Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Don't Call It a Cult: The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere and the Women of NXIVM by Sarah Berman

6 reviews

robinwritesallthethings's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

What It’s About: This book covers the rise and fall of the cult NXIVM. You may have heard of NXIVM already, since it was the subject of the documentary The Vow on HBO. I watched that first and then picked up this book because of it.

Plot: NXIVM is a fascinating and terrifying study of human behavior and how it can be manipulated on an extreme level. For those who are familiar with narcissists, a lot of the events in this book probably won’t be terribly surprising, but for those who aren’t, they’ll definitely learn how to spot one in the future, and I think that’s one of the big selling points of books like this. As it should be, the focus is on the victims and how they are continuing to recover from the ordeals they suffered. The story starts with the history leading to the creation of the cult and ends with the cult leader’s trial, so the narrative is complete.

Research and Organization: There’s a lot of research here, and it’s organized and sourced well. Berman did a lot of legwork and conducted a lot of interviews to make sure she had the full story. I also appreciate that she explained the various techniques the cult used to prey on its victims, which makes a big difference to understanding how so many clearly intelligent people could buy into the organization.

Trigger Warnings: Obviously, there’s a lot of abuse of several varieties present in this book. Emotional and sexual abuse are probably the biggest ones. Some of these abuses are against minors as well.

Final Thoughts: I wasn’t sure this book was going to provide any new information after watching The Vow, but I felt like it did. It also presented everything in a more chronological order, which made it easy to follow. The ending felt a little rushed to me, perhaps, but I did read the last half of the book in one sitting, so that might have been why. I didn’t reduce my rating because of it since, ultimately, I feel like the book accomplished its goal of explaining how a group like NXIVM became what it was. If you can handle reading about the terrible things that happened, it’s an illuminating story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Self harm, Abortion, and Pregnancy

siobhanward's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

3.5

This book is hard to rate because while it was well-written and in-depth, the topic itself was so gruesome that it was hard to get through. I knew almost nothing about NXIVM (I thought it was called "nuh-vix-um" this whole time), but it was so much worse than I could have expected. I have a fairly strong stomach and have done a fair amount of reading about cults, but this one was so bad that I had to take breaks fairly often. Please, please check triggers before reading this one! Overall, it was well-researched but honestly I think it went too in-depth at times. I think sometimes Berman went so deep into people's stories that I found myself lost and trying to figure out who was who and what was happening. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Pregnancy

mondovertigo's review

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Abortion and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

winnifred's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, and Stalking

Minor: Pregnancy and Alcohol

hollymich's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

4.0

A chilling and thorough account of the disturbing events surrounding NXIVM. The facts are presented logically and understandably, despite there being so many people involved over so many years. It is haunting how this happened so recently, right under our noses. I think there is a lot to be learned in this book about the signs of manipulation and abuse, although that is not the book's goal. All in all, I praise Berman for her diligent research and dedication to sharing this story.

I recommend the audiobook!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, and Alcohol

devynvictoria's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

Definitely a heavy read, it took me a little over a month to get through. Very informative, interesting— and it is terrifying at times to know that these things really happened to these women. Please check the content warnings before starting to read this book

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy