Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Breaking Free: How I Escaped My Father-Warren Jeffs-Polygamy, and the FLDS Cult by Rachel Jeffs

11 reviews

mirandahems's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

i liked hearing the story from first person perspective 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Sexism, Pregnancy, Cancer, and Death of parent

pearlisarobot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Pedophilia, Sexism, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Incest

Moderate: Mental illness, Kidnapping, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

pernillelsk's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cancer, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Police brutality

chloesbooked's review against another edition

5.0

This woman could be one of the bravest women to share her story for the world. Rachel Jeffs, one of the many daughters of Warren Jeffs, shares her story of surviving and leaving the manipulative church known as the FLDS. She was abused as a child, then forced into a marriage. She then endured more pain at the hands of her father, the leader of the FLDS church, even after his arrest. Her bravery and resilience was inspiring to say the least!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Infertility, Sexual assault, Confinement, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual violence

lignjahal's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

4.5/5.0

I find this autobiography to be a stunningly honest reflection on surviving abuse, a cult, and the trauma that comes with it. The audiobook is greatly benefitted by having the author read the book. There is no hiding away from Warren Jeff’s’ actions and the impacts he had with Rachel Blackmore’s words and tones. Her prayer for her family at the end of the book hits hard, but I hope it continues to reach her family until the FLDS is gone forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Pregnancy, Confinement, Death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Violence, Cancer, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Blood, Body shaming, Cancer, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

erinwolf1997's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Terminal illness, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Confinement, Cancer, and Death of parent

Minor: Car accident, Medical content, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

tkivlen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Mental illness, Medical content, Incest, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Grief, Confinement, Rape, Misogyny, and Sexual content

sgrizzle's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

4.0

This had been on my list for a while as I’ve had a morbid curiosity about the FLDS for years. I’ve read a couple of other memoirs, but watching the docuseries on Netflix and Discovery Plus both funnily enough called Keep Sweet, I was ready to start this book by one of Warren Jeff’s own children. (Side note: the two docuseries are really different but good complements actually. Watch the Netflix one first for the overall info, then the Discovery Plus one to find out more about actual life there and what is happening now.)

The abuse laid out in this story is horrific and graphic. It is not an easy read at all and I give strong content warnings to anyone who finds reading about child abuse difficult. As an outsider it is so hard to understand why people stay in a life like this, but Rachel does a good job of showing how the total indoctrination keeps everyone literally terrified for their souls. Writing-wise, it can be hard to follow all of the names of people here, there are just so many siblings and cousins and leaders and etc. But that’s a by-product of polygamy I guess lol. The constant moving was also confusing- a map with place names might have been useful.

Overall if you are interested in the FLDS this first-person account is a vital resource, but just know that Warren Jeffs is evil in literally every single way possible and singularly focused on destroying his followers. The strength of those who break free is truly inspiring.

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Content Warnings

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

linddykal's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Confinement, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

crownofsage's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

2.75

I fell bad giving a memoir such a low  rating, but the rating is of the book and quality of writing, NOT of her life story. The story itself was compelling and consistently horrifying. However, the style of writing was very dry and boring to me. Sometimes the monotony seemed to play into the content of the book (endless days where fun, affection, games, etc were banned and life was endless chores and loneliness). But most of the book was a struggle to get through. 

In addition, the first ~80 pages of the book contains fairly graphic CSA content about the author and her father. It’s an important part of the story for sure, but I felt like this section (many chapters) was uncomfortably long, and not particularly well written either. 

Overall, I drudged through trying to get to the end to see her talk about what life was like after escaping. I was very disappointed to see that the book ends only a couple short pages after her escape and doesn’t get into her recovery or growth from that point forward at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Rape, Miscarriage, and Medical content