Customer Reviews

The Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah's Witnesses

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thought I knew Joy Castro pretty well. We've worked together for seven or eight years; I've read her frequent submissions to Wabash Magazine, online journals, magazines and newspapers; and I've even sat in on her classes a few times. She is meticulously polite, soft-spoken, and always eager to collaborate on a range of projects to improve education and provide access to it.

I thought I knew her pretty well. Then I read The Truth Book.

Subtitled "Escaping a childhood of abuse among Jehovah's Witnesses," Joy's memoir tells the story of a brutal stepfather who routinely beat her and her brother, Tony. They were denied television, books, and given only tiny portions of food to eat. They were told how to walk, talk, and behave. They wore only second and third-hand clothes. All in the name of Jehovah.

After reading an advance copy of the book, I kept asking myself, "Why isn't she angry? Why didn't she end up on the streets? How could she be such a caring, loving mother to her son when she was denied such basic instincts from her own mother? Why doesn't she show the scars of her abuse?"

But the book isn't just about the abuse Joy and her brother suffered. In many ways, it's a book about hope and will and sacrifice. It's the true story of a young woman with an imagination off the charts, whose love of books and the written word propelled her to a graduate degree in English and a tenured position in the English department at Wabash College; whose unfailing love of her son has no boundaries.

Joy was denied even a scrap of respect as a child. Today she is respectful of others, and quintessentially respected by her colleagues, students, and anyone who has read her work.

If you know Joy Castro you never could imagine the abuses of her childhood and struggles as a young mother. You only know her as she is today, as I do, which makes me understand that The Truth Book is really, ultimately a story of redemption.

But those are my words. Joy is the only one who knows the true meaning of the book: "You try to be decent and treat people gently, knowing that they, too, have their scars and madnesses that, like yours, do not show."

Read the book. It'll make you want to live your life differently. And maybe, just maybe, you'll treat people - even those you think you know well - with the gentle kindness that is respectful of any hidden scars.

I grew up as a JW as did Ms. Castro, and I happen to share her first name, as my mother thought it a good idea to name me after "one of the fruitages of the spirit" mentioned in the bible. I read Ms. Castro's book in three days, which is unheard of for me. Her writing is very real, giving life and dimension to the all-too-truthful events and people she describes. I was surprised that I did not cry while reading her story, as she does not write in a manner asking for sympathy or pity - she is merely relating events as they occurred in a very eloquent and readable fashion. I grew to like Joy and to view her as a friend, as even though we have never met, we have shared many experiences. I physically cringed at the all-too-familiar tales of beatings at the kingdom hall for the sin of fidgeting in your chair at ages where children should not be expected to sit for more than five minutes at a time. My stomach grew tight at the memory of being forced to sit outside in the hall at school during holiday or birthday celebrations, wishing fervently I could join in and then feeling guilty for my "bad heart condition". The horror described in this book is very real in the lives of countless JW children and wives. If they are not beaten physically, their spirits are still beaten down so that they will never question what they are told to do. I highly applaud Ms. Castro's masterpiece and highly recommend that anyone, former JW or not, enlighten themselves with this very touching account of a very serious subject.

I'm a former JW and this book brought back memories both bad and good. In between telling the story of the turns and twists of her JW childhood, Dr. Castro mentions details that are worthy of additional chapters. Even as an academic in my 40's, it wasn't until I read this book that I realized how the rhetoric of submission, even slavery, was used to justify control. I never even noticed that "district overseer" and a "circuit overseer" are positions from the language of slavery, not humble Christianity. Castro illustrates numerous misplaced priorities, such as those that punish a smoker but allow a man to abuse his children. Surprisingly, there are even bits of humor, such as an aside on the phrase "Satan the devil." It's never just "Satan" or the "devil", but always "Satan-the-devil." As opposed to what, "Satan-the-gerbil"? Her opening description of the faculty interview process had me in stitches and set the stage perfectly.

She honors the goodhearted people in the congregation and gives them credit with specific and sympathetic character sketches, but she also shows the destructiveness and hardheartedness of many of the policies that tell good people to do the wrong thing. There are implicit criticisms of the religion and its cultivated worship of the leadership in Brooklyn. But it is in her descriptions of people that she most excels - they are presented in three-dimensional terms - no stereotypes here. The book rings with authenticity; she is trying very hard to be as fair as anyone could. There is no purple prose. She isn't pushing any agenda. She reports, and in the process tries to assimilate, understand, get and give insight. Those of us who continue have to do that. She does it with writing, reading, teaching, helping - doing the things that were undervalued but have become all the more meaningful for that now.

Her stepfather is horrible. Period. Her adoptive mother (and even her beloved father) say things that still make me quiver a little, resonance of a deep chord of empathy. Follow the thread of the brother - concern for him and self-judgment for not doing "enough" for him haunts the text.

As harrowing as this story is, it also focuses on details of her redemptive experience. It narrows in on the little things that enabled her to navigate her environment, the things she valued and cherished that helped her to continue, to confront certain kinds of situations and, later, to thrive. It offers guidance and hope, and I think that it will be a source of understanding and strength for many.

