Review by Booklist Review
Faith Jones' memoir of growing up in the Children of God religious cult is shocking and, ultimately, life-affirming. Founded by Jones' paternal grandfather, David Berg, in the late 1960s, the cult (known as "the Family") is hounded by U.S. law enforcement, partially because of their "Law of Love," which includes polygamy, adults having sexual relations with children, and women using sex to lure in converts. As members disperse around the globe, Jones' family lives as missionaries in Hong Kong, where she was born in 1977. For the next 20 years, she lives a life devoted to God and the Mo Letters, publications from Berg containing edicts and warnings about the End Times. The level of abuse is horrifying and while Jones believes, she also questions. As she gets older and experiences a bit of life outside the Family, she longs for an education and through sheer determination is able to break free and even ends up attending law school. An eye-opening account sure to please those who love a good cult book or just a good memoir.
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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this outstanding debut, Jones recounts her upbringing in and escape from the infamous cult, the Children of God. Founded by her paternal grandfather, David Brandt Berg, in 1968, the group, later referred to as "the Family," was notorious for its "radical practices," which required members to become full-time missionaries, forgo income, and submit to the "Law of Love," a doctrine which encouraged spouse sharing and sexual relations with children, and used female "disciples" as sex "bait" for followers. By the time Jones was born in Hong Kong in 1977--the seventh child in her parents' polygamous family--the cult had fanned around the globe with around 10,000 members. In thrilling detail, she describes a childhood spent off the grid throughout Southeast Asia--where her family prepared for the "end times," opting for prayer over education--and how, after years of struggling and incidents of sexual abuse, she emancipated herself at age 23 and, through self-taught study, was later accepted into Berkeley Law school. As Jones transports readers from Macau to Kazakhstan to the United States, Jones skillfully provides the mental framework to understand her past as an indoctrinated individual in hopes of helping others "stand up for themselves." This remarkable account of self-liberation is not to be missed. Agent: Becky Sweren, Aevitas Creative Management. (Nov.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In this exceptional debut, Jones recalls growing up within the Children of God cult (founded in 1968 by her grandfather David Berg). Berg's Children of God blended free-spirited hippie ideals with teachings from the Bible--but only those passages he deemed worthy. He and his followers eventually settled in Southeast Asia, primarily Macau, where Jones was raised. Jones recounts the frequent changes in Berg's teachings and the church's rules, and candidly explores the impact of growing up in an environment where women couldn't pick their own sexual partners and girls were groomed for abuse from a young age. The only education Jones received was provided by Berg himself, in the form of letters he periodically sent to each Children of God family. Jones's book is a truly inspirational account of questioning her upbringing (the only life she knew) and becoming a successful lawyer. She writes that her will to succeed pointed her toward a new, independent way of life that she was proud to call her own. VERDICT A must-read memoir of self-discovery and reinvention that readers will find impossible to put down. Pass along to fans of Tara Westover's Educated.--Elizabeth Ragain, Rogers Heritage H.S., Fayetteville, AR
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A lawyer and entrepreneur details her experiences growing up in the Children of God as the granddaughter of its founder, David Berg. Serving God was all Jones knew in a home dominated by a missionary father who ruled his two wives and children with a strict hand. Members of a secretive Christian sect that called itself the Family, the author's parents warned of interactions with "Systemites," nonbelievers who wanted "to stop them from doing the Lord's work." That "work," as defined by her "Prophet" grandfather, Berg, was to save souls through the Law of Love, which legitimized sex outside of marriage, justified polygamy, and made all women--including young girls--the sexual property of Family men. Jones, her family, and other church members lived apart from society "like [sexualized] nuns and monks" who witnessed and participated in sex acts from an early age. Berg's communications to his followers became increasingly "militaristic about putting God first" over time as Family leadership crumbled. By the time Jones entered adolescence, couples and families (including the author's own) were split apart, and Jones was forced to move from her home base in Macau to Thailand, the U.S., Kazakhstan, and, later, China. The author began to question the Family and its patriarchal doctrines, especially concerning teen marriage, which made her the target of abusive treatment meant to coerce her into subservience. Education and a love of learning became the road to freedom, and Jones attended Georgetown and UC Berkeley Law School and eventually reconciled with her parents. "It takes my parents more than a decade after leaving the Family before they are willing and able to admit they were wrong," she writes. Complex and richly detailed, the book provides fascinating insights into a secretive religious organization while offering often heartbreaking details about the nature and repercussions of growing up indoctrinated in a cult. A powerful and disturbing memoir. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
