Has anyone read Diane Wilson's book, "Awakening of a Jehovah's Witness"?

by carefully faded 18 Replies latest jw friends

  • waiting
    waiting

    As with any personal account.........it's her viewpoint. I read most of it - then passed it on to some non-jw's who were dealing with jw's & xjw's in another kind of business. The non-jw's were just amazed. Her short dictionary of jw terms was incredibly helpful for the non-jw readers.

    Ms. Wilson never presented herself as creating a definitive history & accounting of the WTBTS, her book is more of a memoir of her life as a jw. As a woman reader - I appreciated her recounting as a Jehovah's Witness sister (a little more than nothing.)

    I could never do what she has done - so kudos to Ms. Wilson for surviving so brilliantly & speaking out.

    Would recommend Diane Wilson's book, along with an ever-growing list of fine books exposing the WTBTS Book Corporation for what it is.....a book publishing corp. leading a cult.

    waiting

  • carefully faded
    carefully faded

    Thanks to all for the wide assortment of replies. I read about half the book last night and I find, so far, I am able to agree a little bit with each of you. Yes, it is her recounting of her experiences - and she went through quite a lot. Some of the responses she received from the witnesses sounded a little extreme to me (i.e. a new rule was anounced that sisters could not show facial expressions depicting that they disagree with something a brother says). Perhaps they were emphasizing the need for sisters to show respect for brothers, and maybe an example was given, but does her recounting of this experience exaggerate things? I don't know.

    I also wonder a bit about how all of the elders and various brothers were so extremely cold towards her. Granted, I ran across my share of inappropriateness and uncaring elders, but in my experience, I can't say they were all like that. Perhaps she is a bit jaded from all that she has been through? Who could blame her! Or, even worse, perhaps this was her exact experience. Either way, it appears that it is her memory of the experience and she has every right to share it.

    She definately makes a great argument for how badly she (and so many others) was/were wronged and endangered with the flip-flopping medical directives.

    Either way, I think she is a pretty gifted writer and I give her a lot of credit for telling her story. I hope to finish the book this weekend.

  • Sentinel
    Sentinel

    Diane's personal account is very well written, and is in line with my own experience "inside". I read this book about three years ago. I found it to be an excellent example of the JW experience first hand.

    /<

  • Lady Lee
    Lady Lee

    I've watch a body of elders go after some people.

    Basically I think the BOE in my cong was pretty good but I also have seen their other side when they don't like you or think you are trouble. And that was downright nasty. I never would have suspected they could be like that until it happened to me.

  • HadEnuf
    HadEnuf

    Yes, I read the book. I always find books written by x-JW's (though they are few and far between) interesting. It was a fairly good read. I won't be reading it twice though as I have Crisis of Conscience and In Search of Christian Freedom.

    But it is always good to get another perspective on what people go through when exiting the Watchtower org.

    Cathy L.

  • Englishman
    Englishman

    I've read it. Brummie very kindly presented it to me at my 57th birthday party last year.

    It's good, probably one of the best books at showing what it's like for female JW's to have to endure the crap coming out from Brooklyn.

    Englishman.

  • Oroborus21
    Oroborus21

    My Review:

    Not fearing to tread where others have gone before, Diane Wilson unfolds a somewhat lively but slightly melodramatic recounting of her time spent in the Organization. The biographical passages provide an insightful but broadly painted look at the culture within Jehovah's Witnesses. The expos é on JW theology is a good but superficial survey of findings and conclusions long ago reached by others and available in detail in other better documented and better argued materials. For those unwilling to do their own research, the book provides a handy one-stop compendium of the significant issues facing the Organization.

    The book is not so much an ?awakening? to insight, much less an ?escape? from anything, as it is simply and apparently an exercise in catharsis. As such it contains all the entertainment and personality of warmed-over macaroni hot-dish. There is no doubt that Ms. Wilson is sincere in her concern to help others. But the knowledge that others have suffered much more than she or have much more interesting and revealing tales to tell, leads one to ask so what is so special in this case? The answer is ?nothing.?

    The principle failing of the book is not its ordinariness however. It is that the feminine perspective, promising at times, is not adequately explored. A true book written by a woman, exploring what it is like to be a woman in the Organization is yet to be written although Barbara Grizutti Harrison's work comes close. Ms. Wilson's book once again misses the mark in this regard.

