When the World Didn´t End by Guinevere Turner

I´ve heard Guinevere Turner speak for the first time as Frieda Vizel´s guest, talking about the cult she grew up into. One of the first things I´ve loved to hear from her was how writing was her way of being: through words, she was able to manifest her questions, and trying to understand the world. 

She repeats this life motto in her memoir, When the World Didn´t End, inspired by an article she wrote for The New Yorker, telling the story of her life. She grew up in the Lyman Family cult, considered the Charles Manson of the East coast. 

It is a very hard to read memoir, to be honest, because we do not expect so much violence and sexual abuse to be encountered at such a young age. Once she had to leave the cult and return to her mother, her life was turned into a constant hell, fuelled by her mother´s partner and her refuse to acknowledge that her daughter is more important than a man who anyway was cheating on her. Recently reading the story involving Alice Munro made me understand that, in fact, such situations are possible, no matter how high your intellectual level and prestige are considered. 

Instead of protecting her, her mother saw her as a potential competitor, although she was underage and unable to grasp with what was actually happening to her. This is in fact one of the many aspects I´ve loved about this book: how she is able to read a memoir as an adult, in the voice of an innocent child. It takes a lot of talent and deep knowledge of the person she used to be.

This is why, this memoir will not bring extraordinary knowledge about cults in America and general or any other theoretical background. Instead, it provides the reader a heartbreaking testimonies of how irresponsible adults may destroy a child´s heart.

I had access to the book in audiobook format, which makes the testimony even more emotional, as you can feel and hear the stories told by the adult she is now.

Rating: 4 stars

PS: I also have a YouTube channel, feel free to follow for more bookish inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/@WildWritingLife