Poundcake - Shop now
Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Fake Someone Happy: The true story of the damaged daughters of American patriarchy and their emotional abuse Paperback – January 1, 1814

2.9 out of 5 stars 11 ratings
Previous slide of product details
  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    lulu.com
  3. Publication date
    January 1, 1814
  4. Dimensions
    4.25 x 0.71 x 6.88 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1291461981
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1291461985
Next slide of product details
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ lulu.com
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 1814
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1291461981
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1291461985
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.25 x 0.71 x 6.88 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    2.9 out of 5 stars 11 ratings

Customer reviews

2.9 out of 5 stars
11 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Jill Walsh
    1.0 out of 5 stars Creepy-Avoid
    Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Truly one of the strangest (not in a good way) books I have ever read. The narrative voice is creepy but without the intent to be creepy. I do not recommend this book.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Ace Locates
    5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting
    Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This is a real quick read, or at least it was for me. I have been involved with the homeschooling movement for almost twenty years and know some of the people written about. The book shows how the road to hell is paved with good intentions and scarier still is that once begun some cannot turn back. Ultimately, setting up rules and judgements that tear the fabric of the family to shreds, many end up living a lie. Unable to come out from behind the evangelical mask they exist in a life where joy has died and 'works' become the god. I saw myself, I saw some friends. I was only a little sad that the hope we have in Christ Jesus was not mentioned as much as I'd like and that is a big part of the problem in this movement: for the folks in the trenches it is just a Christ-less existence powered by the flesh; for the leaders it is most often about money and control. It is a shame that some are on a journey so ill prepared and without the proper 'gear'. These poor souls end up dead or damaged along the way. My wife and I have seen the isolation that happens to those living in this system and the havoc it works on relationships. Sad. A good book but there is hope through Christ Jesus I know because love lifted me.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Becca
    4.0 out of 5 stars Please, please, please read this book - to gain awareness of an incredible, terrifying, yet very real segment of America
    Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    If you're looking for a literary masterpiece or philosophical/theological tome, this isn't it. If you want to peek through a window into the Christian Patriarchy / Stay At Home Daughter movement, buy this book. As a former daughter of American Christian Patriarchy, I can verify that the depiction is accurate - including the depiction of the turmoil a survivor faces after their escape. The author, an outsider to the movement and to American culture, displays frustration that may seem unfair to survivors and Americans, respectively; please bring to your reading a compassion for survivors that goes beyond the author's, and if you have an understanding of modern British culture, this book will be a more comprehensible read.

    The book describes a spectrum of families in the movement, each with their own hidden dysfunctions, all with their shared mask of perfection. Described in true-to-life vivid detail.

    Books that complement this one:
    Pilgrim's Wilderness - An excellently written book (this is the one to read if you're looking for that literary masterpiece) that accurately puts you in the headspace of an abused Stay At Home Daughter.
    Quivering Daughters - Both a story of survival of Christian Patriarchy / the Quiverful movement / Stay at Home Daughter movement, and an account of what went through this survivor's mind to enable her to survive, escape, and thrive.
    19 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Brian Davilla
    5.0 out of 5 stars Needful
    Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I've been greatly concerned about the patriarchy/quiverfull movement and for some time now as my Pastor has embraced them. I've studied them intently and found them to be unbiblical and quite dangerous. I'm happy to see firsthand accounts of what is going on revealed in this book and I hope it reaches a wide audience in order to alert others of this extremist/finge movement which is very defiling to women!
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Amelia
    1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written
    Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Poorly written and in large print. Not much to a book.
    Helpful
     Report
  • RNov2010
    1.0 out of 5 stars Homophobic and very strange
    Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2015
    First of all, this is very strangely written; in some parts, it seems more like a screenplay. Second, the "heroes" of the book (the English family) are also fundamentalists and their beliefs cause them to say and do some pretty awful things. For example, if you rescue someone from an abusive home, how can you be angry at them or blame them for avoiding all conflict? Most people would immediately suggest therapy for the poor girl - but this family just sits and has judgmental talks with her. the book focuses on the idea of patriarchy as the major problem, not fundamentalist beliefs. So they never bother to hide their homophobia. Really, you wind up disliking everyone in this book.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Jeff Crippen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Read it and Learn!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This is a very accurate, insightful book that describes perfectly the abuse perpetrated by these radical patriarchal groups on their daughters.
    4 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Mari
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beware the quiverful/patriarchy movement in the USA
    Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2013
    This book is quite unique! An English family came into contact with some large families within Christian 'patriarchy', and sustained many years of friendship with them until they helped one of the daughters escape.
    This offers a fresh perspective on the insulated subcultures in America. As an English Christian with no cultural equivalent of the Vision Forum or Bill Gothard (or any other shepherding preacher) , this has the feel of a space explorer landing on a new moon and discovering aliens (with teeth).

