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hexedmaiden's review
5.0
Now on to the content of this book, I think Amanda did an banger job on this and I like this should be a book that everyone and their grandma reads. If you're like me and have been listening/reading/watching anything to do with True Crime you might be familiar with not only the cults in here, but even the language used that Amanda refers to as, "Cultish." I found this book absolutely fascinating and getting to see how powerful language can truly be, for the worse and the better. How that cultish language is used by genuine cults, politicians, multi-level marketing (MLM) corporations, to even workout gyms.
Graphic: Suicide, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault, Death, and Murder
michelles_book_nook's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, and Rape
growintogardens's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship
mfrisk's review
3.5
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault
rowena0528's review
5.0
I found this book while reading reviews for another book on modern religious movements "Strange Rites". Both of these books should be read together, as they compliment each other very well.
Minor: Suicide and Sexual assault
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
ellenmlittle's review
4.5
Minor: Suicide, Kidnapping, and Sexual assault
hey_al's review
3.5
Minor: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Murder, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Racism
saucy_bookdragon's review
3.5
Sections 4-5 were disappointing though, dealing with MLMs (the pyramid schemes kind not the gay kind) and fitness programs. They spent the whole time justifying why these groups are cultish and so mainly applied the information discussed in the first half, which made it redundant and the authors arguments felt like reaches at times, she even admits at the end of chapter five that fitness programs aren't really a concern. This would've been stronger if it focused specifically on religious cults and then made quick comparisons to how the methods apply to non-cult groups, or maybe if it had been one chapter about cultish groups.
The last section is a return to form as it discusses New Age and conspiracy theory internet personalities. These are much closer to traditional cults and its a fascinating discussion on how these groups form with the internet. It made me wish that the non-cult sections had been cut/condensed and the book could've expanded more on actual cults, especially since there were a lot of examples mentioned that could have used expanding on.
Also, it seems odd that since the doors were opened for cult-like groups that there wasn't any discussion of celebrity fandoms. They're mentioned maybe twice but never expanded on or explained. I mean they're groups of people extremely devoted to one person/a group of people who have their own distinct language, in jokes, and culture. Their beliefs are often near religious and the lore they create is often intricate and a mythology around the person. I think especially Swifties, kpop stans, and Beatlemania would be interesting to study.
Cultish is overall an interesting introduction to the role language plays in cults and thought provoking, though it could have used more focus and more examples.
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Gun violence and Rape
beccasova's review against another edition
4.0
Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide
Discusses the influence of speech and language in cults, and how it has been used in modern marketing today.