Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon [Paperback]

K. Gordon Neufeld (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2002

Mass weddings. Matching ceremonies where people meet their future spouses for the first time. Desperate flower-sellers approaching bar customers late at night. Isolated farms where young men and women are rapidly transformed into fanatical devotees of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. All these are well-known aspects of life in the Unification Church, often called the "Moonies". In Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon, a Cult Survivor's Memoir, K. Gordon Neufeld recalls his own participation in all of these events in a powerful and engrossing, and occasionally wistful and tender, memoir. Neufeld recounts his own rise in the ranks of the Unification Church to the position of a leader-in-training at the Unification Theological Seminary, a promotion that indirectly led to his growing disillusionment. Yet even when he found himself rejected by the woman Moon had chosen for his bride, and by the church to which he had been unswervingly dedicated, he refused to give up, but carried on until there was absolutely no way to continue. At last, demonstrating great courage, Neufeld broke free from his state of mental transfixion without the aid of deprogrammers. This is an unforgettable story of persistence, devotion, love and loss.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

K. Gordon Neufeld is a freelance writer currently living in Calgary, Alberta. He is a graduate of the University of British Columbia's Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing. In addition to this memoir, he has published numerous book reviews as well as a number of articles about his experiences in the Reverend Moon's Unification Church. He is now at work on a novel and a collection of short stories.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing (October 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589392760
• ISBN-13: 978-1589392762
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,568,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true masterpiece, August 30, 2003

By 

"johnny_l" (Belleville, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon (Paperback)

This in one of three best books I've ever read. Heartbreak and Rage details the 10 year journey of one man's experience in the Unification Church. For me, the book elicited a range of emotions. Neufeld brings the reader face to face to with the inner workings of the UC that only someone deeply involved with the church could provide. Other authors can provide an overview of the UC based on research and interviews with ex-members. Neufeld, due to his experience in the UC, provides insights that few others could.

I bought this book looking for knowledge of how the UC operated and how it's use of mind control techniques contributed to increasing its membership. This book certainly provided that. However, Neufeld is able to take this story a step further. Not only is this a story about the Unification Church, it is a story about one's man's search for an identity, his search for self worth. Neufeld becomes the hero of his own story. As I eagerly devoured page after page, I "rooted" for Neufeld to rise up out of the depths of the years of mind control he had been subjected to and defeat (by leaving) the evil Unification Church. This is the true story of this book. Is this the story of Neufeld's quest to free himself from the grips of a totalistic organization and reclaim his life.

If you're looking for a straight, encyclopedic description of how the UC operates, a book like Kingdom of the Cults would better suit you. If you're looking for the story of one man's triumph against a quasi-religious corporation, then Heartbreak and Rage is an excellent choice. I highly recommend this book. I've never written a review on Amazon before because I've never read anything that I felt strongly enough to write about. That was until I read this book. I read the entire book in one day. And when I got to the last, page I wanted more. Stories don't get told and books don't get written much better than Heartbreak and Rage.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gifted writer and cult victim, June 16, 2003

By 

"maria3" (Central New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon (Paperback)

Although this book is a memoir, it reads more like an excellent novel. Gordon Neufeld was an intelligent, caring young man who sought relief from the ache of low self-esteem and the longing for a deep love relationship. He was lured into accepting an offer of a free dinner, then cornered into one activity after another, each designed to indoctrinate unsuspecting young men and women into the "Moonies". Even his ability to question the validity of Moon's doctrine was insufficient protection from the devices of the cult. His is a story of good intentions that were so manipulated and exploited that his kindness effectively became his undoing, as he was forced to the extremes of servitude while Moon lived in luxury. Neufeld effectively de-mystifies how a bright young man could be transformed into a cult-minded cog in a very warped machine. So insidious was his indoctrination that I, for one, am greatly relieved that I never had the misfortune of meeting up with the "Moonies", since any young man or woman-- especially one who is seeking truth and meaning-- would be vulnerable to their lies.

I highly recommend this book to all those who are concerned with educating themselves or others about cult indoctrination; knowing cult methods would certainly be useful to those who wish to protect themselves from such "innocent" devices as casual dinners and invitations to lectures. I also recommend it as engaging reading for anyone who enjoys a novel, as there is a surprising love story entwined with a fast-paced account of his nearly constant travels, and the engrossing narrative of his internal struggle. Neufeld is a gifted writer with a past well worth reading.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real heartbreak, real rage, July 5, 2005

By 

hgo blake - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon (Paperback)

Books by ex-cult members are interesting (and I've read a fair number) because they seem to disclose the whole story of someone's odyssey into a world that is unfamiliar to most of its readers - in fact, a world most of us can't comprehend, which is why we read these stories in the first place. We ask, how can someone get involved in a religion such as the Unification Church, which demands such complete obedience from its members? How do they give up their families? How can people fundraise and witness for years on end? Most notoriously, how can Unification Church members follow the teachings of the church on celibacy and marriage, even surrendering one's own personal preference and choice for a marriage partner?

That's about as far as most books by ex-cult members get. That is, anti-cult narratives settle for disclosing life in the cult, without honestly telling the story of the individual writing the story, usually by paying little attention to it or avoiding it completely. There might be a little drama about exactly how the person will leave the religion, though of course we know how the story will turn out. But, really, there's much more story to be told, and that's what's unique about Heartbreak and Rage. I mean, I had a hard time beginning to read the book because the title alone so openly expressed much of the turmoil of the author's own relationship with the Unification Church. And while the book naturally tells about the church and the author's experience in it, it also tells about the author's own growth in self-understanding. To me, that was the more interesting part, and should make us wonder just how much was left out of some of those other ex-cult books that sum up everything so neatly for their readers.

The conclusion of Heartbreak and Rage doesn't just conveniently replace the absence of the Unification Church with a mainstream religion, or some other acceptable way of showing the author's successful departure from the Unification Church, and his return to life outside the church. No, life is complex, which Heartbreak and Rage shows by concluding that the meaning for its writer is writing itself. So the end of the book suggests that life after an experience such as the Unification Church isn't a simple, comfortable, safe transition home, but the beginning of a further, more meaningful, even more intense odyssey.