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Jun 29, 2008

Patricia rated it:

I'm sitting here typing and untyping (that would be known as deleting, I guess), which is what happens when there's something important and true and hard for me to write.

Of all the books I've read about living well after having been violated sexually as a child, this one is best.

Martha Beck and I both come from religious fundamentalist families; we both come from families that were and are highly dysfunctional. She has been branded a liar for remembering what happened to More...

0 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2008

Matt rated it:

Both stars are for the quality of writing. Martha Beck is a very funny and good writer. I might even add one more star for controversy, as Martha's husband, John, has given her a 1-star Amazon review (and a surprising revelation: they're divorced). As far as anti-Mormon books go, I've read much better. Reading this novel is an exercise in unreliable narration, which may sound like criticism but in my world it's something that I thoroughly enjoy. Anyway. Here's John's review. Caveat Emptor:
More...

3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2008

Janiece rated it:

Fiction. The definition of memoir is consistently debatable. But according to her husband at the time this is probably along the lines of a million little pieces fiction masquerading as memior.

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Christopher rated it:

Even though I highly doubt much of the content of this book, I found it extremely entertaining and enjoyable to read. I took a class from her brother-in-law who would occasionally mention this book and how hurtful it had been to him personally. Aside from the main point, of her having been molested by Hugh Nibley as a child, he felt the majority of the books details did not reflect actual events and were unnecessarily hurtful. All of her siblings were interviewed together on public radio, severa More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2007

Terrie rated it:

This book was not what I expected. I can't say as I entirely followed all the spiritual experiences, but Beck is an excellent writer, and it was a much deeper treatment of Mormon beliefs and culture than in "Secret Ceremonies".

I found out that the author and her husband subsequently divorced and both indicate that they are actually homosexuals. It gets stranger because prior to leaving the Mormon church they authored a book together about how to suppress one's homosexual

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2010

Phoebe rated it:

I wanted to follow up my reading on fundamentalist polygamist Mormonism with a story about mainstream Mormonism today. Because I, myself, am certainly not a believer (I’m agnostic and vaguely Jewish, in fact, and I warn you that my attitudes towards religion might be reflected in my review), and because of the secrecy of members of the LDS Church, I thought an account from a former believer would be most-illuminating. I picked up Martha Beck’s How I Left the Saints, hoping that this account by a More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Oct 17, 2011

Lena rated it:

Martha Beck was an atheist-inclined grad student when miraculous happenings during her second pregnancy reawakened her interest in spirituality. After moving back to her hometown of Provo, she embraced her childhood religion in effort to deepen this newfound faith. She writes with lucidity and humor about how she instead discovered the dark side of the Mormon church, including fundamental beliefs that contradict known fact, a culture that stifled intellectual exploration, and a suspected relat More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2008

G-- rated it:

She's a fun writer--little twists of language and imagery that creates a wonderful voice. She brings up an important topic: child abuse perpetuated by unexpected persons, especially the ostensibly pious. My concern? Unreliable narrator. She stereotypes the Mormon community just as she stereotyped the Harvard community in her previous book --if I remember correctly, almost every Harvard character was intellectually insecure, overly demanding, rather cruel, and a bit out-of-sync with reality. In t More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 02, 2009

Jan rated it:

We ran across this book in the bowels of a used book store in New York (Strands) and were surprised to find it was just published in 2005.
Not to be read by the faint of heart or one who has a shakey testimony.
She wants to document that she was abused by her famous father at the age of 5. the family fireworks that followed her acusations were horrendous, with accusations against her also. She claims that her father's footnotes are mostly false (Hugh Nibley). she left the church, he More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

I have always been fascinated by the Mormon culture. This is the first thing I've read about it from an insider. I loved that part of the book. She wrote brilliantly about it in such a way that you could see, even through her pain and craziness of being in that Church, she still loved it in a way. However-I thought she would come at the end of her spiritual journey with a real sense of who God is, etc, and instead felt like I was on the roller coaster of her extremely strange psyche.(a little in More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Jill rated it:

