Rating: 
Summary: A Rare and Beautiful Gem
Review: This wonderful book does the public a great service by drawing attention to many of the issues that result from the rigid doctrines and practices of the Watchtower Society that are tremendously harmful to those involved with Jehovah's Witnesses and to those of us who have left. These are things the public will never hear from the Witnesses themselves--but I know from my own experiences of being a JW myself that what she says is true. This book is unique in that it presents insight into the emotional damage that certain Watchtower doctrines have caused to its followers, damage from which we must recover. This book has given me a giant step towards that recovery.
Rating: 
Summary: Author comes off as weak and self-absorbed
Review: While the book in informative about the workings of the Watchtower Society, the read itself is a frustrating romp through the authors arguments with the organization. Rational readers will ask, every page, "Well, then, why didn't you just walk away?" As she goes into detail after detail about the incorrect teachings of the organziation, a reader will repond, "Yes, that's why the rest of us don't join up." I was hoping for insights into the workings of a cult, but instead received insights into the workings of a very weak individual. Perhaps the two are one in the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Emotive look at being and leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses
Review: Wilson's book at times seems to veer over into the overly dramatic, with almost every chapter having the opening lines of "I was shocked...I was angry" and so on. It did prompt me to wonder that if she spent that much time being shocked and angry it was a wonder she didn't leave much sooner.Having been a Jehovah's Witness myself for over 20 years I do, however, think her chapters that deal with failed prophecy, and incorrect timelines are excellent. It is here that Wilson's research really shines with a well laid out, clear and understandable progression through the spectacular flip-flops and the effects of changing "prophecy" on people's lives as perpetrated by the Watchtower society. This gives Wilson's book strength and helps her to make her overall point, which is a valid one in my opinion. Those neat and tidy looking people that come to your door do not represent a neat and tidy faith and that the sect bears some looking into at both the sociological and religious levels.
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