Review: Looking forward to seeing the next stages in Todd's journey
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 21, 2014
Todd Preston grew up in a Mormon family with a very controlling and abusive father. Todd details the emotional, psychological, physical, and religious abuse that he received from a young child. He had a target on his back, and his father singled him out for the majority of the abuse. Todd, for many years believed the account his father painted of him, and also tried to blend in with the Mormon faith.  All through his life he had questions and balked at the restraints of this faith. As time goes on, Todd begins a process of freeing himself from the controls of the family and the Mormon faith.  Needless to say, those caught up in that lifestyle push back. From the complete restriction of the Mormon faith, Todd then goes to a new age vision of melding with nature, living life for the moment and in what he considers to be freedom. He learned not to react with his family's rants. And in the later chapters begins the process of forgiving. I do not know if the new age lifestyle will be the one he stays with, but I was glad to see him freed from his past. I pray that he finds the full peace he is seeking. this is a good book to read for understanding of how any cult works - how the restrictions and the belief that only the cult contains the means to "salvation" as the cult sees it. It also shows how hard it is for a person to extract themselves from the clutches of the cult, and how the cult then tries to demonize the "wayward" soul that seeks freedom from the restraints of the cult.  Well done memoir. I highly recommend it.