    Perhaps most disturbing of all is that ultimately it appears that Ms. Wilson has only merely succeeded in substituting one Wise Man authority figure, the Watchtower, for another, namely her favourite member of what Garrison Keilor euphemistically refers to as ?the listening branch of medicine.?

    Thus in the end, instead of Ms. Wilson mindlessly following what ?the Society says? she manages to substitute instead as source of authority and direction ?my therapist says.? And so the reader is left to wonder whether she has truly obtained any measure of self-actualization.

    Despite these serious failings, novices and active Jws alike that are beginning to explore behind the Watchtower Curtain will find the book a casual read.

  • freedom96
    freedom96

    As I have stated before, I know Diane personally, and I was there throughout her ordeals as a witness. I knew the people she talks about in the book, and remember very well the timeline that she writes about.

    For those who doubt what she wrote is real, you were not there, so let me shed some light on it for you.

    The fact was that the congregation was exactly as she described, with the attitudes and everything.

    When she started to write the book, at first it was for her, just to work though all that she had gone through. When others had heard about what she was doing, she was encouraged to continue, and perhaps look for someone to publish it, as it could help many people. It was not written to make a bunch of money; in fact publishers take most of the profits anyways. But it helped her get through some difficult times, and has since gotten numerous thank you letters from people all over the world, who have enjoyed the book. In fact, she currently has a file 4 inches deep of e-mails she has printed out from people exclaiming how they too have experienced many of the things Diane had written about, such as the strictness and cruelity of the elders towards them in their own halls, and the mind control methods used were many times the same as she talks about in the book. Some even commented about how they thought she was writing about their own experience. So, as much as some congregations may not have been too extreme, there are in fact many, many congregations just as bad as Diane experienced. She has since done many radio interviews, speeches across the country,and has been written about in magazines and newspapers.

    This has been her way to help people understand what is going on out there in JW land, and my hat is off to anyone who takes the time to let people know. Some might start websites, others tell friends and neigbors, and some write books.

    We all know that people are people, and some are more extreme than others, and the same is true with congregations. Some are more relaxed, and the people are enjoyable. Others are more extreme, and just because someone may have had a different experience than others, it doesn't make it untrue. It simply is another story, as we all have them.

    The fact is that in this congregation, there was an elder that she talks about, who was greatly feared, not only in that congregation, but feared in the whole area. He was very powerful, and basically did things the way he wanted to, often without regard of anyones feelings. But no one would touch him, as he kept people in check. He knew all the right people, and befriended them. He ran some of the district conventions, etc. I know of some people who actually moved out of the congregation and area just because of this one guy. But his attitude rubbed off on all the ass kissers that wanted more responsibilities. So there was this attitude everywhere.

    And yes, they watched everything you did. Or didn't do.

    Some of you mentioned not remembering certain beliefs or attitudes, and therefore question her accuracy. Much of what Diane wrote about, she kept journals as it happened. So this is not her trying to remember events accurately years ago. Second, as I mentioned above, there are different personalities to people, as well as congregations. And with that, some beliefs are taken even more extreme.

    For example, I remember a brother on the stage, who cried, and told everyone he was shaving his mustache off, that he has all his adult life, as he did not want to stumble others, and wanted to achieve more in the congregation. There was a young lady who went to college, and the attitude of the hall was as if she had commited murder.

    Whether you like Diane or not, whether you like her book or not, it is factual. Every event that she talks about, did happen as she described. I personally enjoy the way she wrote it, about her own experiences. Doctrinal books get old to me. I already know that their teachings are wrong, but to read about how it affected people, that goes a lot farther for me. That even makes it more clear when I realize all the wrong they have done to people.

    So, some are going to enjoy the book, others won't. No big deal. Not everyone is going to like everything anyways, and that is what makes us all unique.

    If any of you have a chance to get to know Diane, you will find her fun, and very sincere. I have known her for well over 30 years, and she is a delight to be around. I have tried to get her to say hi on this website, and perhaps one of these days she will. She does come and read from time to time.

  • Brummie
    Brummie

    I highly recommend this book, as a male I thought it was great to get a (ex) sisters point of view. She does real well in exposing the WT and provided a good insight into how the watchtower keeps changing how the rape of sisters should be handled.

    She sent me a message on video and I show it to a lot of people who are leaving the WT or have left, even from the video you can see how genuine she is.

    Could those that think something doesnt ring true please list what it is you find questionable?

    I have met Don Nelson who wrote the forward, I prefer Diane.

    Brummie

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