Gerette BuglionReseñas

I am very interested in this topic. Unfortunately the book failed to deliver. Perhaps it was the inability to name sources and individuals involved that caused the book to be not as informative as I had hoped.

I am fascinated by the psychology of cults, groupthink, and emotional manipulation. I'm especially intrigued by what we can learn from those who manage to break away. I had high hopes for "An Everyday Cult" but it did not deliver. Perhaps something was lost in Buglion's altering of people, events, and places to protect the privacy of others? Maybe those were the crucial details that gave meaning to the story? All I know is that after nearly 200 pages, I have no greater understanding of how the author (and others) fell victim to "CTL" nor what truly changed to make an escape possible. The tone deaf epilogue in which she links her own experience to that of George Floyd, Eric Garner, and countless other black men and women who have been murdered by police makes me question if Buglion herself possesses the necessary perspective to reveal cult life to her readers.

An Everyday Cult is the fascinating story of life in a cult that asked Gerette Buglion to be a part of. Buglion spent 18 years in the organization and explores how past experience led to joining the cult, how she lost her independence in following the leader, and all this is never confusing. This is a great book for a look at how detrimental a cult can be even if there’s no poisoned kool-aid or sex crazed leaders.

I work with a lot of cult survivors and am very interested in the topic but I did not really like this book. I think it's important for people to realize that cults can be more than just religious groups - they can be financial, self-help, in this case therapeutic. But as a therapist I just felt like I couldn't understand people not seeing through this one. I couldn't relate to the characters; I understand why they got sucked in based on their own values and the communities they came from. I just couldn't relate.

This book provides a fascinating view into an "everyday cult," a small group of people following a cult leader. It shows that these very small cults can be just as damaging as the large, rich, well-known cults like the Moonies, the Scientologists, the Mormons, and the Jehovah's Witnesses. I was struck by the fact that in this case, the cult leader didn't appear to be that charismatic, and there seemed to be little sophistication in his nonsensical word salad analysis of the member's dreams. However, he did seem to follow all the steps of asserting unethical and extreme control over his followers. I wonder if there is a cult leader manual somewhere that these guys study, or if they're just narcissists to whom it comes naturally. All-in-all an interesting look into one of these controlling groups that doesn't make the news.

[Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher as a LibraryThing Early Reviewer.]

Very insightful of just how easy it is to fall prey to manipulators out there. The contrast of what Gerette went through and how todays politics compare is frightening. So happy for her and her loved ones she had the support needed to recover from this tragedy.