"I'm Perfect, You're Doomed" by Kyria Abrahams, 2009, Touchstone.
If you want a way to get people out of that horrible cult, easily, quickly and expeditiously, then here is how to do that.
I can say with a vote of confidence that anyone who reads this book will NEVER and I mean NEVER become a dub. Dubs who read it (assuming they have at least one or two brain cells left) will run from their religion like flies on shit when you pour bleach on it and blow it up with dynamite.
Toss away Crisis of Conscience, Apocalypse Delayed, 30 Years a Watchtower Slave and all those other very nice books and read this one. I know. I read those and all the other ones. I have also read all the "poor me. I was so screwed up growing up as a dub and so maltreated." (I am one of them as most ex-dubs are one of them, and our stories are so common as to become boring, if not unbelievable to those who haven't been one of us.) I have also read excellent books by Carl Jonnson and ISOCF by Ray Franz. They are great for the mind, but this book is far more visceral and it doesn't require much in the way of thinking to get the wallop that it delivers.
This book is a MUST READ book, and I do not say that lightly. I do not say anything lightly.
This book is also so funny, hilarious even and I am tempted to cite even a fraction of what Kyria Abrahams, the author, wrote, here. But that is hard to do. The whole darn book is hilarious. If I were to cite only a little bit of my favorite parts in her book, I would be guilty of copyright infringement, viz. the "Fair Use" Act! She is a genius in capturing the essence of dubism. No one, and I mean NO one (not even ME, ahem!) has done it better than she. I feel like a putz writer after reading her book. Then again, I was probably a putz writer to begin with.
Her story is breezy, refreshing, non-judgmental and there is not a hint of doctrinal bullshit prostelyzing. Nor is there a hint of angst or whining in her story. This is one tough lady!
If I was a million years younger, I would like to parallel park with her just about anywhere. Including on Main Street at high noon. Sigh.
Furthermore, she has her facts right, even down to the middling ones. For example, when she talks about celebrating Birthdays, she points out that technically speaking, celebrating one's birthday is not a disfellowshipping offense. ("There are NO laws in Oceana" - George Orwell, "1984")
Later in her book it gets a little darker, but not so much that it makes the reader want to close it and weep. Mostly, however it is a romp of humor and lightness and a light parody of all things dub, albeit disturbingly and distressingly true. Scarily true, even.
When I was reading this book, I thought I should dog-ear the pages which would be hilarious enough to cite in a thread. I soon realized that nearly every page would have a little fold at the top.
So I had to go over the book again and find a few excerpts to cite on this thread. I only got through a few pages in this book before I had more-than-enough stuff to share with you. This is probably not even the best and funniest stuff, either. But it is a tease of what her delightful book offers.
p. 7: "Dad called out God's name so many times during a single prayer that one might wonder if, in addition to being the creator of the universe, God wasn't also suffering from ADD."
On her first "talk" at age 8 in the Theocratic Ministry School (p. 7): "It was for both adults and children alike, and was not considered a replacement for our actual elementary school, which we attended in order to perfect our arithmetic skills and learn how to be hated for being different."
p. 9: "...our church was unequivocally referred to as the Kingdom Hall..'Kingdom Vinyl-Sided Ranch House' sounded stupid.'"
p.10: "Joining the Theocratic Ministry School was a mandatory privilege, something we were supposed to do before being allowed to knock on doors and ask people if they knew they'd accidentally chosen the wrong religion."
On women and the Theocratic Ministry School (p.13): "Facing the Congregation = uppity and sinful. Ninety degrees clockwise = making Jehovah's heart smile."
The whole bit on when she discovered the joys of masturbation at age seven is worth the whole price of admission, and it goes uphill from
there!
This book is worthy of as many stars as those people who pass out stars give, folks!
Farkel