I picked this book up at my library for two reasons, one being, that I don't know a lot about Mormonism, and two, it looked like an interesting memoir of someone's critical look at their faith. The author copes with her own sexual abuse, and other abusive aspects of fundamentalism, and the pain that they cause. She also thoughtfully critiques the scholarship behind many Mormon claims and comes to believe that the foundation is very shaky. She eventually chooses to reject Mormonism. I relate, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 22, 2009

Ellyn rated it:

The author was raised in a strict Mormon home in Provo, Utah, her father one of the church's high authorities. When their son is born with Down syndrome, Martha and her husband leave their graduate programs at Harvard to return to the supportive Mormon community that raised them. The years that follow (which are the years covered by this book) are tumultuous as Martha begins to recognize how the church silences dissidents and begins to confront her own history of sexual abuse by her father. I More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 03, 2011

Heather is currently reading it

I'm reading the Google preview of this book right now, and hope to get the full book soon for reading. I completely identify with the author and her sense of humor. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that my dad was an avid reader of Hugh Nibley books.

I changed my profile pic to an ancestor of mine in honor of the book. This ancestor happens to be a cousin to Joseph Smith. Note the sad and tired face. Thinking it may have something to do with the fact that her husband, a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 15, 2011

Jess rated it:

This book had a long history for me. Years ago I read Expecting Adam and loved it. A friend I loaned it to was skeptical however, and did some research. In retrospect that must have been about the time Leaving the Saints was hitting the Mormon community like a flaming bag full of poo. There were plenty of people to be found online claiming that Martha Beck was a compulsive liar who'd made up half of the details in a book she explicitly labeled a true story (Expecting Adam), and that much of the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 28, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I really and truly enjoyed this book. It was funny as hell, and I really related to her struggle to leave the faith that she was raised in. I feel like a learned a lot about Mormonism, the good things like the kindness and charity, and the bad things like the cracked out history and the desire to treat women (particularly those who have been abused) like shit. For what it is worth, I believe her stories of sexual abuse wholeheartedly since they are very similar to the stories of many other ab More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 18, 2011

Kerri rated it:

Okay, I knew a little of what I was getting myself into picking this one up from the library - knew I would ultimately disagree with her decision - but I've always been curious about her side of the story regarding her parents. Interestingly, her search for truth and religion was VERY similar to mine, but mine brought me into the LDS church. I think there was no way her search could have done the same when her parents/family and overall church experiences were so horribly tainted. The way she de More...

2 comments like

Oct 26, 2010

Tevilla rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Jun 29, 2010

Rebecca rated it:

I understand the personal struggle any person can have when wrestling with the challenges of leaving their religion of origin. However, I take issue with calling out the legitimacy of any religion based on the behavior of one or two clergy men.

Additionally, Beck exaggerates the extent in which the L.D.S. church will go to "protect itself" to such an extreme that it is hard to believe any of the other accounts in her story.

This story felt irresponsible and sens More...

0 comments like

May 20, 2010

April rated it:

I thought this book was full of over-exagerations and at the same time, over-generalized. If a particular frame of reference supported Beck, she made a big deal of it. But if another frame of reference did not support her view, it was over-generalized. "All Mormons are really nice and trying to do their best." Some must be mean and not trying to do their best, just like everyone else in any other religion, some are good and some are not.

I did not believe in her recovered m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 15, 2010

Alia rated it:

Ok, the author of this book is a totally annoying hippie dippy LOON. I kind of wanted to punch her, more than once. She acts like all Mormons are exactly the same and horrible terrible people who only care about what "The Church" thinks about them. My mother and Aunt ex-communicated themselves from the Mormon church when they were in their early 20s, do my Mormon grandmother and grandfather ignore them and act like they aren't a part of the family? Of course not! My husband ex-communic More...

1 comment like

Nov 20, 2009

Mary rated it:

The wonderfully written story of a woman who bravely left the Mormon Church because of many reasons, including sexual abuse. I hadn't realized what a complete package Mormonism is. Since she left it, neither her 7 siblings nor her parents have had any meaningful contact with her. (Maybe saying hi at a funeral.)That must be painful. But she stayed true to her feelings and her truth. Many intellectuals who taught at BYU were told to completely water down their teaching to the point of idiocy. She More...

