Sands Hall

This is an extraordinary, compelling memoir. I read it in one weekend, and I am not a binge reader. I even passed on the Academy Awards to read it. (Okay, for me that’s not a huge sacrifice, but still.)

Ostensibly this is the story of the decade the author lost to Scientology. But it is really much more. It is a fascinating, heartbreaking family saga and in its own way, a coming of age tale. A spiritual journey, told with clear-eyed compassion and humor.

Often takedowns of organizations by former members, have less impact because the story painted of the group is so awful that as a reader we are left wondering why or how the writer could have ever been drawn to the organization. But Hall’s memoir is far more damning because she is so judicious – identifying the aspects of Scientology that attracted her and kept her in its thrall for some long, even as her doubts grew.

Hall is a wonderful writer and the skill with which she choreographs this complex story is extraordinary. Interweaving scenes of her bohemian family and especially her brilliant, beloved and doomed brother gives the story a propulsion that makes it difficult to put down (even for the Oscars.)

Highly, highly recommended.
… (meer)

A wonderful, excruciatingly candid, and inspiring memoir. In the first part of the book, as the author interchanged chapters about her life growing up with the ones about her joining Scientology, I honestly preferred her description of family, parents, etc. - maybe because the rigidity of the Church was in such a contrast to her carefree and pleasant early years in her bohemian family, or maybe because right at the start Scientology seemed not genuine to me as a philosophy. But NOT through the fault of the author - for, even after having left the Church, she did her best to sincerely point out what had initially attracted her to Scientology. Memoirs are usually therapeutic for the author; in this case I thought it was especially so.… (meer)

Actress and writer Sands Hall's memoir of her stint as a Scientologist in the 1980s gets off to a slow start. It really picks up in the second section, however, as she explains what it was about L.Ron Hubbard's teachings that drew her into the organization and kept her there, despite her family's disapproval and her own misgivings. It's different from other Scientology memoirs I've read in that the story doesn't feature grim descriptions of Sea Org deprivations or daring escapes. Instead it is about one woman's intellectual and spiritual awakening, and how, for a time, a group that many would call a cult fulfilled her deepest needs. Well worth reading.… (meer)