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kvdspek's review against another edition
5.0
If you think Steven King is scary, try reading this one!
gracielou1220's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Murder
andyblv's review against another edition
4.0
A disturbing book focused on the murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty at the hand of their in-laws, interspersed with chapters on Mormonism, Fundamentalism, polygamous communities, the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and the murder of three members of John Wesley Powell’s expedition. The book reads as a cautionary tale that religious extremism leads to violence, that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are susceptible to radicalization by Fundamentalists. The chapters on splinter groups were interesting, the Lafferty murders chilling. It is easy to connect the dots Krakauer connects and pretend one has painted an accurate picture of a complex faith. It is something to wrestle with, but the picture is woefully incomplete. There are many other dots ignored in favor of the violence thesis. Those are artistic choices. Krakauer is a master of narrative of non-fiction. The revelation of “one mighty and strong” in D&C 85, as far as I can tell, has never been taught in the modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but it is a running theme of this book, particularly because the verse of scripture has resonance within the broader Mormon diaspora.
shmadsie's review against another edition
4.0
I remember getting maybe three-quarters of the way through this when I was in high school and then setting it aside - I was reading it for my own edification and not to satisfy some school requirement and thought to myself, "Is it possible that there are people this gullible in the world?" I couldn't see how but, you know, now people are taking horse dewormer to treat COVID rather than a free vaccine because those are just tools of the government to implant chips to track everyone's movements and only sheep would allow that to happen...... they tap into the cell phones they carry everywhere. (I wish I could go back to the time when this all seemed extremely far-fetched tbqh.) That's what people believe with full access to the internet, knowledge at their fingertips, and the ability to go to any library they want to verify their information.
Learning your history from redacted, sanitized, or downright fabricated sources and, well, this all seems quite a bit more plausible.
Learning your history from redacted, sanitized, or downright fabricated sources and, well, this all seems quite a bit more plausible.