Cami Ostman

As many others have already said, the premise of this book and its actual content do not align; the blurb makes it seem as though you'll read complete stories of women finding faith and losing it, along with their reasoning, and that all of the women will belong to the obviously 'extreme' religious groups. Instead, the book is a collection of stories that provide only narrow windows into the lives of the authors, many of whom belong to groups considered ordinary (and not usually extreme), like Baptists, Presbyterians, and Catholics. But the stories that you will find in these pages are fascinating, deeply personal for their authors, and thought-provoking for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone interested in religions and what attracts people to them.

… (más)

A collection of abbreviated memoirs by women in repressive religions from Jehovah's Witnesses to Orthodox Judaism, from Mormonism to Islam, who experienced an inward struggle against the beliefs and practices they had been taught but nevertheless remained--until something brought them out. Whether by some crisis or by slow erosion that led to essential loss of faith, these women came to a "worldly" perspective on their former lives and share that transformation in their stories.

Not so surprisingly, sex plays a prominent role in both the women's attraction to and their rejection of their lives in those communities.

I see this as a well-intentioned work that explores an important topic--what causes people to lose the conviction of their faith, what makes them cling to their extreme beliefs and practices despite that loss, and how they ultimately escape their spiritual captivity--but that doesn't live up to its promise. It does reveal glimpses and in some cases much more than glimpses of life for women and young girls inside "extreme" religious sects. But it doesn't show much about why they joined or why they submitted and stayed, nor much about how they got out. Several of these stories are clearly (from a compositional perspective) fragments that set up an "and then what?" expectation but don't tell us what happened next.

It's a worthy idea that merits further exploration and discovery, but to me this collection doesn't satisfy.… (más)

This is an astonishing and beautiful book. Each story opens a window into the world of extreme religion, showing what attracts women to it, why they stay, and what motivates them to leave.

Given the range of faiths that's covered, it's surprising how much the women have in common. What's also beautiful is their honesty in telling about their experiences. This is not an anti-religion book, but rather an honest look behind the scenes.

Some of the authors have written longer memoirs about their experiences, and some have works in progress. I'm dying to read more.… (más)

Recommended if you're curious about growing up religious, why people become religious, and how their religion guides their daily lives. Other religion memoirs:
Unorthodox / Feldman (Judaism)
Why be happy when you could be normal / Winterson (Pentecostalism)
Confessions of a latter-day virgin / Hardy (Mormonism)
The witness wore red / Musser (Fundamentalist Mormonism)
Escape / Jessop (Fundamentalist Mormonism)
I am Nujood, age 10 & divorced / Ali (Islam)
I am Malala / Yousafzai (Islam)… (más)