Almost all of the reviews I have read have mentioned the same sort of, "huh?" quality that Marianne is mentioning. And the fact that there's not a single member of her family that can corroborate her "abuse" story (even those who shared a room with her during the time in question) and the said story was "retrieved" under hypnosis (which is all about the power of SUGGESTION, not so much about accuracy), really makes me question the book altogether.
Granted, I have not read the book (perhaps someday I shall), but having recently read Hugh Nibley's excellent biography by Boyd Peterson, the allegations she throws out are but water in the wind to me and from what I've read in the reviews, she seems to be stretching, if not breaking, the truth for her own person aggrandisement and advantage. Perhaps I'm wrong there, but that's how I see it.
--Mahonri
Trevor Holyoak <trevor@???> wrote: I commend you on your tenacity in getting through the book! ;) I started
reading it a while back, but soon decided I'd rather spend my time
reading something else.
If you haven't read it yet, there is a review of this book by her
brother-in-law, Boyd Petersen (who also wrote the Hugh Nibley
biography), that you might be interested in. It's available at
http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Reviews/Leaving%20the%20Saints_4.html
And here is a follow-up presentation he gave at the 2005 FAIR Conference:
http://www.fairlds.org/Reviews/Rvw200506.html
- Trevor
Marianne Hales Harding wrote:
> Well, I just finished reading Martha Beck's 2005 book "Leaving the
> Saints." Here in England the title reads "Leaving the Saints: One
> Child's Story of Survival and Hope" rather than "Leaving the Saints:
> How I Lost the Mormons and Found my Faith." It also has a picture of
> young child standing outside a door rather than the angel Moroni. It
> was interesting reading. I remember both loving and hating her book
> Expecting Adam. She had some lovely things to say, but often her
> final conclusions were baffling. I mean, it's like hearing someone
> say, "It is sunny outside, the kids are in school and I am eating
> lunch. Therefore, as any intelligent person can see, it is
> midnight." Huh? You had me up until your therefore. This book has a
> similar "huh?" quality. She describes both things that I have
> experienced and things that I have not. I should first clarify that I
> make no attempt to pass any judgement on whether or not her story of
> abuse happened. I have no idea. There's no way I could have any
> inkling on that part of her story. I do have to say, though, that her
> descriptions of things that I *have* experienced are so screwy that I
> am extremely skeptical when she starts describing things that I
> *haven't* experienced. For instance, I have been through the temple.
> I remember the newness, the awkwardness of putting on items of
> clothing I have no experience with etc. I have even experienced the
> "wrath" of an elderly temple worker. Reading her description of those
> events as they happened to her, though, is like watching a video with
> the focus out of whack. I can picture in my minds eye the things she
> is describing but the way she describes them is not in any way how I
> understand those things to be--like looking at a bright blue wall and
> having someone tell you it is pink. Also, I have actually had my hair
> cut from long to extremely (boy-cut) short in Provo, Utah and no one
> threatened to tattle on me to my husband or father. And when I did a
> search on "Sonia Johnson" in the BYU library I found her actual book
> resides there so it makes me a wee bit skeptical about her claim that
> the BYU library had exact-o knifed her every mention into oblivion.
> Guess the Conspiracy Theory Librarian who had that job isn't so
> talented at this sort of thing.
>
> I found the "huh?" factor to be quite strong every time she helpfully
> explained how things "are" in Mormonism. For instance, when she talks
> about going into emergency surgery and her mother balks at the idea of
> watching her kids ("I have to make dinner for your father") she
> helpfully explains, "In a Mormon context, what I'd just done was like
> calling the chef for the White House and asking him to rustle up some
> chicken nuggets for my rug rats while he was busy cooking for the
> president" (p 99). I'm not sure what sort of alternate world she
> lives in, but that in no way is *my* Mormon context. I guess I must
> have missed the Relief Society lesson that said that cooking your
> husband's dinner was more important than helping your daughter (or
> really *anyone*) who was having emergency surgery. It's just such a
> bizarre characterization of Mormonism. Certainly there are people
> within (and, actually, without) Mormonism for whom that would be
> true. But that isn't true of Mormonism in general. The book,
> unfortunately, is filled with these sorts of "helpful" summaries of
> what Mormonism "is" and what Mormons "believe."
>
> I feel for the author and the obvious mental suffering she has endured
> through the years. I have no idea what may or may not be the source
> of that suffering but there are enough holes in her book that I
> wouldn't look to her as a trusted source of information.
>
> Marianne Hales Harding
>
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