Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsLeah Remini: Making trouble for Scientology -- past due and well deserved
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2015
This is a review of Leah Remini's book, not the Church of Scientology. I do have opinions about the latter which inevitably seep through this commentary. I read Remini's book over about three days. It was a quick read-- seemingly informative, and probably mostly credible--insofar as many of the details were consistent with other anti-scientology information I've been exposed to over the years. While I had some basic knowledge of the "church" from other sources, I was completely unfamiliar with Ms. Remini or any of her work as an actress. My overall impression of her as a person, gleaned solely from her book, is that she can be rather rude, pushy, and obnoxious, particularly when events don't go her way. She has a rarefied sense of humor that is often misunderstood by others. Without diagnosing Remini as having any particular personality disorder, I am not surprised that an individual this headstrong and opinionated would eventually butt heads with an institution well known to have a highly systematized set of beliefs, principles, and methods designed to keep its members under tight control. It seemed inevitable, at least from my perspective, that Ms. Remini and the "church" would eventually part ways. I am amazed that more than 30 years passed before the fatal clash and inevitable break occurred.
Onto the book itself: I am somewhat surprised by the lack of effort on the parts of her "ghost writer" and editor to improve the organization and fundamental readability of and language used in the book. As she admits, Remini has had no more than an 8th grade education and it shows. The amount of repetition, needed to perhaps "pad" the length of the book, becomes tiresome and Scientology acronyms are frequently used without being defined on first appearance and/or when they are abruptly introduced again after reading several intervening chapters. (Hint: if the book is ever reprinted, listing all the Scientology acronyms with definitions in an appendix would be very helpful.) The grammar throughout is atrocious. I did get the sense that most of the book is in Ms. Remini's own words, but some final polishing would contribute to the book's overall readability and therefore its credibility. Perhaps there was some urgency in rushing the book to press and to market of which I'm unaware. Nonetheless, as mentioned, I admire Ms. Remini's decision to leave the "church" and to come forward with an account of her experiences as a Scientologist. It is clear that this decision was made with difficulty (the "church" had been a key part of her life since childhood) and that she is still dealing with the consequences of her departure, having donated millions of dollars she cannot recoup and having lost many, many Scientologist friends who now shun her as a Suppressive Person.
Remini's book is filled with anecdotes from her Scientology career. For example, Remini's account of the Cruise/Holmes wedding and her horrified reactions to what she perceived as misbehaviors by high "church" officials is especially revealing of the duality of roles and hypocrisies that distinguish members of various ranks. As in the way she describes other events, this story reveals her behavior to be annoying, way over the top, and sometimes inappropriate. But more importantly, it demonstrates how thoroughly indoctrinated in Scientology principles Remini had become since she insists these misbehaviors were all inconsistent with "LRH policy." Over the course of several days at this highly publicized wedding celebration, apparently one could find a cadre of celebrities ripe for recruiting (Remini herself was trying to protect her friend, Jennifer Lopez, from such pressure; however, as a Scientologist, her protective behavior was probably curious to her cohorts), celebrity Scientologists, and high-ranking "church" officials (including COB David Miscavige and heir apparent Cruise) tattling on each other's behaviors (in Knowledge Reports) as if they were sixth graders--except there were real emotional and financial consequences for whomever was most ganged up on--in this case, Remini. As she became more disaffected by her treatment at the hands of the "church," Remini's actions became more desperate and her inquisitions more insistent--to the point that when she finally decided to break away, she filed a "missing persons" report on the "church" leader's wife, Shelly Miscavige, from whom she had not seen or heard for years. Anecdotes such as these reveal a side of Scientology that only the wealthiest and most famous members are privy to and, for this information, Remini's book is most useful and telling.
This said, I actually wished for more: having been a "church" member for over 30 years, Remini seemed to leave untold a great many more details and incidents (she notes that Tom Cruise and John Travolta, two of the "church's" most famous members, are barely on speaking terms but doesn't explore that interesting tidbit any further). And some events seem almost scripted or drawn from third hand sources, such as the account of the "church's" attempt to pair up Tom Cruise and Nazanin Boniadi (and the punishments inflicted upon Ms. Boniadi after Mr. Cruise's Scientology handlers were given the task of "discarding" her). It did not appear that Ms. Remini had first hand knowledge of the facts of this relationship. Perhaps this passage was drawn from Lawrence Wright's book "Going Clear" or the HBO documentary made from Wright's book. The marked change in writing style and voice suggests such a conclusion. A list of relevant references would have been helpful in separating Remini's personal experiences from events based on other information sources.
In all, Remini's book is another eye-opening "expose" of Scientology. It adds to my existing skepticism, disbelief, and suspicion about the tenets and practices of this "religion," and my concern for individuals who participate willingly and consequently pay a steep price emotionally and financially. Or individuals, as in the case of Ms. Remini, who are brought into the organization as unknowing children. Or persons who join out of naivete seeking spiritual realization and earthly and afterlife connections lacking in their present existence. Or those who are coerced in various ways to join against their own desires. A cult like Scientology tends to attract wounded individuals searching for meaning and acceptance, and then acts to retain its members by whatever means necessary. This cult does its job extremely well, as demonstrated by how long it took Remini and others to begin to question policies, to reject the "church's" belief system and practices, and to deal with the consequences of breaking ties with a clearly Machiavellian institution. Rather than ask, "why did it take Remini so long to leave?" a more revealing question may be "why are so many others unable to follow?" An interesting, gossipy, and sometimes astonishing read, but not a great book. Dive into it over a free weekend or on vacation; you can easily get through it in a day or so, or an uninterrupted afternoon (if, as you're reading, you don't have to fight with the compulsion to mentally correct all the grammatical and other language usage errors as I did!). Then get Lawrence Wright's book or view the HBO doc, "Going Clear," for a more hard-hitting, fact-laden perspective.
