Set adrift by sudden unemployment, web designer Michelle Thomson is at an impasse in her life when she is introduced to a charismatic spiritual tea...
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Sep 15, 2008
Jason
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(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
As anyone who's ever looked into the subject can tell you, our collective societal idea of the kind of person most susceptible to cults is actually quite a bit off from the usual reality; that instead of the uneducated, drugged, dazed, easily brainwashed minions we usually picture (an imag More...
As anyone who's ever looked into the subject can tell you, our collective societal idea of the kind of person most susceptible to cults is actually quite a bit off from the usual reality; that instead of the uneducated, drugged, dazed, easily brainwashed minions we usually picture (an imag More...
Aug 31, 2007
Bethany
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I was hooked on this book from page one. The story is about a young woman named Michelle. One day Michelle is a successful web designer, the next she is a single, unemployed woman in Colorado. Michelle's friend Lucy has been dating a new man, who has introduced her to his spiritual leader. Impressed by what she finds through "Ma," Lucy invites Michelle to attend one of Ma's seminars with her. Though skeptical at first, Michelle soon succumbs to Ma's intense teachings, and finds herself
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(4 people liked it)
Jun 18, 2008
Gina
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Published in Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2007
Based upon personal experience in several cults, Lena Phoenix provides a first-person narrative of a young woman’s susceptibility to, recruitment by, devotion to, and eventual departure from a fictitious guru and her followers in Boulder, Colorado.
Phoenix’s novel reads as a memoir of a young Web designer amidst career flux and family challenges, who open-mindedly attends a meditation session with her good friend More...
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(3 people liked it)
Mar 10, 2008
Michele
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One Woman's Journey
The Heart of a Cult is a captivating story about a vulnerable young woman spiriling into what she perceives to be a spiritual awakening, but what turns out to be not much more than a reality check AND enormous debt.
The narrator, Michelle, a Denver-based web site designer suddenly finds herself downsized. Facing her 30th birthday without a job (or a boyfriend), and a best friend who is so engrossed with her new boyfriend and a spiritual teacher known as " More...
The Heart of a Cult is a captivating story about a vulnerable young woman spiriling into what she perceives to be a spiritual awakening, but what turns out to be not much more than a reality check AND enormous debt.
The narrator, Michelle, a Denver-based web site designer suddenly finds herself downsized. Facing her 30th birthday without a job (or a boyfriend), and a best friend who is so engrossed with her new boyfriend and a spiritual teacher known as " More...
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(2 people liked it)
Mar 20, 2008
Anthony
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Lena Phoenix approaches the subject of cults with equanimity and thoughtfulness, taking her readers by the hand and guiding them to the core of cultic belief. This is a story about cults not as they have been traditionally portrayed, but as we experience them today – that is, as a benign and omnipresent element of our daily lives, one, however, which if taken to excess can cause disillusionment and despair.
Shaken by the loss of her job Michelle Thomson, though skeptical by nature, i More...
Shaken by the loss of her job Michelle Thomson, though skeptical by nature, i More...
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(1 person liked it)
Oct 25, 2010
Bethany
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was hooked on this book from page one. The story is about a young woman named Michelle. One day Michelle is a successful web designer, the next she is a single, unemployed woman in Colorado. Michelle's friend Lucy has been dating a new man, who has introduced her to his spiritual leader. Impressed by what she finds through "Ma," Lucy invites Michelle to attend one of Ma's seminars with her. Though skeptical at first, Michelle soon succumbs to Ma's intense teachings, and finds herself b
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Oct 20, 2009
Eva
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I was a little nervous about starting this- I'm kind of funny about anything religious and even though I've read a decent amount of non-fictional cult stories, this was my first fictional cult book.
In the end I was worried for no reason- from the second page on I got the distinct feeling that Lena Phoenix actually saw this story unfold in her head. I think some people assume this is how all writers come up with their stories but I know I've read many, many, many books that seemed.....stra More...
In the end I was worried for no reason- from the second page on I got the distinct feeling that Lena Phoenix actually saw this story unfold in her head. I think some people assume this is how all writers come up with their stories but I know I've read many, many, many books that seemed.....stra More...
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