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64 reviews for:
The Program: Inside the Mind of Keith Raniere and the Rise and Fall of Nxivm
Chet Hardin, Toni Natalie
3.61 AVERAGE
64 reviews for:
The Program: Inside the Mind of Keith Raniere and the Rise and Fall of Nxivm
Chet Hardin, Toni Natalie
3.61 AVERAGE
I loved the Vow, and the Starz series.
Keith Raniere is gross. And the cult that he created is really disturbing.
This wasn't adding to anything I already expected. But I hope it gets the word out.
Keith Raniere is gross. And the cult that he created is really disturbing.
This wasn't adding to anything I already expected. But I hope it gets the word out.
I'm bailing at 43%. I should not be this bored this far in, not while listening to the audiobook (even speeding it up to 2.25x didn't help). For such a crazy cult, the author escaped pretty early on before the insane sex branding/Alison Mack crap happened. So she was there for most of the boring pyramid scheme type business failures and Raniere's borrowing from other cult like groups to form the beginning of NXIVM. Keith Raniere is definitely a sociopathic narcissist with masochist behavior, but he's also boring as hell. I'm not saying I couldn't fall for a cult (I mean, a bookish one would totally have my number), but how Keith Raniere mind-bamboozled so many people is astounding. I'm glad Toni Natalie made it out, and I've no doubt she's been through a shitstorm of crazy from Raniere and his acolytes, but I just couldn't get over the more mundane aspects of the cult.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
This book was excellent, at times difficult to read. Post-Trump, we all have a working knowledge of malignant, sociopathic narcissism, but Raniere's victims did not. He destroyed lives, sanity and created trauma for survivors for years to come. Hopefully he'll be in jail for a very long time.
The title states that this book delves into the mind of Keith Raniere. This book delves into the mind of the author. Furthermore, Natalie wants to be important in the history of NXIVM, which disturbed me, given how many people have suffered. She states at least once, and has cult expert Rick Ross state twice in his intro, that she was the first to take Raniere down. The evidence doesn’t pan out, frankly, *even in her own book*; it’s not that simple. And it doesn’t matter. I have seen this distasteful behavior before, concerning the FLDS trial, and who was the first whistleblower. One book, which I won’t name here, is a lie, because it was published during the beginning of the trial, because the person was in such a hurry to make Natalie’s same claims.
I hung on through Natalie’s awkward and unprofessional narration after that red flag at the beginning. The book ends with her giving cutesy shoutouts to several different jurors—“I loved the way you rolled your eyes, Juror 12”.
This book is all about Natalie.
I hung on through Natalie’s awkward and unprofessional narration after that red flag at the beginning. The book ends with her giving cutesy shoutouts to several different jurors—“I loved the way you rolled your eyes, Juror 12”.
This book is all about Natalie.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Couldn’t stop reading but was hoping for a bit more
I mean I couldn’t stop reading, the story is fascinating. Still the book could be improved.
It was helpful in understanding more about NXIVM...
I mean I couldn’t stop reading, the story is fascinating. Still the book could be improved.
It was helpful in understanding more about NXIVM...
I would say this is closer to a 3.5.
This is a story that I had no knowledge of aside from the news coverage that I saw here and there.
What an abhorrent cult.
It is such an interesting story, and the author, Toni Natalie is such a strong person. The harrowing details of everything which she endured during her time in and outside of the cult is incredible, upsetting and hard to believe that someone can be as evil as Raniere. I thought it was so gripping to learn how an MLM company became a sex cult.
There were some instances when I feel that the author discusses the inside mind of cult members which she got from knowing these people, but, I feel that this book would have been stronger if there was more an exploration in to individuals in the cult, and those who escaped. There are bigger players which are explored, but others who are not discussed as much. As of now, it feels like there are set ups and then there is a conclusion.
Holy hell am I glad that Raniere was tried and convicted for his crimes, as were others who aided the cult.
This is a story that I had no knowledge of aside from the news coverage that I saw here and there.
What an abhorrent cult.
It is such an interesting story, and the author, Toni Natalie is such a strong person. The harrowing details of everything which she endured during her time in and outside of the cult is incredible, upsetting and hard to believe that someone can be as evil as Raniere. I thought it was so gripping to learn how an MLM company became a sex cult.
There were some instances when I feel that the author discusses the inside mind of cult members which she got from knowing these people, but, I feel that this book would have been stronger if there was more an exploration in to individuals in the cult, and those who escaped. There are bigger players which are explored, but others who are not discussed as much. As of now, it feels like there are set ups and then there is a conclusion.
Holy hell am I glad that Raniere was tried and convicted for his crimes, as were others who aided the cult.
challenging
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
This is probably my least favorite of the NXIVM books so far. This was written by Toni Nathalie, the first of Keith's girlfriends to try and escape him. She was part of his business ventures pre-NXIVM and essentially left her husband for him but then didn't like his overbearing personality and when NXIVM started she didn't want to be part of the Raniere as Vanguard worship, so she tried to break up with him. He and his inner circle then tormented, stalked, and harassed her for years in and out of court after ruining her business. Natalie did have good insight on pre and early-NXIVM Raniere but a lot of the story told from during NXIVM (aside from her personal harassment and involvement in bringing him down) felt second hand and not always quite accurate to what we now know to be true (could be that it was published before certain things were clarified/admitted). My main dislike for this was that Raniere got his picture on the front cover and the title was all about him when it was really her story. I felt like highlighting him would just feed into his narcissism, especially when she'd talked about how he loved being photographed so I didn't understand why she gave her story's front billing to him. Hence why my picture of the book was taken in the dark under a red lamp and is not flattering at all. Natalie's story is still important but if you're only going to read one NXIVM book you should pick Don't Call it a Cult.