A review by samwescott
Manhattan Cult Story: My Unbelievable True Story of Sex, Crimes, Chaos, and Survival by Spencer Schneider
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
4.0
A solid read although I imagine the author didn’t get to pick the title since the title makes the book seem far more salacious than most of the story is. It’s primarily the account of a successful New York lawyer who ends up dedicating multiple decades of his life to a controlling, unhealthy, and secretive social group that operates under the guise of self improvement. It’s along the lines of Scientology or a particularly abusive church, but under the aesthetic of being an esoteric school that focuses on philosophy and the arts and the teaching of the Fourth Way by Gurdjieff.
There’s an abundance of cruelty and abuse in this story, so read with care. The author shares reports from other members of outright sexual abuse and describes firsthand experiences of physical and psychological abuse, along with forced labor, financial exploitation, and a fearful loss of control to an irascible and unpredictable cult leader named Sharon Gans. She arranges and dissolves marriages, encourages members to abandon their families, and berates the students in incredibly cruel and personal ways. Something about this narrators storytelling style almost seems to downplay the effect of this treatment, but the unbelievable behaviors and cruelty eventually really shines through his stoicism.
I did find the pacing of the book to be a little jarring at times. We would sometimes get whole decades in summation and a lot of the books big moments in summary instead of in scene, which I feel like would have given them more weight. But that’s a tricky thing with non-fiction because I also understand not wanting to put words in people’s mouths, since you can’t possibly remember all the actual dialogue.
The School was also extremely racist and homophobic, with Gans forbidding the recruitment of non-whites and requiring conversion therapy for gay students, often ending in miserable arranged marriages. I do wish the author had talked more about the racism in the group and if and what growth he had after leaving, especially as a Jewish man. We got a few quips about how many Jewish people were in the group when it came time to celebrate Christmas, but the xenophobia is never acknowledged again and makes me concerned about the authors beliefs. Maybe he thought the racism was obviously part of the vileness of the group, but we get to watch him carefully deconstruct the other harmful ideas and not this one. Just seems like a weird thing to leave out.
He does have a reoccurring concern about being gay because of a sexual assault he experienced as a teen that was very kindly and sympathetically written about. I’m glad he showed us the therapy that finally let him realize that he wasn’t at fault. And his constant terror over maybe being gay is lightened a bit by a friendship with a married couple of men at the end of the book who explain how queer identity actually works, which I’m glad he included. The nuance between learning that being gay wouldn’t actually be a bad thing and also acknowledging that being abused as a teen has no bearing on your sexuality was parsed with some sensitivity that I appreciated. I just wish that same thoughtfulness had been extended to the groups racism.
All in all, and interesting telling of a really toxic and abusive experience that I’m glad the author shared with the public, especially given the secrecy of the school. It’s always good for stories like this to be broadcast so people know what kind of controlling behaviors to be on the lookout for. The authors personal stoicism doesn’t always make for the most engaging writing, but the story has its own propulsion and i found it to be a very quick and interesting read.
There’s an abundance of cruelty and abuse in this story, so read with care. The author shares reports from other members of outright sexual abuse and describes firsthand experiences of physical and psychological abuse, along with forced labor, financial exploitation, and a fearful loss of control to an irascible and unpredictable cult leader named Sharon Gans. She arranges and dissolves marriages, encourages members to abandon their families, and berates the students in incredibly cruel and personal ways. Something about this narrators storytelling style almost seems to downplay the effect of this treatment, but the unbelievable behaviors and cruelty eventually really shines through his stoicism.
I did find the pacing of the book to be a little jarring at times. We would sometimes get whole decades in summation and a lot of the books big moments in summary instead of in scene, which I feel like would have given them more weight. But that’s a tricky thing with non-fiction because I also understand not wanting to put words in people’s mouths, since you can’t possibly remember all the actual dialogue.
The School was also extremely racist and homophobic, with Gans forbidding the recruitment of non-whites and requiring conversion therapy for gay students, often ending in miserable arranged marriages. I do wish the author had talked more about the racism in the group and if and what growth he had after leaving, especially as a Jewish man. We got a few quips about how many Jewish people were in the group when it came time to celebrate Christmas, but the xenophobia is never acknowledged again and makes me concerned about the authors beliefs. Maybe he thought the racism was obviously part of the vileness of the group, but we get to watch him carefully deconstruct the other harmful ideas and not this one. Just seems like a weird thing to leave out.
He does have a reoccurring concern about being gay because of a sexual assault he experienced as a teen that was very kindly and sympathetically written about. I’m glad he showed us the therapy that finally let him realize that he wasn’t at fault. And his constant terror over maybe being gay is lightened a bit by a friendship with a married couple of men at the end of the book who explain how queer identity actually works, which I’m glad he included. The nuance between learning that being gay wouldn’t actually be a bad thing and also acknowledging that being abused as a teen has no bearing on your sexuality was parsed with some sensitivity that I appreciated. I just wish that same thoughtfulness had been extended to the groups racism.
All in all, and interesting telling of a really toxic and abusive experience that I’m glad the author shared with the public, especially given the secrecy of the school. It’s always good for stories like this to be broadcast so people know what kind of controlling behaviors to be on the lookout for. The authors personal stoicism doesn’t always make for the most engaging writing, but the story has its own propulsion and i found it to be a very quick and interesting read.