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marija_m95's review against another edition
2.75
The first three parts (the book is divided in 6 parts) were somewhat satisfactory, and the author had some interesting views on how cultish language works to lure a person into becoming a part of a cult and also into staying in it.
But parts four, five, six felt like reading a completely different book, concentrating on MLMs, fitness groups and online communities which we can agree are "cult like" but they are not cults in the negative sense of the word associated with groups like Heaven's Gate or Jonestown. And while it was interesting to read how these groups and organisations possess cultish qualifies and cultish language it felt far too removed from the main topic.
Other downsides of reading these were the author's writing style, especially the signposting. Reading lines as "more on that later"; "we'll discuss this in part 6"; etc. creates aversion to the book and it's not something I'd like to encounter in any type of book. It would've been more suitable if this was a research paper.
Another thing was how the author was excessively present in the book and her numerous mentions of her hate towards Donald Trump felt like she was imposing her own political views upon the reader. We can agree that politicians use language to gain following and therefore a good political orator can have many similarities with a cult leader, but when only one politician is mentioned repeatedly as a bad example the book itself becomes biased.
Overall, this book felt misleading and not what I expected. While there were some interesting points to take from it, it wasn't anything groundbreaking and nothing I haven't heard of before. There was no new knowledge or perspective to be gained from this.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
Moderate: Death, Grief, Gaslighting, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Sexual assault
ana_p_carvalho's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Xenophobia, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, and Suicide
Minor: Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, Death, and Misogyny
claireh6's review
3.5
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Murder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
victoria_plural's review
4.0
Minor: Death, Suicide, and Sexual violence
laura_awkward_fox's review
4.5
Graphic: Death and Cursing
Moderate: Genocide, Murder, and Death
apoppyinthewind's review against another edition
3.5
Also, the audiobook highlights the "More on that later" pattern that other reviewers have pointed out which became irritating.
Aside from those issues though, it was a fascinating look into the word cult, what we generally know/think about cults, and how language evolves around cults. There were a few personal anecdotes which I found interesting though I could see them being off-putting if you were looking for a more academic-style text.
One element I especially appreciated was the way Montell tried to destigmatize the way folks are drawn into cults, and any scorn in the book was aimed at the manipulative cult leaders, not the ones who were drawn into cultish groups.
Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Death
Moderate: Child abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Body shaming
Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism
nora13hf's review against another edition
Graphic: Death and Suicide
scandalabra's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Suicide and Death
annick's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Death and Drug use
maximauve's review
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Emotional abuse, Death, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, and Suicide