    The terrible abuse discovered in these families puts the lie the perfect images they like to maintain. Patriarchy stands and falls on the righteousness of men -- instead of Christ. There is no freedom for the girls trapped in these groups. They are born to breed and submit to men, and nothing else. It is very similar to the FLDS (mormon) cult in the USA!
    17 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Fergal
    1.0 out of 5 stars Absolute dreck
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I bought this book through the Kindle app, and there wasn't a full description attached nor any reviews. I was expecting a critique of patriarchal Christianity, and a dismantling of the myth of the content, loving families therein.

    What I actually got was a rambling, confused story about some English Christian family who were painted as the ultimate in achievement, charity, and worthiness. We are never told who the family are, what relation they have to the author, or how he came to write the book. There is no epilogue, no introduction, just a running start with two "children' on a trip to Texas, who are given no age (rather confusingly they turn out be over eighteen), and no description of the relationship between them until later in the book.

    Characters are dropped in out of nowhere, without any introduction or apparent purpose. The dialogue is absolutely atrocious and completely unnatural as it's written in script form. Any conversation appears like this:

    Marian: "Hello"

    John: "Welcome to our home"

    Laura: "Thank you"

    Plotlines trail off into nowhere, we often see the beginning of a scenario, only for the writer to veer off on some bizarre tangent. Huge sections of the book make little to no sense at all.

    The scenarios are contrived, the 'lessons' are trite and banal, and the hypocrisy is staggering. However, there are far greater issues with this book.

    One character (I refuse to believe that she's a real person) is suspected of being attracted to other women. This immediately prompts the main busybody, sorry, the main character, into worrying for the safety of any children that the woman might meet, because her (possibly, maybe) attraction to other adult women means that she's a danger to children, especially those who come in close physical contact The busybody-in-chief frets that lesbianism is not about sexual attraction, but about trapping women and girls into a controlling relationship, manipulating them, and robbing them of their autonomy. Yes, the old "recruitment" schtick, how very retro!

    The alleged lesbian is only suspected to be attracted to women because she's a single woman in her twenties who lives with her parents, and has never had a relationship with a man. Odd then, that her accuser is a single woman in her twenties who lives with her parents, and has never had a relationship with a man. Doth the lady protest too much, one wonders.

    Later in the book we learn that feminism, reproductive choice, and same-sex relationships are directly comparable to the sexual abuse of children by their parents and siblings, spousal abuse, rape, and the physical and psychological abuse of children.

    Non-christians simply do not exist, apart from Marian's former classmates, who apparently spend their time mocking good little Christian schoolgirls by threatening them with rape in order to get them to change their political views on reproductive autonomy

    In short: this book reads as if it were real-person fan fiction (with main character Marian being the perfect Mary Sue) written by a stunted, emotionally unstable, homeschooled kid with a clear misogynist bent . S/he's clearly someone with little real life experience outside of their religious community, and almost certainly little-to-no experience of adult romantic relationships or sexual relationships, and definitely no experience of working with an editor!

    The preaching, prating and moralising is more comical than annoying, the characters are two-dimensional and paper-thin, and the main character is the most pious, hard-of-thinking, immature hypocrite in the book, who is guilty of the vast majority of the "sins" of those she criticises.

    I have never wanted a refund on any of the thousands of books I have read over the years, so the author is to be congratulated on writing the first.
    Report