Synopsis:
Elissa Wall escaped polygamy and the FLDS after being forced by the prophet Rulon Jeffs to marry her first cousin at the age of 14.
Review:
I seriously can’t stop reading about Mormon fundamentalism. Stolen Innocence told yet another story of a girl’s life ruined by the out-of-control men who get to do whatever they want with impunity.
Synopsis:
A true story of a woman who escaped polygamy with her eight children, despite being the plural wife of one of the most powerful men in the FLDS.
Review:
Carolyn Jessop’s story is fascinating and inspiring. As a mom myself, I was moved by her love for her children and her tenacity at making the system work for her. In Escape,
she takes readers through her harrowing journey from true believing sister wife to crusader for justice.
Synopsis:
After escaping from in the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints, Flora Jessop has devoted her life to rescuing other girls from polygamy and abuse in the cult.
Review:
Church of Lies is an incredibly powerful story. The beginning chapters describing Flora Jessop’s abuse at the hands of her father were harrowing and there was a lot I had to skip over because it was a bit too explicit. But when the story turned to Flora’s attempts to work within and outside of the system to rescue girls from polygamy, I fell in love with her courage and spirit and passion.
The Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints are a sect/cult of Mormonism led by Warren Jeffs, the Prophet. He controls his followers through fear and indoctrination, teaching them from childhood that they will go to hell if they don’t do what he says. The men curry favor with him, otherwise they will be kicked out and their wives and children reassigned to someone else. Of course, they’re all also waiting for Jeffs to die in the hopes that they can become the next Prophet.
There are some warring branches of the FLDS, as I learned in Daughters of Zion. It’s hard to tell them apart because they share only a few last names among them. Flora Jessop was part of the same group as Carolyn Jessop, but she was born a Jessop instead of marrying one like Carolyn. Their group lives in the “twin cities” in Arizona near Colorado, where everyone is FLDS. That means that there’s no safe place for the abused kids to turn to for help. They’re beaten at school, raped at home, the girls are married off at 14 and the boys kicked out of the community because they’re competition for the older men who want to collect wives for celestial glory. And over and above them all is Warren Jeffs, child molester, rapist, and demagogue.
That Flora Jessop could leave the FLDS is amazing–but her story is even more incredible. She gets involved with a network of safe houses that help girls who want to leave the FLDS, only to find that the police and CPS just don’t understand the depth of depravity of the indoctrination foisted upon these poor kids. The girls have no clue they have any civil rights at all. The boys who are allowed to stay are told they are mini prophets and after age 12 all women have to obey them. All of them live in poverty. Physical abuse runs both ways, and many of the children are molested. It’s just so psychologically complex.
Near the end of the book, Flora touches on some of her spiritual journey, wrestling with the concept of God and her inability to move past her hatred of the God she was taught about in the FLDS. There is a truly amazing scene near the end of the book between Flora and her rapist father that points to tremendous spiritual growth on Flora’s part. I wish she had time to tell us more about that part of things, because I really hope that Flora finds healing on that level, too.
Synopsis:
A woman reflects on her time with Ole Anthony’s Trinity Foundation, which left after realizing that she was in a cult.
Review:
I Can’t Hear God Anymore was interesting for its insight into how someone becomes involved in a cult, though it was a little on the rambly side. I wanted a bit more theology, though I did appreciate the depth of her psychological self-awareness.
Synopsis:
After fleeing the FLDS with her 8 children, Carolyn Jessop becomes involved in the events following the raid on the FLDS compound where 400 children were taken by CPS because underage girls were being forced into plural marriages with old men.
Review:
I am fascinated by closed communities, and Triumph taught me so much about the inner workings of the FLDS, a radical sect of Mormonism that puts plural marriage at the forefront of their theology. Even better, I learned so much about what really went on when the FBI raided that compound in Texas. The psychological complexity of the women and men who make up this powerful cult was just fascinating beyond belief. It was a good companion piece to Daughters of Zion, with much better writing.
Synopsis:
A memoir by a girl who grew up in a Mormon sect practicing polygamy that spawned a feud between brothers that became a massacre.
Review:
In Daughters of Zion, Kim Taylor really made me understand the inner life of a girl who would accept polygamy. I really appreciated her honesty and candor in portraying the spiritual abuse she suffered and how she never questioned what was going on around her. She also showed the positive side of growing up in a tight knit community, where she grew up with dozens of friends just like her.
The most powerful scenes in the book involved Kim’s coming to terms with polygamy. For example, she’d been courted for years by one of the leading men in the community–and didn’t quite know how to handle it when one of his sons came courting as well. She came close to becoming the new wife of yet another older man, only to decide that polygamy could never be right for her. In all of this, Kim managed never to slander any of the men, even as she criticized the way they led their flock astray. She seems genuinely grieved that the men she trusted and the boys and girls she grew up with could make such deadly choices. Perhaps this is why the story doesn’t seem to come together completely–there were a lot of blanks that I had trouble filling in–but I don’t think she set out to write a history per se. I would’ve appreciated a timeline and a family tree to help keep everything straight, but the emotional content was solidly done.
Synopsis:
The classic autobiography of a TV producer recovering from a Valium addiction.
Review:
I read I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can because it was only 99 cents for Kindle. It has not aged well at all but I couldn’t put it down. It’s so dated but I found her earnestness kind of refreshing. However, the therapy she got was pretty horrifying, especially all the doctors who justified and even defended the behavior of her abusive boyfriend. I never quite understood exactly what was happening to her until the end when it was explained that she had a psychotic break. So maybe her boyfriend didn’t really abuse her? It didn’t quite make sense.
Synopsis:
A young woman grows up in the extremely conservative Satmar group of Hasidic Jews, and the failure of her arranged marriage leads her to yearn for freedom.
Review:
I was very impressed by Deborah Feldman when I heard her on the Leonard Lopate show, and I was inspired to read her memoir Unorthodox. I am fascinated by strict religious groups, particularly when their practices elevate men and demean women. I loved Deborah’s honesty and insight into the way her identity was shaped by her upbringing, but also how she had a spark inside her that couldn’t be stifled. For example, she would sneak out to the library and hide contraband copies of classic works by Austen and Dickens under her mattress because her grandfather wouldn’t allow English to be spoken or read in his home. Feldman has worked so hard to carve out a life for herself as a single mom with no high school diploma, and I truly wish her all the best.
Synopsis:
A memoir by the chef-owner of Prune in New York City’s East Village.
Review:
I loved Blood, Bones, and Butter, and not just because I have eaten at Prune. Gabrielle Hamilton’s memoir is more than just a restaurant tale–it’s an eyewitness account of the gentrification of both New York City, and of a street smart, fearless woman with a work ethic you just won’t believe.
My favorite section of the book was an extended musing on what it means to be a “woman chef.” Few people have articulated so well the dilemma of every woman working in a man’s world, expressing a simple desire for the game to just go away. In many ways, cooking is a pure meritocracy, but not enough people see it that way and still persist in playing the same games of gender politics. The food should be all that anyone talks about, yet women and men alike still want to rate one sex as superior to the other, by saying equally dumb thinks like “She’s a good woman chef” or “Women have superior palates.” Neither gets anybody anywhere.
It helps that Hamilton’s life is riveting. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and look forward to discussing it with my foodie friends.
Synopsis:
Subtitled: “Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet.”
Review:
Sheepish is simply adorable, a sweet memoir that will delight and please anyone who loves knitting, women, candor, humor, and sheep. There’s even a meditation on the environmental pros and cons of wool vs. artificial fibers. My only wish is that it came with patterns and pictures, but maybe someday she’ll feature some on her website.
