EllisGaren

different from other s.k. titles

Revisado: 04-25-24

I'm not a huge fan of s.k.'s writing style but people kept telling me I needed to give fairy tale a go. they were right, this book was really good. still a few narrative choices I didn't love, but overall I really enjoyed this book and blew through it.

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a bastion of self acceptance

Revisado: 04-07-24

like most of the people who will read this book, I am not a sociopath. and, like most of the people who will read this book who are also not sociopaths, i found it incredibly relatable.
We've all felt apathetic when maybe we "shouldn't" have, and we've all done morally questionable things.
this memoir feels like an invitation to question our own morality, and to accept the diversity of the human experience.
I'm grateful. i hope this book will spur others in the field of psychology to do work specific to expanding the understanding of and treatment available for individuals with sociopathy, and other antisocial personality disorders.

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the big good wolf

Revisado: 02-13-24

another wonderful story about a beloved charachter from the king killer chronicles. as alway I'm left eagerly awaiting more

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a beautiful story

Revisado: 12-21-23

a work of art, an absolutely beautiful story of loss and of love and of life.

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teaching empathy

Revisado: 10-22-23

first read this book in high school and it left a lasting impact on me.
this book is the most humanizing piece of fiction for people who are mentally handicapped I've ever come accross.
I hope it's still a commonly assigned reading for high schoolers as it can be difficult to empathize with people who are different from you at that age and I think this book helps with that tremendously

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enjoyable

Revisado: 06-29-23

bit of a random feeling turn in there. but overall I enjoyed the horrific take on a possible future where women's rights are stripped from them altogether.

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one of a kind

Revisado: 03-03-23

nothing comes close to the deeply visceral word pictures painted in Tender Is the Flesh. I've listened to this book a half dozen times at least and am constantly recommending it to others.
the story is increadible, haven't been able to find anything remotely like it, and the narration is so beautiful.
don't put this title in your wishlist, just buy it!

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beautiful and entertaining

Revisado: 04-22-21

loved this book, I just finished my second listen through of it. the descriptions are beautiful, the story gripping. I learned and I was highly entertained.

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Unfollow:A Guide to Doubting Divinity Through Love

Revisado: 07-17-20

This book gave me so much more than i could have thought. It sheds light on the power and dangers of familial ties, guided learning, certainty, and closed community. It shows a family: broken and molded by old ideas, full of love for it's members who are each encouraged and taught to grow in their unique gifts and abilities. A grandfather plagued by rage and a desperate desire to put "truth" into the world, teaching his pure grandchildren how best to spread their message of truth and salvation. A mother full of tenderness and understanding for the mental and emotional struggles of her beautiful children. A father, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings; family and friends all of whom sharing a special and loving connection with each other, supported by the fervent belief they are doing everything in their power to preach God's truth to as many people as they can reach. Many of them lawyers; all of them intelligent, caring, passionate individuals.
It shows how and why a person might believe and love a thing that seems so false/evil to another person. Amongst a mostly indifferent and taciturn world, the arms of an intelligent, respected, charismatic individual with ideas for change and revolution feel safe and comforting and special; holly, righteous. And when the alternative is death, what fool would deny the envelopment of those arms, those ideas, those doctrines?
Humans like to assert that we know what we stand for, we know what we believe, and would never be led astray, never allow a "wolf in sheeps clothing" to lure us to our doom. But such warnings and parables exist in plenty for such a fact that humans are malleable, changeable, and often led astray despite and sometimes in tandem with our continuous assertion of self awareness and self control.
A religion is not formed in an instant with all it's rituals and doctrines inherent in it's automatic and immediate members; it begins with one assumption that leads to another and another and another slowly over time building itself up in the minds and lives of humans who harbor it as a pearl of wisdom, a key to true joy, a door to life everlasting. The only wisdom, the only joy, the only life.
Megan is a beautiful counter example of the painful and terrifying process of acknowledging and working through doubt in ones own ideas, beliefs, and lifestyle. She displays humility, bravery, persistence, and an unquenchable search for truth and love and life in every person she speaks with. As Megan questions and slowly rewrites every synapse in her brain, every neuron telling her what to feel and think about an "other" (sinner, fag, whore, etc), actively fighting every automatic physiological response conditioned in her body since birth.
She shows us how to question, how to decide for ourselves, how to employ both logic and intelligence and marry them to empathy and compassion.
If you're wondering weather this book is for you, weather you would enjoy it, weather you would be able to learn anything from it, glean any insights:
If you are religious, this book will teach you to question your doctrine. If your doctrine is sound, there is no danger. If your doctrine is fallible, as all humans and human created things are, there is still no danger for what danger is there in the freedom of suppressive and false ideals?
If you are NOT religious but you use to be; this is the category i fall into and although my religious background is mild and tame in comparison to Megan's I found her description of the emotions and thoughts she experienced during the process of deconversion remarkably similar to my own. Knowing, especially in some of the more existential struggles, that I was not the only one who experienced those painful, terrifying things made me feel... Well i can't describe it exactly but it feels as though a small part of my heart has been replaced, as though i'm a little more whole now than i was before; less alone.
If you have NEVER been religious but have religious family or friends this book could offer you a unique way to understand some of the more difficult/confusing/seemingly wrong bits of religious doctrine your loved ones hold as good and true, and how to talk to someone who fervently believes a polarizing idea.
In short, this is an excellent book useful for sparking understanding, empathy, change, compassion, and the persuit of knowledge. This is an excellent book; you should read it ;)

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a Map, a Tutor, a Sacred Text

Revisado: 07-04-20

to lovers of horror and poetry this text is fresh air. imajica is full of deep truths and will bring you to parts of your soul you didn't know existed or else had been long forgotten. you will feel deeply, you will discover what it is to be human, you will be inspired to dig beyond that hallowed title to the deeper truth of your self beyond flesh, beyond even thought which is a product of the flesh. this is more than a book more than a story; it's a map to the unseen reality of the waking world.

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