Uncultured

Starred review from July 25, 2022
Mestyanek Young’s page-turning debut details her escape from the Children of God religious cult and her disillusionment after joining the U.S. Army. Born into the Children of God, the author endured relentless extreme hunger, as well as sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the “Uncles,” or predatory elder male cult members, throughout her childhood. “After fifteen years of... life in a religious prison camp,” she escaped, leaving behind her family and quickly discovering how ill-prepared she was for the outside world (“You don’t exist,” a secretary told Mestyanek Young when she first tried to enroll in public school as a teenager). The author landed a job at Chick-fil-A and finally got admitted to high school, where her guidance counselor encouraged her to dream big. Determined to prove her worth to the world, Mestyanek Young joined the Army but found it to be another institution in which powerful men asserted control over her and the threat of sexual violence was omnipresent. In Afghanistan, she contended with the horrors of war alongside discrimination, isolation, and sexual assault. Mestyanek Young searingly captures the fear and intensity that were her constant companions in the Children of God, and she draws smart parallels between the dogmatic “indoctrination” she encountered in both the cult and the Army, observing that “wherever there is programming, the code can be written wrong.” Readers won’t be able to put down this harrowing and enthralling memoir.

Starred review from December 1, 2022

Mestyanek Young's piercing debut details her unique and trauma-filled life. Narrating her own story, Mestyanek Young recounts her time growing up in the Children of God cult. She is a daughter of the original "family" and is fierce and bold, but none of that protects her. While not explicitly graphic, her recollections are difficult to listen to, particularly when she discusses the sexual abuse of children. In the second half of the book, and perhaps the second chapter of her life, she writes about her experiences as a woman in the U.S. military, which was marked with disillusionment and fear. After escaping the Children of God, she became highly attuned to controlling behavior, a perspective that allowed her to draw uncomfortable parallels between the cult and the military. Nonetheless, she has an impressive military career that she is proud of, as well as important relationships that grew out of her military service. VERDICT Although this is Mestyanek Young's first time narrating, listeners will appreciate hearing this deeply personal story told by the author herself. Share with fans of Tara Westover's Educated and Deborah Feldman's Unorthodox. Memoir readers will want to check this one out.--Laura Stein

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