http://wineandmarble.com/girl-at-the-end-of-the-world/ ( )

I'm fascinated by religious cults, how people get caught up in them, how they escape. But the saddest stories of all are the children who are born into these cults and have to leave their entire life behind if and when they leave.

Elizabeth Esther was born into The Assembly and was in fact the oldest grandchild of it's founder. This book is her memoir. The Assembly was a controlling, abusive fundamental cult. The controlling aspects of the cult depicted in this book are shocking, and the systemic child abuse was horrifying. ( )

A compelling memoir that brings to light so many damaging aspects of religious fundamentalism. The subjugation of women, the constant control and surveillance, the rejection of birth control, the rapture fear mongering... there's so much there that I think a lot of people exposed to conservative fundamentalist Christianity will recognize.

I will admit to feeling a bit disappointed by the ending and how quickly the author latched onto Catholicism. I get it -- I've felt similarly pulled towards the Catholic church and its ritualistic, formal aspects, but I've never been able to reconcile my personal opinions with the history and politics of the church. Having said that, this is a memoir, and I'm not about to criticize the author for her life choices. This just isn't the girl-abandons-religion memoir that I thought it might be. ( )

At first I thought this book was going to be a snarky feminist rant, but it wasn't offensive like that at all. It was troubling to read, but worth it, as it is a very important topic I think everyone needs to be informed of. Spiritual abuse needs to be exposed for what it is, and Elizabeth Esther does a great job at describing the mind numbing, bewildering and crazy tactics that cult leaders inflict on their victims. The end of her faith journey is surprising to me, in a good way. Highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in reading about cults and faith journeys. ( )

I finished this book a month ago in a single evening. It's taken me this long to figure out some words to say. It is everything you look for in a memoir. Funny. Sad. Happy. More Funny. True. And, surprisingly for a book about a cult, relatable. I think the relatableness is what made me wait so long to write a review. It made me reconsider my history and worldview.

I have been a reader of Elizabeth Esther's blog for a couple of years now. I knew her writing was good. But she saved the best for this book. It is carefully worded and well-thought-out. The work that went into it is obvious in that way that the writing is so easy to read you don't even realize it's happening. So if you want a well-written memoir, look no further than this.

But even without the excellent writing, I would recommend this on the merits of the story alone. The story is what affected me so deeply that I had to think about it for a month before scribbling out a review. This book was so relatable. And that scared me. It shouldn't be. I didn't grow up in Southern California. I was not raised in a cult. My family is about as liberal as they come. I was allowed to do and read pretty much whatever I wanted. I am a grad student and I'm nowhere near considering marriage or children. What do Elizabeth Esther and I even have in common besides our gender?

Such is the magic, or perhaps better, mastery, of her words. She is able to take her specific experiences - her life - and share it in such a way that even I get a glimpse of her true self. I feel like I can understand what her church was like. I can even see reflections and echoes of that church in my own experience. And that terrifies me.

The churches of my youth were not cults. No way! But many of the things that bothered Elizabeth about her (modesty codes, preoccupation with being and converting the "right" kind of Christian, End Times) are things I questioned myself. It terrifies me that I could identify so much with the values of this cult. I was a standard evangelical in high school. What does it say that so much of my evangelical culture has parallels in a cult?

I thought I had moved away from the evangelical fundamentalism of my youth, but reading this book brought all of that back. All the memories of watching what I wore and struggling with what my place in the world was going to be. I live in LA now. I watch Game of Thrones and listen to Macklemore. I go to a church that is in many ways the complete opposite of my high school church. Elizabeth's fight to break free from fundamentalism has shown me how difficult it is to completely move on. I didn't expect this book to have such an impact on me. But I'm glad it did. ( )