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64 reviews for:
Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter from the Terrifying Cult Nxivm
Catherine Oxenberg
3.62 AVERAGE
64 reviews for:
Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter from the Terrifying Cult Nxivm
Catherine Oxenberg
3.62 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
I really enjoyed this book. I love memoirs because they feel so much less clinical than some nonfiction. This one was sad yet hopeful. I enjoyed learning about this case from someone who lived it. The only thing I could have lived without was the first part of chapter 19 as it was unnecessary for the story. All together a great book on the topic that gives a new fresh perspective
I think a lot of people have rated this book poorly for the way it reads throughout, but I think it's important to understand: Catherine Oxenberg writes this as a Mother desperate to save her daughter. She does not pretend to be an author, journalist, or even a polished actress in this account, rather, as the title describes, this book reads like a guidebook to her Crusade to save her daughter. A Crusade we currently see being closed out in the news as the sentencing of Nxivm leadership proceeds throughout Fall 2020. This book is an intriguing, interesting, and heartbreaking account of a Mother's love for her daughter, including tough love and anguish as that Mother realizes she is the one who originally introduced her daughter to the cult Nxivm, under the guise of a self-help community. If you're someone who enjoys memoir/biography, I highly recommend this book as an emotional account of an ongoing news story with real people and real emotions.
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Too slow paced for me. Might come back to it in the future as I was still interested but my attention was not in it.
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
The book itself is good but the narrator is incredibly biased. She treats her daughter as though she is ONLY a victim, but every other woman in the group as if she was evil and stupid. It's a good read.
Maybe my opinions will change as this book sits with me. I just felt that it was much more about "the Mother" and not really about the Daughter. She is responsible for introducing this cult to her child and even tried to convince her ex-husband and other two daughters to join. If she had doubts from the first-class, then why continue with three sets of classes? I have a morbid curiosity about cults, but I should have read a book from someone on the inside rather than on the outside. What she did with helping to bring the cult down is admirable, and I do not doubt that, however, a lot of the good is overshadowed by what seems to be outright selfishness.
This was a super insightful look into the inner workings of a dangerous cult... but the ending was very disappointing. I felt like it kept building to India’s departure from the cult but it never came; that was just glossed over at the end. Nevertheless, it was a captivating read. I hope India and all other involved members find safety and closure.
Between the name dropping, self-congratulating, and oddly placed puns, there is an interesting story here. But the writing makes it hard to follow.
I read this at the same time as [b:The Program: Inside the Mind of Keith Raniere and the Rise and Fall of NXIVM|44287145|The Program Inside the Mind of Keith Raniere and the Rise and Fall of NXIVM|Toni Natalie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563408050l/44287145._SY75_.jpg|68804994]. Both are somewhat interesting books, but both will be shelved in my NXIVM corpus as middle-of-the-road entries.
This one reeks of insufferableness until you get to the end of the book. In the beginning she paints herself as a wise seeker, able to pick up on the problems inherent in NXIVM where others could not. She wouldn't be controlled like this - she is in control.
Eventually, when India is still trapped in the midst of the community and Ms. Oxenburg's efforts were unable to get her out, she reaches desperation. Her journal entries where she admits her powerlessness and fear are some of the most vulnerable and honest sections of the book, and redeem a little bit of the haughtiness that pervades the first half. Having to publicly be vulnerable and risk her relationship with her daughter for the sake of truth and love was a really difficult place to be, and it shows.
Ultimately, she writes that she is glad everything worked out because her fighting for India was part of what led to the downfall of NXIVM, and she was right. Although there is a little bit of self-aggrandizing in this book, it is not an exaggeration to say that her willingness to go public with what she learned helped take down an evil man and organization, and for that she should be very, very proud.
This one reeks of insufferableness until you get to the end of the book. In the beginning she paints herself as a wise seeker, able to pick up on the problems inherent in NXIVM where others could not. She wouldn't be controlled like this - she is in control.
Eventually, when India is still trapped in the midst of the community and Ms. Oxenburg's efforts were unable to get her out, she reaches desperation. Her journal entries where she admits her powerlessness and fear are some of the most vulnerable and honest sections of the book, and redeem a little bit of the haughtiness that pervades the first half. Having to publicly be vulnerable and risk her relationship with her daughter for the sake of truth and love was a really difficult place to be, and it shows.
Ultimately, she writes that she is glad everything worked out because her fighting for India was part of what led to the downfall of NXIVM, and she was right. Although there is a little bit of self-aggrandizing in this book, it is not an exaggeration to say that her willingness to go public with what she learned helped take down an evil man and organization, and for that she should be very, very proud.