You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
944 reviews for:
Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church
Megan Phelps-Roper
4.15 AVERAGE
944 reviews for:
Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church
Megan Phelps-Roper
4.15 AVERAGE
This book was a fascinating look inside the Westboro Baptist Church from someone who grew up there. Most of the tension in the first half or so comes from knowing she’s going to leave but not knowing how or when it will come about.
Her actual leaving does not feel incredibly dramatic to read about (though it is clear that it was extremely fraught and dramatic to live through), because most of the action is in her own head — she portrays well how various small cracks began to form (from questions on twitter, from journalists, from friends she began to talk to online, changing of the hierarchy within the church/family), that eventually led to the crumbling of her indoctrination.
As her friend David said “To be honest: I don’t know if I could do what they did. If I had been raised the way that they were raised, I would’ve been out there holding signs with Grandpa Phelps, too. If I was brought up in their family, would I have the strength of character and the moral fortitude to leave my family? To leave everything I’ve ever known?” He shook his head. “I want to say that I would have, but I don’t know.”
It is also a ray of hope that so many people treated her with such kindness when she got out - the overwhelming response was not to seek retribution, but welcome her. And this actually provides her with more evidence that the WBCs methods were wrong — the power of kindness: “It was starting to occur to me that there might be a lot more goodness in the world than I had believed. I’d been so sure that it was filled with hateful, selfish, vindictive people, and I had never found so much hope in being proved wrong.”
The area that I found a bit confusing was the portrayal of the relationship with her now husband — she is clear that they were falling in love as they talked online, but his actions seem inexplicable/out of line with all these words — he says he’ll meet her several times, and then fails to show up. When he does show up, he’s calling her at 10:30pm to come down to a casino to see him. It just doesn’t seem to match with the picture of a kind, trustworthy, responsible man that she otherwise is painting.
Her actual leaving does not feel incredibly dramatic to read about (though it is clear that it was extremely fraught and dramatic to live through), because most of the action is in her own head — she portrays well how various small cracks began to form (from questions on twitter, from journalists, from friends she began to talk to online, changing of the hierarchy within the church/family), that eventually led to the crumbling of her indoctrination.
As her friend David said “To be honest: I don’t know if I could do what they did. If I had been raised the way that they were raised, I would’ve been out there holding signs with Grandpa Phelps, too. If I was brought up in their family, would I have the strength of character and the moral fortitude to leave my family? To leave everything I’ve ever known?” He shook his head. “I want to say that I would have, but I don’t know.”
It is also a ray of hope that so many people treated her with such kindness when she got out - the overwhelming response was not to seek retribution, but welcome her. And this actually provides her with more evidence that the WBCs methods were wrong — the power of kindness: “It was starting to occur to me that there might be a lot more goodness in the world than I had believed. I’d been so sure that it was filled with hateful, selfish, vindictive people, and I had never found so much hope in being proved wrong.”
The area that I found a bit confusing was the portrayal of the relationship with her now husband — she is clear that they were falling in love as they talked online, but his actions seem inexplicable/out of line with all these words — he says he’ll meet her several times, and then fails to show up. When he does show up, he’s calling her at 10:30pm to come down to a casino to see him. It just doesn’t seem to match with the picture of a kind, trustworthy, responsible man that she otherwise is painting.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
Started out slow but very interesting and unique to see her evolution. I’m impressed by the strength of character and resolve it took for her to leave.
pretty slow for the first third as it describes her childhood, but once it gets into how she started noticing holes in her family's (and her own) logic and had to grapple with cognitive dissonance, i couldn't put it down.
it was also super fascinating to see what the people inside WBC were like, as i've definitely made assumptions about their education, etc, as someone looking in from the outside.
overall, it's an incredible reminder to treat everyone with kindness, and that the best way to bridge the gap between discordant groups in the world is through open discourse and endless empathy.
it was also super fascinating to see what the people inside WBC were like, as i've definitely made assumptions about their education, etc, as someone looking in from the outside.
overall, it's an incredible reminder to treat everyone with kindness, and that the best way to bridge the gap between discordant groups in the world is through open discourse and endless empathy.
The first half was a little slow and was losing my attention with bible quotes but about halfway through I got sucked in and couldn't put it down.
Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper is the story of a woman who was born into the Westboro Baptist Church (the one famous for picketing soldiers funerals and notorious for their "God Hates Fags" website) and her story unfolds as she grows to discover whether or not she believes their philosophy and theology on which it was founded. The church is referred to as a Baptist church but through the years, it begins to read more like a book detailing a cult community in which you're in, or you're out and can't speak to the members again.
Megan was the primary voice of the church via Twitter for years and it was her Twitter relationships that ultimately helped her to realize that maybe her family's church beliefs aren't exactly on point.
This is her story from righteous and all-in follower of Wesboro Baptist Church to a person with a sense of purpose and determination whose focus is now to show how empathy overcomes hate, and to help be a catalyst of change for those whose mindset may be focused in the wrong direction. I have not watched her Ted Talk but I plan to do it today!
Megan was the primary voice of the church via Twitter for years and it was her Twitter relationships that ultimately helped her to realize that maybe her family's church beliefs aren't exactly on point.
This is her story from righteous and all-in follower of Wesboro Baptist Church to a person with a sense of purpose and determination whose focus is now to show how empathy overcomes hate, and to help be a catalyst of change for those whose mindset may be focused in the wrong direction. I have not watched her Ted Talk but I plan to do it today!
This book is well written and compelling. Would recommend to anyone who is interested in learning about compassion and bravery through the experiences of another.
Since I heard of the WBC I've been interested in the story. I think Megan Phelps-Roper is very brave to leave her family in order to get away from the church, and the last part of this book was a touching memoir. However for the first 60% or so very little seemed to happen in the book. Maybe because I'm not a Christian, but there were so many quotes from the bible in older English that meant nothing to me, so I got a bit bored after reading several anecdotes about how her family interpreted a particular passage. The last 40% of the book I'd have given probably a four - the tales of her leaving the church with her sister, meeting her partner and the death of Fred Phelps were touchingly written.
Perhaps this book's religious message wasn't written for agnostics like me, but it did start to make the book lag.
Perhaps this book's religious message wasn't written for agnostics like me, but it did start to make the book lag.
As far as memoirs go, this one is really well done. I read this to better understand Westboro’s point of view and Megan’s experiences, and that’s exactly what you get here. It’s gut-wrenching, inspiring, and really well-written. I do wonder how Megan feels about Twitter now…
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced