Review of The Cult Next Door
-
Annabelle Adriano
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 16 Jun 2021, 04:32
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 3
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-annabelle-adriano.html
- Latest Review: The Cult Next Door by Elizabeth R. Burchard, Judith L. Carlone
Review of The Cult Next Door
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Cult Next Door" by Elizabeth R. Burchard, Judith L. Carlone.]
The Manson Family. Heaven’s Gate. The Branch Davidians. Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple. These are some of the most infamous cults in history, notorious for their manipulative brainwashing, ensuing death counts, and the glaring, retrospective red flags that should have alerted the proper authorities before events came to their disastrous ends. And yet, with all the avenues for detection, help, and rescue available today, cults continue to flourish. The Cult Next Door: A Manhattan Memoir by Elizabeth R. Burchard and Judith L. Carlone, with foreword by William Goldberg is a first-person account of one woman’s twenty-year ordeal as a cult member. An only child living in Manhattan, Ms. Burchard was class valedictorian of her junior high school, and graduated with a pre-med degree from Swarthmore College. Her roots are upper-middle class, and both parents were in the academe. With all these going for her, she should have led a charmed life. What happened? After the untimely death of her father when she was twelve, her domineering, physically and emotionally abusive mother took center stage in her life, which accounts for her “emotional straitjacket,” brittle personality, and struggles with self-esteem. The child in her was constantly seeking validation, and to a charlatan “therapist” like George Sharkman, she was ripe for the picking. Ms. Burchard’s chilling narrative maps out her cultist’s journey with “biofeedback therapist”-turned-“Energy” guru Sharkman (a perfect aptronym, as it turns out), a narcissistic megalomaniac with a talent for New Age psychobabble, literally head-turning persuasion, and sheer chutzpah. Ms Burchard’s story tells of a twenty-year journey that begins with ambivalence on her part, and eventually running the gamut of roller coaster emotions—lustful obsession, jealousy, palpable confusion, revulsion, subservient fear, and shame. Fortunately for Ms. Burchard, confusion and fear were the overriding emotions when serendipity brought her and the perceptive Ms. Carlone, whom we meet halfway into the book, together. At this point, the narratives shift between Ms. Burchard and Ms. Carlone, the person most responsible for setting the former on her path to redemption.
This was not easy reading, as it was extremely difficult for me to empathize with the victim, at least in the beginning. Even as my heart went out to her, she was just so malleable, and too willing to be taken advantage of, it was hard not to judge her. It was my early impression that her academic track record would have allowed some critical thinking to come into play. And yet it is precisely because of this that makes the book worth reading. Moreover, it delivers a sobering conclusion to the reader: if it can happen to her, it could happen to you, or to someone dear to you. Ms. Burchard’s narration is notably devoid of any self-pity. It is candid, well-paced, and very visual; years from now, I would probably remember this story as a movie. Meanwhile, Ms. Carlone’s interjections are spontaneous, frank, and breezy. Her strong faith, confidence, and honesty are easily reflected in her writing. Both she and Ms. Burchard are heroes in my book.
I cannot find any faults in the book. While I noted two misspellings in Ms. Carlone’s narrative (shoe-in for shoo-in, flack instead of flak), I think the editors were right in retaining the originals, as tampering with them would have diminished the spontaneity of her narrative and the jauntiness of her personality.
Overall, everyone has much to learn from this book. And I say this as I dwell on the words of my friend, the late free-thinking priest Father Gerry Pierse, telling my twenty-three year old self as I was raving over that New Age book du jour of the early nineties, James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy: “Don’t get lost.” It took Ms. Burchard twenty long years to pick up the broken pieces and put herself together again. Her story deserves no less than 4 out of 4 stars.
This is the kind of book that will appeal to curious minds of any age (and that includes inquisitive eight-year olds like me, who read all about Jim Jones and Jonestown on Newsweek when I was eight), but it is highly recommended reading for parents, teenagers, and teachers. This is a book that can potentially save lives, and protect the futures of the vulnerable--may they never drink the Kool Aid.
