Shunned
How I Lost my Religion and Found Myself
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A Jehovah’s Witness’ Painful but Liberating Realization that She Must Give Up Her Faith
“An inherently compelling and candidly revealing memoir . . . an extraordinary, riveting and unreservedly recommended read from first page to last.”
—Midwest Book Review
Linda Curtis was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and is an unquestioning true believer who has knocked on doors from the time she was nine years old. Like other Witnesses, she has been discouraged from pursuing a career, higher education, or even voting, and her friendships are limited to the Witness community.
Then one day, at age thirty-three, she knocks on a door—and a coworker she deeply respects answers the door. To their mutual consternation she launches into her usual spiel, but this time, for the first time ever, the message sounds hollow. In the months that follow, Curtis tries hard to overcome the doubts that spring from that doorstep encounter, knowing they could upend her “safe” existence. But ultimately, unable to reconcile her incredulity, she leaves her religion and divorces her Witness husband—a choice for which she is shunned by the entire community, including all members of her immediate family.
Shunned follows Linda as she steps into a world she was taught to fear and discovers what is possible when we stay true to our hearts, even when it means disappointing those we love.
“. . . a moving portrait of one woman's life as a Jehovah's Witness and her painful but liberating realization that she must give up her faith.”
―Publishers Weekly
“Curtis’s story reads as true to life . . . it will resonate across faith lines.”
—Foreword Reviews
“A profound, at times fascinating, personal transformation told with meticulous detail.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“...a riveting story, a page-turner, a magnificent contribution, and a book you will never forget.”
—Lynne Twist, global activist and author of The Soul of Money
“A wonderful book that is about so much more than the Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
—Adair Lara, longtime columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle
“...brilliant, respectful, insightful and most of all hopeful.”
―Openly Bookish
Readers of Educated and Leaving the Witness will resonate with Linda Curtis’ moving and courageous account of personal transformation.
Order your copy today and begin reading this disturbing, heartbreaking, and ultimately inspiring memoir.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this emotional memoir, Curtis writes of being raised by a devout Jehovah's Witness mother, marrying within the faith, and eventually deciding to leave. From a young age, Curtis would crisscross her neighborhood on a weekly basis to proselytize and convert. Her mother was a devoted believer in "the Truth" (a term Curtis references often, to claustrophobic effect) and raised her three children within the faith, but Curtis's father was not a Jehovah's Witness an incongruity that caused confusion throughout her life. Her inner conflict came to a head one Sunday when Curtis knocked on the door of an executive at the bank where she worked (a man she deeply respected for taking time off from work to be with his dying father) and suddenly realized how partisan and divisive her sermon sounded in the face of his grief. Curtis uses that encounter to trace back through her life, turning over moments from her past where she questioned her upbringing and relating stories of disconnect when she felt the fear of being "disfellowshipped" by her congregation if she didn't fall in line. In the end, Curtis questions her marriage, her commitment to the Truth, and her entire way of living. This is a moving portrait of one woman's life as a Jehovah's Witness and her painful but liberating realization that she must give up her faith.
Customer Reviews
Loved
What a beautiful read. It opened my eyes to the possibility of exploring. A hunger.