Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

32 reviews

trippyotter's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

This book... I knew about several of the things mentioned, but the few I didn't, yikes...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Religious bigotry

syd_s_r's review against another edition

4.0

This is just how I like my nonfiction books. It's conversational tone makes it very approachable. The mix of storytelling and information kept me engaged. The author clearly has a political bias, and it occasionally felt forced instead of adding to her argument. Given the subject, I thought this book might be anti-religion, but the author actually approaches the intersection of cults and religion very tactfully.

Also, the cover is cool.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Cursing

renee_rain's review

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Cultish is a wonderful book about the language used in cults.

The word "cult" does not have a specific definition. Anything can be a cult from Starbucks to Heaven's Gate. Since reading, I have seen cultish language everywhere from Trader Joe's to my workplace.

The downside of this novel? I want so much more! Luckily, the author has a podcast, Sounds like a Cult.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

casually_booking's review

challenging funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

If you listen to the Sounds like a Cult podcast, you will like this book. Amanda’s tone is the same- caked in sarcasm and random quips about all things culty. I enjoyed the brief chapters because they provided some nice shape and guidance throughout the book. I also enjoyed how she wove in her personal experiences with cults and culty things along with interviewee’s stories and of course historical facts and academic sources. We are all a part of certain societal “cults”  but some “cults” come with deadly consequences and financial ruin. By sharing her own experiences with cults, she adds a layer of relatability. Definitely recommend for a digestible read about some difficult topics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Body shaming, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

avareadsoccasionally's review

funny informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.5

I was really excited about the idea of the book. I thought the content was interesting and I liked how it dove into language and what it means to be “cultish.”  However, it did seem repetitive especially in the introduction and towards the end. Also, the author dropped some personal opinions about certain people/things and I wasn’t necessarily looking for that when I chose this book. Overall, I think it was a worthwhile read, but I might not read it again just because of the repetitiveness. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

tamara_joy's review

challenging informative

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Racism, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Fatphobia, Confinement, and Suicide

dianapiskor's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

I read this on a recommendation from a fellow teacher and holy crap everyone, it was SOOOOO GOOD. Because I teach an advanced English class that focuses on the manipulation of language for a purpose, I thought this would be right up my alley. And it was. 

This whole book is centered on the idea of “cultish” language. She talks about actual cults like Jonestown to cults we don’t think about like Peloton and how language functions to get people to buy into these “cultish” groups. She also debunks certain myths like brainwashing and who is more likely to join these types of groups with no judgement. The picture the author paints is a mix of the power of language and how language works with the psychology of individuals. 

All of it was truly fascinating and I was hooked. The only issue for me was it was a BIT too long. But, overall, if you’re interested in psychology, language, and a hint of true crime, read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

mayakinsley's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child death, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Slavery and Sexual assault

catrickbateman's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.5

(listened via audible) 
really enjoyed the first half, the cults such as jonestown, heavens gate, 3ho and more were fascinating and hearing a different take on them through linguistics was refreshing but past that the exercise “cults” and MLM schemes became repetitive and didn’t seem to offer any new information or viewpoints. also struggled with how often the author says “more on this later” and there is actually very rarely more on it further in the book? overall an interesting sociological read/listen, but if you are already clued up on cults and MLM schemes you could give it a miss 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, and Body shaming

mari_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.25

This book really surprised me. I didn’t expect to be as engrossed as I ended up being. I thought the authors focus on language, optimism and human curiosity made it easy for the secular reader to bite into what she was explaining. For me, the only negative points were she spent way too long talking about Soulcycle when there are other better examples. I felt that within chapters sometimes her focus was unequal and glossed over important connections to move on to the next topic (ex: QAnon to Instagram quote accounts). The ended for me didn’t do the research of the text justice in my view, but could just be me. But over all, I loved the interviews with cult/ group members. This book raised a lot of important questions and I look forward to reading more from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, and Torture