******
The Cult Next Door
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The Manson Family. Heaven’s Gate. The Branch Davidians. Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple. These are some of the most infamous cults in history, notorious for their manipulative brainwashing, ensuing death counts, and the glaring, retrospective red flags that should have alerted the proper authorities before events came to their disastrous ends. And yet, with all the avenues for detection, help, and rescue available today, cults continue to flourish. The Cult Next Door: A Manhattan Memoir by Elizabeth R. Burchard and Judith L. Carlone, with foreword by William Goldberg is a first-person account of one woman’s twenty-year ordeal as a cult member. An only child living in Manhattan, Ms. Burchard was class valedictorian of her junior high school, and graduated with a pre-med degree from Swarthmore College. Her roots are upper-middle class, and both parents were in the academe. With all these going for her, she should have led a charmed life. What happened? After the untimely death of her father when she was twelve, her domineering, physically and emotionally abusive mother took center stage in her life, which accounts for her “emotional straitjacket,” brittle personality, and struggles with self-esteem. The child in her was constantly seeking validation, and to a charlatan “therapist” like George Sharkman, she was ripe for the picking. Ms. Burchard’s chilling narrative maps out her cultist’s journey with “biofeedback therapist”-turned-“Energy” guru Sharkman (a perfect aptronym, as it turns out), a narcissistic megalomaniac with a talent for New Age psychobabble, literally head-turning persuasion, and sheer chutzpah. Ms Burchard’s story tells of a twenty-year journey that begins with ambivalence on her part, and eventually running the gamut of roller coaster emotions—lustful obsession, jealousy, palpable confusion, revulsion, subservient fear, and shame. Fortunately for Ms. Burchard, confusion and fear were the overriding emotions when serendipity brought her and the perceptive Ms. Carlone, whom we meet halfway into the book, together. At this point, the narratives shift between Ms. Burchard and Ms. Carlone, the person most responsible for setting the former on her path to redemption.
This was not easy reading, as it was extremely difficult for me to empathize with the victim, at least in the beginning. Even as my heart went out to her, she was just so malleable, and too willing to be taken advantage of, it was hard not to judge her. It was my early impression that her academic track record would have allowed some critical thinking to come into play. And yet it is precisely because of this that makes the book worth reading. Moreover, it delivers a sobering conclusion to the reader: if it can happen to her, it could happen to you, or to someone dear to you. Ms. Burchard’s narration is notably devoid of any self-pity. It is candid, well-paced, and very visual; years from now, I would probably remember this story as a movie. Meanwhile, Ms. Carlone’s interjections are spontaneous, frank, and breezy. Her strong faith, confidence, and honesty are easily reflected in her writing. Both she and Ms. Burchard are heroes in my book.
I cannot find any faults in the book. While I noted two misspellings in Ms. Carlone’s narrative (shoe-in for shoo-in, flack instead of flak), I think the editors were right in retaining the originals, as tampering with them would have diminished the spontaneity of her narrative and the jauntiness of her personality.
Overall, everyone has much to learn from this book. And I say this as I dwell on the words of my friend, the late free-thinking priest Father Gerry Pierse, telling my twenty-three year old self as I was raving over that New Age book du jour of the early nineties, James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy: “Don’t get lost.” It took Ms. Burchard twenty long years to pick up the broken pieces and put herself together again. Her story deserves no less than 4 out of 4 stars.
This is the kind of book that will appeal to curious minds of any age (and that includes inquisitive eight-year olds like me, who read all about Jim Jones and Jonestown on Newsweek when I was eight), but it is highly recommended reading for parents, teenagers, and teachers. This is a book that can potentially save lives, and protect the futures of the vulnerable--may they never drink the Kool Aid.
******
The Cult Next Door
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
