Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Book Review: Captive by Catherine Oxenberg

Title: Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter from the Terrifying Cult Nxivm
Author: Catherine Oxenberg
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Adult, Nonfiction, Cults
Pages: 320
Publisher: Simon Schuster
Year Published: 2018
Format: Audiobook

"Now updated with a new afterword, Captive is an emotional ripped-from-the-headlines expose that lays bare the secretive cult that shocked the world- for fans of Leah Remini's Troublemaker and Lawrence Wright's Going Clear.

I am a mother whose child is being abused and exploited. And I am not alone.

In 2011, former Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg joined her daughter, India, at a leadership seminar for the new organization called NXIVM. Her then twenty-year-old daughter was on the threshold of starting her own professional life and they both thought this program might help her achieve her dream. But quickly, Catherine saw a sinister side to the program that claimed to simply want to help its clients become the best version of themselves.

Catherine watched in horror as her daughter fell further and further down the rabbit hole, falling under the spell of NXIVM's hypnotic leader, Keith Raniere. Despite Catherine's best efforts, India was drawn deeper into the cult, eventually joining an elite 'sorority' of women members who were ordered to maintain a restricted diet, recruit other women as 'slaves,' and were branded with their leader's initials.

In Captive, Catherine shares every parent's worst nightmare and the lengths that a mother will go to save her child. Catherine's efforts finally led the FBI to take notice- and the journey is not yet over. A powerful depiction of a mother's love and determination and with horrifying insider details never revealed in any new story, Captive will keep you reading until the very last page."

My Rating: 3.75/5

This was a really interesting look into cults from a mother's perspective and had a lot of great sources. I was curious to see where the mother's story would take us and all the advocating she would do to help all those lives who were affected by this cult. I wasn't into the religious details of this story, but it was fine for me. I'm not judging the story just the mode the author took at points to tell it.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

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