Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Breaking Free: How I Escaped My Father-Warren Jeffs-Polygamy, and the FLDS Cult by Rachel Jeffs

17 reviews

kaylinvm94's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

punkhunk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Rachel Jeffs depicts her life, from her childhood with her father Warren Jeffs, her relationships with her own mother, her mother's sister wives, and her siblings. She describes the rate at which her family grew larger and larger as she grew, her grandfather (the previous prophet of the FLDS before Warren) passed, and her father reacted to the law and his own actions.

I was floored by this book. Jeffs wastes no time in throwing the reader right in- from the prologue she gives the reader a warning of what is to come- her abusive relationship (sexually, emotionally, and spiritually) with her father within the FLDS cult. Once i was about a third of the way in, I had trouble keeping the book down and ended up staying up late just to find out what would happen next.

Jeffs ends up with quite a happy ending despite this being an overall dark memoir. Much of the book is filled with her trials and tribulations as she navigates life in the FLDS church, but she maintains strength and dignity throughout. I highly recommend this book to those who appreciates dark memoirs- my friend recomended it to me for those reasons and she hit the nail on the head.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Miscarriage, Blood, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Chronic illness, Infertility, and Medical content

much of part one contains Jeffs' major graphic experiences of child sexual abuse and incest. it is not graphic later in the book, but is mentioned throughout the text. this is mostly obvious, but the whole book is about Jeffs' experience in the FLDS cult, which was not a choice of content warning. there are a few points at which her children are hurt badly and cannot go to the hospital due to FLDS rules, im not sure whether to mark that as "medical abuse" (which i thought was doctors/medial professionals abusing their power over patients).

alite428's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

lelyreads's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Car accident

crownofsage's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

2.75

I fell bad giving a memoir such a low  rating, but the rating is of the book and quality of writing, NOT of her life story. The story itself was compelling and consistently horrifying. However, the style of writing was very dry and boring to me. Sometimes the monotony seemed to play into the content of the book (endless days where fun, affection, games, etc were banned and life was endless chores and loneliness). But most of the book was a struggle to get through. 

In addition, the first ~80 pages of the book contains fairly graphic CSA content about the author and her father. It’s an important part of the story for sure, but I felt like this section (many chapters) was uncomfortably long, and not particularly well written either. 

Overall, I drudged through trying to get to the end to see her talk about what life was like after escaping. I was very disappointed to see that the book ends only a couple short pages after her escape and doesn’t get into her recovery or growth from that point forward at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

baileyamanono's review against another edition

sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

ellieintherye's review

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

<b>CW: child abuse, child loss, emotional abuse, sexual assault</b>

This is one of the best memoirs I've read in a loooong time -- Rachel Jeffs is a total badass. 

In a world where critical thinking about what you're taught and told is not exactly...encouraged, and is punishable in most cases, Rachel Jeffs trusted her instincts and experiences. She eventually busted herself and her 5 children out of a totalitarian cult without really looking back. 

Her writing is solid, her storytelling is captivating, and her kindness shines through -- even after everything she's been through! Her self-advocacy and strength, plus her ability to remain empathetic and non-judgemental is a balance that I've tried to achieve for 31 years. She has it naturally and it's obvious from her writing.

There are some very disturbing depictions of child abuse, gaslighting, and emotional manipulation in this book. Do not read it if this will trigger you. Overall though, her descriptions of quotidian life inside the FLDS cult from her childhood up to her final days there, long after Warren Jeffs is calling the shots from prison (which is still happening by the way!!!!), are fascinating and unmatched in detail by anything else I've read on the topic. 

I'm fully obsessed with this woman and she is my new idol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Sexual assault

Minor: Miscarriage and Misogyny