slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Child death, Fatphobia, and Religious bigotry

kelsyalexandra's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Death

Minor: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

faeriekit's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.0

As someone who's been very into cults and cult history...this book was not very illuminating. I learned a few things on a few subjects, such as a few individuals' stories from the Jonestown massacre, but ultimately, I realized that this book was not as in depth or as exploratory as to the nature of cults in and of themselves as I wanted it to be. That's fine; I wasn't the target audience, the average reader, someone who may not be as familiar with the subject, is. 

For the average reader, this strikes me as a good ground-level cult book to get into the topic with. The subjects are covered humorously, everything is given it's basic context, and the subjects run the gambit of your Applewhites and Jim Jones to modern Insta influencers with similar statused with their audience, which gives you a real variety of flavors of extremely niche and spiritual-oriented groups. It's a "dark" read, but no darker than the usual subject matter; I would actually consider it light fare, if not for, you know...the mentions of mass suicide. It's a pool read! But you're sort of sad! Crisis tourism in a beach read! The personal touch of the author's own Scient*logy story was a nice read as well. Most people don't know how to grapple with such a close brush to such an insular group. I think writing abook about the subject is a great way to do so. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Suicide, Child abuse, and Misogyny

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

5.0

This is a solid nonfiction book that is an examination of different types of cults within our society and how those who lead them use language to manipulate their followers. On the other hand, this book is also about how many of us have already fallen into cultish groups/dynamics. The inside flap reads, "We secretly want to know, 'could it happen to me?' Amanda Montell's argument is that on some level, it already has." From Instagram to Heaven's Gate, Montell describes cults and cult victims with both sensitivity and great intelligence.

I really enjoyed this one. It read easily for a nonfiction. I feel like even if you aren't a nonfiction person, you might like this. Anyone who has spent any time immersed in internet culture, interested in true crime, language, and obviously, cults will find something for them within these pages. I don't really have anything smart to say about it other than I really liked it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Bullying, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Suicide, Violence, Mental illness, Murder, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Rape, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, and Racism

Moderate: War, Cancer, Medical trauma, Car accident, Drug use, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Stalking, Addiction, and Excrement

ashleycmms's review against another edition

challenging informative fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Cursing, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Racism, Death, Confinement, Cancer, and Emotional abuse