Good morning,
Here are the books I read week ending 12 January 2020:
In the Shadow of the Moons by Nansook Hong
The author recounts her fourteen years of abuse at the hands of her husband, the drug-addicted eldest son of Sun Myung Moon, and reveals the corruption behind Moon’s organization
Another audiobook memoir from a former cult member, this time the Unification Church, or the “Moonies”. The author was born into this group, but several times during the book she mentioned the positivity and ideals behind the religion, which made it all the more heartbreaking when she slowly but surely came to see the man behind the curtain. Also interesting to me was to hear of the support Rev. Moon had from US evangelicals. That really left me scratching my head; I think I’d like to read more about that alliance.
Resilience: Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness by Jessie Close
The Close sisters are descended from very prominent and wealthy ancestors. When the Close sisters were very young, their parents joined a cult called the MRA, or Moral Rearmament. The family was suddenly uprooted to a cult school in Switzerland and, ultimately, to the Belgian Congo where their father became a surgeon in the war-ravaged republic, and ultimately the personal physician to President Mobutu. Shortly after the girls returned to the US for boarding school, Jessie first started to exhibit symptoms of severe bipolar disorder (she would later learn that this ran in the family, a well-kept secret). Jessie embarked on a series of destructive marriages as the condition worsened. Glenn was always by her side throughout. Jessie’s mental illness was passed on to her son, Calen. It wasn’t until Calen entered McLean’s psychiatric hospital that Jessie herself was diagnosed. Fifteen years and twelve years of sobriety later, Jessie is a stable and productive member of society. Glenn continues to be the major support in Jessie’s life.
I’d never heard of Moral Rearmament, and this group was only a small part of this memoir. I really liked the author’s raw honesty and glad for her as her family stuck by her side.
I included links to Amazon for these books, but I got them from the library and you can probably find them at your local library too!
Have you read any of these books?
