by Jenny Hayworth ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 15, 2014
A blistering, if somewhat rambling, memoir that depicts the Jehovah’s Witnesses as desperate to maintain a united front,...
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A harrowing memoir of one woman’s struggle to cope with sexual abuse and depression while living in—and eventually leaving—the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Born in England, Hayworth’s mother became a Jehovah’s Witness to cope with her own mother’s death as well as the upheaval of moving her young family to Australia. When first-time author Hayworth arrived in Australia, she and her brother were sexually abused by their paternal grandfather. Then, when the family moved to New Zealand, Hayworth was raped by a stranger on a tennis court and later molested by a much older man. Hayworth was split apart trying to cope with this trauma within the repressive environment of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, where reporting problems to the outside world was forbidden. Not only did she engage in self-harm, she created and began to rely on an internal reality with an “Inside Mum” who unconditionally loved and protected Hayworth’s “inside me.” She was thrilled to get married, even though her husband was 14 years her senior and she had only known him for a matter of weeks. Hayworth’s husband kept secrets—sexual, familial and financial—from her, and their first son had serious mental health and developmental issues. After two of Hayworth’s children were abused, Hayworth’s husband “opposed my taking the children to the police and counseling and [was] totally unsupportive.” Hayworth eventually disassociated herself from her faith, which cut her off from her entire way of life, including her mother. She struggled to provide for her children and work through custody issues with her now-ex-husband while going to school. More broadly, she mourned the “measure of security that disappeared” from her life when she was disassociated (aka “disfellowshipped”). With time, hard work and therapy, Hayworth eventually forgave herself for the past and turned to face her future. Her intimate look at life as a Jehovah’s Witness will be illuminating for those unfamiliar with the faith, and she expertly uses examples from her life to illustrate the danger posed by a religion that preaches “[t]he only place to stay safe was within Jehovah God’s organisation, and the only way to stay safe was to adhere strictly to its laws.” Hayworth occasionally goes into too much depth when discussing particular episodes in her life, and she devotes an entire chapter to discussing the plight of an asylum-seeker from Africa—a chapter only tenuously linked to Hayworth’s struggle with her faith. Cutting it, along with other tangential or overly detailed material, would make Hayworth’s story more powerful.
A blistering, if somewhat rambling, memoir that depicts the Jehovah’s Witnesses as desperate to maintain a united front, even at the expense of the faith’s women and children.Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1492994701
Page Count: 346
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Glennon Doyle ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2020
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.
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More life reflections from the bestselling author on themes of societal captivity and the catharsis of personal freedom.
In her third book, Doyle (Love Warrior, 2016, etc.) begins with a life-changing event. “Four years ago,” she writes, “married to the father of my three children, I fell in love with a woman.” That woman, Abby Wambach, would become her wife. Emblematically arranged into three sections—“Caged,” “Keys,” “Freedom”—the narrative offers, among other elements, vignettes about the soulful author’s girlhood, when she was bulimic and felt like a zoo animal, a “caged girl made for wide-open skies.” She followed the path that seemed right and appropriate based on her Catholic upbringing and adolescent conditioning. After a downward spiral into “drinking, drugging, and purging,” Doyle found sobriety and the authentic self she’d been suppressing. Still, there was trouble: Straining an already troubled marriage was her husband’s infidelity, which eventually led to life-altering choices and the discovery of a love she’d never experienced before. Throughout the book, Doyle remains open and candid, whether she’s admitting to rigging a high school homecoming court election or denouncing the doting perfectionism of “cream cheese parenting,” which is about “giving your children the best of everything.” The author’s fears and concerns are often mirrored by real-world issues: gender roles and bias, white privilege, racism, and religion-fueled homophobia and hypocrisy. Some stories merely skim the surface of larger issues, but Doyle revisits them in later sections and digs deeper, using friends and familial references to personify their impact on her life, both past and present. Shorter pieces, some only a page in length, manage to effectively translate an emotional gut punch, as when Doyle’s therapist called her blooming extramarital lesbian love a “dangerous distraction.” Ultimately, the narrative is an in-depth look at a courageous woman eager to share the wealth of her experiences by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming her inner strength and resiliency.
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0125-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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SEEN & HEARD
by Matt Haig ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 2016
A vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.
A British novelist turns to autobiography to report the manifold symptoms and management of his debilitating disease, depression.
Clever author Haig (The Humans, 2013, etc.) writes brief, episodic vignettes, not of a tranquil life but of an existence of unbearable, unsustainable melancholy. Throughout his story, presented in bits frequently less than a page long (e.g., “Things you think during your 1,000th panic attack”), the author considers phases he describes in turn as Falling, Landing, Rising, Living, and, finally, simply Being with spells of depression. Haig lists markers of his unseen disease, including adolescent angst, pain, continual dread, inability to speak, hypochondria, and insomnia. He describes his frequent panic attacks and near-constant anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure. Haig also assesses the efficacy of neuroscience, yoga, St. John’s wort, exercise, pharmaceuticals, silence, talking, walking, running, staying put, and working up the courage to do even the most seemingly mundane of tasks, like visiting the village store. Best for the author were reading, writing, and the frequent dispensing of kindnesses and love. He acknowledges particularly his debt to his then-girlfriend, now-wife. After nearly 15 years, Haig is doing better. He appreciates being alive and savors the miracle of existence. His writing is infectious though sometimes facile—and grammarians may be upset with the writer’s occasional confusion of the nominative and objective cases of personal pronouns. Less tidy and more eclectic than William Styron’s equally brief, iconic Darkness Visible, Haig’s book provides unobjectionable advice that will offer some help and succor to those who experience depression and other related illnesses. For families and friends of the afflicted, Haig’s book, like Styron’s, will provide understanding and support.
A vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-312872-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
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