Like her, I feel that my love of reading may have saved me. I read the book in one sitting, and finished it deep in the night. I was unresponsive while reading, so absorbed in her story as it evoked - and intertwined with - my own memories, that I didn't even acknowledge my husband when he spoke to me. Deep in the night when I finished, I let go of my inward world a little. I cried, then laughed, and finally looked up at the stars in wonder and peace. What more could one ask?

Most of the reviews thus far talk about the substance of Joy Castro's riveting memoir. Who can blame them? This is a story that hooks you from the first syllable and won't let you go. As I was reading it (the first time), I flipped the pages hoping against hope that Joy and her brother would escape the tyranny of religious fundamentalism (and all-out child abuse.) It's that kind of book that grabs you by the heart. You can no more ignore the plight of the people between its covers than you could will yourself not to care about your own children or even your own self.

But let us not overlook the beauty of Ms. Castro's prose. She arranges ordinary words into gorgeous images and them arranges them into paragraphs which will make you gasp.

Read this book. You'll be impressed. You'll be changed.

I could relate to so much of what Joy describes in her book--the abuse, the sense of helplessness, the isolation, the fear. The way she created a fantasy world in her mind to escape the weekly Kingdom Hall meetings and the way "mouthy girl," a worldly influence, brought incite and revelation into her world. I commend Joy for consciously making her own child's world so much better than her own by becoming a better parent than her parent(s) were to her. Joy is definitely a survivor! Well done. It was an account brilliantly written! I highly recommend Joy's book. -- Brenda Lee, author of "Out of the Cocoon: A Young Woman's Courageous Flight from the Grip of a Religious Cult" (to be released in a few months).

I'm also a former JW and also stayed up into the wee hours on several nights to ingest, experience and process the complex issues this book brings to the surface for any former JW. It's like a fine Cabernet-let it breathe and swish it around before you internalize.

There is plenty of anti-Witness ammo here if you're looking for it, but I don't believe it belongs on the same playing field with many of the Witness "tell-alls" that are more about the author's anger and revenge. Ms. Castro is simply telling a riveting, compelling story that is deeply credible.

The outrage is palatable. I found my fists were clenched when reading about her stepfather. I don't know if it was her intent or not, but Ms. Castro tied the bullying and abuse and ridiculous habits her stepfather required, to the restrictive, confining--and yes--abusive lifestyle required of the devout JW. Take away the belt and the principles are uncomfortably similar.

She shows tremendous skill in telling the story of why the abused sometimes obey the abuser; defying them will lead to more physical and emotional pain, there will be no support on the "outside," or perhaps they mistakenly believe the abuser is correct when they say they deserve to be mistreated.

On another level, it's an indicment of the Watchtower organization that again shows that in many ways it has become the religion it has criticized in other faiths for so long; leaders more concerned about numbers, statistics, pride and dogma than in helping the weak and helpless in their flock, just like Ms. Castro's stepfather was more concerned about his holy image as a Bethelite until his world crashed around him. If an organization doesn't have a system of checks and balances to protect a little girl from an abuser, or instigate even a superficial investigation, how can they criticize other religions?

That said, I see this story as a powerful narrative that rises above religious sniping. I think it is first and foremost the story of the sweet and tender love of a daughter for her father that is twisted by the people who nearly derail her under the guise of love and soul-saving. It struck me that she was told to be in awe of the WWII JW, when in fact the persecution of Joy and her brother equals or surpasses it.

I send a hug to Joy and Tony. Thank you for shining a light on a path that is dark and overgrown and doing so with the quality of writing and storytelling that is here. You will help people for years and perhaps generations to come.

Joy Castro's memoir kept me spellbound! What courage to write so personally and, yet, so universally! Although difficult to read, always, of childhood abuse, this is a compelling testimony to the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
In today's world of extremists in all denominations, this story serves as a reminder that violence of all kinds can exist under the guise of "religion" and go undetected. As readers, as human beings, we are in Ms. Castro's debt.

Joy Castro, a survivor of child abuse within the Watchtower Organization, tells her horrifying, true story, holding the readers attention to the very end.

For those familiar with the inner workings of Jehovah's Witnesses, the inaction by the elders leading the congregation, will ring as a proverbial truth; or worst yet, experience.

Joy Castro, with an obvious command of the English language, writes in a style very easy on the reader's eye and psyche.

This is a must read for anyone looking for the survival and triumph of the abused and downtrodden.

A truly wonderful story!

Memoir is a difficult genre to write and memoirs of abuse are subject to distinctive hazards. But this book avoids those hazards--eluding the risk of self-pity and eliciting a range of emotional response in resonant language. As a reader and as a professor of literature, I must honor the difficult experience behind the book, but I also look for its richness of language and depth of insight. This book provides those, along with a compelling experience, beautifully written: a powerful narrative, wonderful use of language, sense of humor (where possible in such a difficult story), and that most necessary feature of a memoir, a voice that I trust and invest in. Joy Castro's probing honesty is a gift in itself, but she matches it with her stunning prose.

I recommend it to any lover of good books.

The reader should not look only at the church involved but at the individuals. Since words do not come as easily to me as to the author, I can only say "read to the last page" and find yourself in the final few words. And, thank God for quietly guiding the life of the main character to become the person she is at this writing.