Cult Insanity / Irene Spencer. 3 stars

[LibraryCin]

Irene Spencer was part of the FLDS (Fundamentalist Mormons) and one of multiple wives of Verlan LeBaron. The LeBaron’s were not thought highly of; in fact, it was thought they were crazy. Verlon’s brother Ervil thought himself a prophet, and when people didn’t follow him, he decided it was time for “blood atonement” - that is, those who didn’t follow him should be killed.

Irene Spencer wrote an earlier book (Shattered Dreams) that I liked much much more. It followed her life. In this one, she was on the sidelines (somewhat), though her and her husband’s lives were in danger. I have to admit, when I started reading it, I was expecting a continuation of her first book (though I don’t recall where her earlier book left off, so maybe there wasn’t much to continue?), so it took me a while to realize that this wasn’t her own story this time, so it took a while to get a little more interested. There are a lot of people, so sometimes hard to remember who’s who. Overall, I’ll rate this one “ok”.

[Joi]

Ahh, another book with the topic I'll never tire of- the FLDS. I've added Irene Spencer's first book to my TBR. This one sounds more out there than most the FLDS memoirs... (maybe for shock value with the blood atonement thing?).

[LibraryCin]

Possibly. It took a while before she got to the blood atonement, but yeah, this one's quite different. I guess she does have another book that is a continuation of her first one, and I still plan to read it, as well.

I forgot to put it in my review, but Irene's memoirs are earlier on than most of the current FLDS memoirs. This one is during the 1960s and 70s.