0 comments like

May 14, 2009

Jeremy rated it:

I started this book two days ago, and completed it just last night. This book is an amazing story of the daughter of the most prominent Mormon (LDS) apologist, Hugh Nibley. She discusses some of the horrific events of her childhood, her strained relationship with her father, and her tenure as a professor at BYU.

It is important to note that this is not a trashy anti-mormon book, although some LDS members will certainly perceive it that way. It is not an expose of Mormon temple ritual More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

May 11, 2009

Ange rated it:

I read it about the same time I read John Krakauer's book "Under the Banner of Heaven", so a comparison of the two always stands out in my mind. Under the Banner of Heaven gives us a look at the beginnings of the FLDS (and LDS) church and also some information about some current FLDS sects. But it's written from the perspective of an outsider looking in. This book is written from "an outsider's perspective" who used to be an "insider". I find it sad that the a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 28, 2009

Tamra rated it:

To know, first off: I am a fully active Mormon. Someone suggested I read this book because Martha's experiences reminded this person of my own experiences in the church. We will leave it there. Review follows.

I picked up and put down Leaving the Saints on the same day. I got about 30 pages into it. Here are some of my very limited opinions on the book.

1 - The pursuit of truth (and anything else, really) if not tempered with tolerance, love, and respect is almost wo More...

16 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Csillitoe rated it:

It's fascinating reading reviews of this book. (It astonishes me that someone feels entitled to refer to someone's memoir as "a novel." Um, were you there at the time?) I can't help wondering how many of the people dissing it and attacking Beck would react the same way if it were about someone else with an unknown father in a different religion or even the same religion, but maybe a father who was not a "good" Mormon. I've spent enough time near Mormonism to know who Hugh Nib More...

0 comments like

Dec 23, 2008

Judy rated it:

so this is my second book on mormonism - random i know. but after "under the banner of heaven" i became intrigued about this scary and cultish religion. this courageous book to me though is less about mormonism and more about one woman's struggle to become whole and overcome a childhood of violent sexual abuse. at the end you cheer for this woman's victory and the power of love and forgiveness. it reads much more like a memoir than an "expose" of disturbing realities of morm More...

1 comment like

Jan 22, 2012

Jenny rated it:

This was the book discussed in the latest book club meeting. I missed the meeting because I didn't have adequate time to read the book beforehand. Now I'm sorry I did, because I would really have liked to have heard what people in book club thought.

Since moving to Utah, Mormons have become a much greater factor in my life. For the most part, it only affects me when morality is legislated by the church (very strict alcohol rules, very few things open on Sundays). Before I moved here More...

0 comments like

Nov 08, 2011

Abby rated it:

I’m a little miffed at this author. This is Hugh Nibley’s daughter (the famous Mormon scholar and apologist) who accused him of sexual abuse, left the LDS church and now is a lesbian somewhere. I’m mad, because the first half of the book she really had me going. I couldn’t imagine that she would make something so bizarre and awful up as what she was telling, and as she told her story of going from a faithful Mormon BYU professor to apostate spiritual guru I even found that I identified with her More...

11 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 10, 2008

HBalikov rated it:

Having read the thought provoking Under the Banner of Heaven, I was not sure what to expect. But Krakauer is viewing it from outside. Martha Beck's view is from the core and it is very personal. Having left Utah for an academic life in the Ivy League East, we find out why she goes back and what awaits her. At times gut-wrenching, it gives a chilling portrait of what she finds both at BYU and in her personal history. Highly recommended.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 20, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I don't know what to think about this book. I don't believe that the author has any reason to lie...which makes me believe this book, but many of the details are not things I can ask even my Mormon (or ex-Mormon)friends without fear of being nosy and needing to mind my own business. There are two threads...one of sexual abuse and one of her journey towards researching the Mormon faith and concluding that it isn't factually based. I saw them as two separate things - knowing that sexual abuse c More...

4 comments like