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Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
32 reviews
katie0528's review against another edition
4.5
I did listen to the audiobook and wish it was read by the author. The narrator was fine, but Amanda Montell hosts a podcast called Sounds Like a Cult, and she is so much more engaging when discussing these topics.
Graphic: Gaslighting and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Trafficking
Minor: Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Classism, Cultural appropriation, and Suicide
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
edrickashay's review
4.75
I would recommend to every single American… everyone needs to read this.
I picked up this book to deepen one of my fiction stories that I realized includes a cult, and was pleasantly overwhelmed by the information and the storytelling in this book.
I’ve heard people call Mormon’s a cult. I’ve heard of Scientology and the Moonies. I have a family member part of an MLM, and I myself identify *loosely* as a new age spiritualist.
I personally skipped the section on fitness cults, as I am personally not a work-out girlie and don’t know anyone who is, and I found the chapter on MLM’s less engaging than the rest, but overall this book remained engaging, informative, and is filled with highlights.
Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Emotional abuse
lemonsforyu's review
4.0
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Bullying, Self harm, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Suicide
kimib79's review
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting
camilla_perotti's review
4.75
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
courto875's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Cultural appropriation, Death, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse
risemini's review
3.5
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Child death, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, and Violence
butle2em's review
5.0
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Emotional abuse
balfies's review
3.0
The first few chapters hewed a bit too close to true crime for me (I am very squeamish and the Jonestown murders are deeply distressing), but it picked up a bit in the chapters in MLMs and SoulCycle.
I'd greatly enjoyed Montell's first book Wordslut, about linguistics from a feminist lens, and was really keen to read this. It has its moments, but overall this is the weaker book, I think.
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Cultural appropriation, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Suicide