Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientol..., Sands Hall
Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientol..., Sands Hall
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Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology
A Memoir

Author: Sands Hall

Narrator: Sands Hall

Unabridged: 12 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/13/2018

Synopsis

In Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology, Sands Hall chronicles her slow yet willing absorption into the Church of Scientology. Her time in the Church, the 1980s, includes the secretive illness and death of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and the ascension of David Miscavige. Hall compellingly reveals what drew her into the religion―what she found intriguing and useful―and how she came to confront its darker sides.As a young woman from a literary family striving to forge her own way as an artist, Hall ricochets between the worlds of Shakespeare, avant-garde theater, and soap opera, until her brilliant elder brother, playwright Oakley Hall III, falls from a bridge and suffers permanent brain damage. In the secluded canyons of Hollywood, she finds herself increasingly drawn toward the certainty that Scientology appears to offer.In this candid and nuanced memoir, Hall recounts her spiritual and artistic journey with a visceral affection for language, delighting in the way words can create a shared world. However, as Hall begins to grasp how purposefully Hubbard has created the unique language of Scientology―in the process isolating and indoctrinating its practitioners―she confronts how language can also be used as a tool of authoritarianism.Hall is a captivating guide, and Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology explores how she has found meaning and purpose within that decade that for so long she thought of as lost; how she has faced the “flunk” represented by those years, and has embraced a way to “start” anew.

About Sands Hall

Sands Hall is the author of the novel Catching Heaven, a WILLA Award Finalist for Best Contemporary Fiction, and a Random House Reader’s Circle selection; and of a book of writing essays and exercises, Tools of the Writer’s Craft. She she leads workshops and lectures for such conferences as the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, and is professor emeritus, Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Renata

I've read a lot about Scientology (maybe...too much about Scientology?) but this is the first thing I've read that made me understand how a basically #normal person might become a Scientologist. Also it's beautifully written and expresses a lot of very #relatable #ennui . I'd recommend it to anyone......more

Goodreads review by ♥Milica♥

Whenever I give memoirs lower ratings I feel like I have to mention that I'm rating the book, not the author's lived experience. So this book, it had very little to do with Scientology. Sometimes I don't mind this, if the rest is interesting, but sadly it wasn't (to me, it might be to someone else).......more

Goodreads review by Charlene

I don't have time to give this book the review it deserves. I got it for free and didn't expect much, but it ended up being a spectacular tour of scientology-- how someone could easily be drawn in, how it controlled their life, and what it was like getting out. Excellent writing, addictive, great bo......more

Goodreads review by Crystal

Sands Halls was raised as an atheist. Her father was a successful author and her mother was a homemaker and ex-Christian Scientist. She was raised to believe that religion was for "Republicans" however her father seemed drawn to spirituality. Sands' had an older brother and two younger sisters. She......more

Goodreads review by Peacegal

The subject of cults is a fascinating one. Extreme religious groups tend to get their hooks into people at points in their lives in which they are most vulnerable, such as a major life upheaval or tragedy. Sands Hall writes of her own experience in Scientology and the reasons she, with much difficul......more

Quotes

“It is no surprise when, after a few encounters with Scientology…Hall begins to feel its pull. And if it is Scientology’s offer of a life with meaning that hauls her in… it is its approach to meaning that keeps her.”

Times Literary Supplement

“Some of the most penetrating, illuminating prose about how an educated and skeptical person could get so deeply into, and then struggle to escape, what everyone around her warned was a dangerous cult.”

Underground Bunker

“A beautiful memoir…What sets this account apart from so many recent ‘leaving Scientology’ narratives is that the author has no ax to grind…An early candidate for memoir of the year, this is a thrilling story of one woman’s search for truth and her place in the world.”

Library Journal (starred review)

“[An] impassioned, wonderfully constructed memoir…Hall reflects with brutal honesty on her decisions throughout this meticulously crafted book, which explores her negative experiences with Scientology and how her desire to please led her to believe in the unbelievable.”

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"An intriguing, beautifully written memoir…She toggles between her family and the church, digging deeply into the dynamics of power and control, love and compassion, before coming to a surprising resolution.”

Literary Hub

“A memoir of a life filled with joy and tragedy, and readers will appreciate the author’s candor.”

Booklist

“A significant behind-the-scenes look at this cultlike religion. Frank and edifying information on Scientology from a woman who experienced it firsthand.”

Kirkus Reviews

“In this unflinching and nuanced self-portrait, Sands Hall examines a decade of entanglement with the cult of Scientology and her circuitous process of liberation.”

Elizabeth Rosner, author of Survivor Café

“A vivid portrait of how we find a place in our family and find a path through chaos…It is a triumph, a work of great honesty and insight.”

Karen E. Bender, author of Refund

Awards

  • Library Journal Editor’s Pick
  • Publishers Weekly Pick
  • Literary Hub Pick
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