Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

35 reviews

rideauriverreads's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad fast-paced

5.0

I accidentally joined a cult in college and managed to extricate myself and my friends from it within a couple of weeks as soon as I realized this wasn’t a regular church. Since then, I’ve been fascinated by what makes people tick, and book’s like this one is very helpful in my journey.

It was good to get a broad spectrum of cults versus just the ones deemed deviations of mainstream Christianity. By including fitness cults, social cults, New Age cults, and pyramid schemes, it makes it really obvious that we are all much more susceptible than in previous times. I would be really interested in reading an extra chapter devoted just to the MAGA cult at some point, if the writer were ever to update the book with one.

I give it a five because I’ll want to read this again later, rather than because it’s as good as a five might be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

duod3cima's review against another edition

funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Fascinating read; as a language nerd, I really enjoyed it :)

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide attempt

ekg's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

readwithev's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

My only (very minor) complaint is that I wish there were more first hand accounts/interview snippets. I appreciated the informative, introspective, and curious approach while maintaining and understanding and empathic tone. The book is informative without sounding repetitive or preachy. I also liked that Montell researches “cult-like” language in non-violent spaces like MLMs and fitness clubs. They explain how ”cultish” language can build strong community and emotional connection in a digestible way. (Honestly I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought SoulCycle has a weird ring to it). 

⚠️Trigger warning ⚠️ Montell does discuss violent dangerous cults that participate(ed) in emotional, physical and/or psychological abuse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

edrickashay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative lighthearted medium-paced

4.75

 An engaging, playfully written well-researched look at cults from globally famous and nefarious, to everyday and possibly harmless. This book covers everything, and turns who we think of as “vulnerably to joining a cult” on its head – it had me widening my eyes, covering my mouth, gasping out loud, and talking about it with friends, family, and even my boss.
I would recommend to every single American… everyone needs to read this.

I picked up this book to deepen one of my fiction stories that I realized includes a cult, and was pleasantly overwhelmed by the information and the storytelling in this book.

I’ve heard people call Mormon’s a cult. I’ve heard of Scientology and the Moonies. I have a family member part of an MLM, and I myself identify *loosely* as a new age spiritualist.
I personally skipped the section on fitness cults, as I am personally not a work-out girlie and don’t know anyone who is, and I found the chapter on MLM’s less engaging than the rest, but overall this book remained engaging, informative, and is filled with highlights. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Emotional abuse

lemonsforyu's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kimib79's review against another edition

This author seems clueless. She has very little life experience, which is extremely problematic since many of her examples appear to be anecdotal. She has far left-leaning beliefs which seem to taint her perception of the information presented. Basically, she doesn't present anything new or useful. The reason this book is even tolerable is that the subject of cults is interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

aysha_blake's review

adventurous dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

balfies's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.0

About the language used by cults, and defining what makes something culty.

The first few chapters hewed a bit too close to true crime for me (I am very squeamish and the Jonestown murders are deeply distressing), but it picked up a bit in the chapters in MLMs and SoulCycle.

I'd greatly enjoyed Montell's first book Wordslut, about linguistics from a feminist lens, and was really keen to read this. It has its moments, but overall this is the weaker book, I think. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Cultural appropriation