Review of The Cult Next Door
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Bhaskar Rogha
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Review of The Cult Next Door
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Cult Next Door" by Elizabeth R. Burchard, Judith L. Carlone.]
The Cult Next Door is a memoir by Elizabeth R. Burchard and her co-author Judith Lynn Carlone. It is mostly written from Elizabeth’s memory (starting from her childhood, the early 1970s) with inputs from Judith only since 1993. This book is a real-life example of how gullible people get trapped and used by the mean ones. It also accounts for the rescue of a victim by an outsider while keeping a safe distance.
First things first, the vocabulary in the book is a few notches up than that I’ve ever read in any non-fiction. The use of sarcasm by Elizabeth is amusing. For example, commenting on what happened in the cult on Thanksgiving, 1987, she said, “That holiday morning, George bathed in our admiration, vented his hostility on Pauline, consumed offerings of bagels and fruit, and headshook himself into oblivion. He earned $1,760”. The lessons I learnt while reading this book are quite valuable. For example, people can spend a lot of time and money in hope of getting something in return without actually gaining any benefit when they do it in a group. It also made me relearn that in the long run, peer pressure and repetition can implant self-doubt. Also, that only hurt people hurt others. There is a process called ‘recycling’, which is popular in self-help literature and it means that a problem keeps recurring in our lives until we learn the lesson. It is quite well illustrated in this memoir. The memoir also shows the importance of being in the company of people who are emotionally healthy and it also showed the importance of having an autonomous life. The thing that I liked about the book’s format was the addition of the transcript of the cult's leader’s interview in appendix A, which made the whole episode even more believable. Finally, the questions asked in appendix B pertaining to different sections of the book make it an interesting study material for schools and colleges, which have the perfect audience (where the majority is gullible).
There was one particular page that was just full of too many new words, which made it a little irritating to read. A few incidents described in the memoir are gross and a few times my eyes opened wide because of shock. As is the case with all memoirs, this book is not one hundred percent reliable because human memories and brains are imperfect and impermanent. If the author can provide a day-wise journal, only then this book must be taken at its face value.
Since I found ten errors, I am rating this book three out of four stars.
Since the book contains some instances of vulgar slang and small details of sex, it is obviously not for everyone. Also, because of the description of a few gross and shocking acts and events, it should be read either by people with high resilience and maturity or by people trying to inculcate those qualities in themselves.
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The Cult Next Door
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The Cult Next Door is a memoir by Elizabeth R. Burchard and her co-author Judith Lynn Carlone. It is mostly written from Elizabeth’s memory (starting from her childhood, the early 1970s) with inputs from Judith only since 1993. This book is a real-life example of how gullible people get trapped and used by the mean ones. It also accounts for the rescue of a victim by an outsider while keeping a safe distance.
First things first, the vocabulary in the book is a few notches up than that I’ve ever read in any non-fiction. The use of sarcasm by Elizabeth is amusing. For example, commenting on what happened in the cult on Thanksgiving, 1987, she said, “That holiday morning, George bathed in our admiration, vented his hostility on Pauline, consumed offerings of bagels and fruit, and headshook himself into oblivion. He earned $1,760”. The lessons I learnt while reading this book are quite valuable. For example, people can spend a lot of time and money in hope of getting something in return without actually gaining any benefit when they do it in a group. It also made me relearn that in the long run, peer pressure and repetition can implant self-doubt. Also, that only hurt people hurt others. There is a process called ‘recycling’, which is popular in self-help literature and it means that a problem keeps recurring in our lives until we learn the lesson. It is quite well illustrated in this memoir. The memoir also shows the importance of being in the company of people who are emotionally healthy and it also showed the importance of having an autonomous life. The thing that I liked about the book’s format was the addition of the transcript of the cult's leader’s interview in appendix A, which made the whole episode even more believable. Finally, the questions asked in appendix B pertaining to different sections of the book make it an interesting study material for schools and colleges, which have the perfect audience (where the majority is gullible).
There was one particular page that was just full of too many new words, which made it a little irritating to read. A few incidents described in the memoir are gross and a few times my eyes opened wide because of shock. As is the case with all memoirs, this book is not one hundred percent reliable because human memories and brains are imperfect and impermanent. If the author can provide a day-wise journal, only then this book must be taken at its face value.
Since I found ten errors, I am rating this book three out of four stars.
Since the book contains some instances of vulgar slang and small details of sex, it is obviously not for everyone. Also, because of the description of a few gross and shocking acts and events, it should be read either by people with high resilience and maturity or by people trying to inculcate those qualities in themselves.
******
The Cult Next Door
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: My Trip To Adele by R.I.Alyaseer and A. I Alyaseer
