Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

20 reviews

growintogardens's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

claireh6's review

informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Murder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

aysha_blake's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Rape, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Racism, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, and Police brutality

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

This is an extremely cool linguistic exploration on how language impacts how people decided to join and stay in manipulative groups (broadly termed 'cultish'). From murder-suicides like Jonestown and Heaven's Gate to MLMs to fitness groups like Soul Cycle, the spectrum is wide, but Montell convincing demonstrates on how all these groups employ similar rhetorical strats to recruit people.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Murder, Religious bigotry, Racism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Antisemitism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Addiction

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

bethancy's review

dark informative fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, and Body shaming

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

ramhog's review

dark funny informative fast-paced

4.5

This put into words so many conversations and thoughts I've had with my partner and friends! I don't feel like I particularly learned anything groundbreaking or new but having this exploration of the language of cults laid out so neatly and in an engaging way makes it a must-read imo. Bought at Firestorm Books.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Bullying, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Murder, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Suicide, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Since this is all about various cults and their abuses I'm sure I missed some warnings. From my memory none of the descriptions longer, but it does deal head on with dark themes.

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

librarymouse's review

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Well written and engaging, the narrator's voice is conversational while giving factual information and leaving space for herself to reflect on what she's learned. Amanda Montell comes at this information from an interesting perspective, being the child of a father who was raised in and resisted a cult before escaping as a teenager. The content centered around religion, belief systems, and process 1 and 2 thinking specifically really interested me. As a former catholic, I always thought that I was just a very cynical child because I didn't quite mesh with the religion in a way I thought my peers could. The author's explanation of prayer as perceiving one's own post-prayer thoughts as answers from God really put how I've relied on process 2 thought in religious spaces into perspective. This is a book that begs reflection from readers, but doesn't condemn piety or belief in any form it may take so long as it doesn't cause harm.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, Fatphobia, Trafficking, Suicide, Bullying, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Toxic friendship

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Toxic friendship, Murder, Blood, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Suicide attempt