I'm Perfect, You're Doomed

I think I heard about this book on NPR or something and liked the title. It's been on my “to read” list forever and I finally read it! I liked it but didn't love it, as the 3 star rating indicates. It felt like she had originally written it as a one-woman show or stand-up routine or something–it didn't seem like it was meant to be read. There were a lot of jokes that seemed awkwardly stitched in. But they were usually funny jokes, so, pass. I have some Jehovah's Witness relatives so I'm interested in the topic. (But I don't have any Mormon relatives and I'm also interested in Mormonism, so maybe I'm just interested in religions that are likely to eff you up. No offense if you are reading this and are JW or Mormon... I said LIKELY TO, not DEFINITELY WILL.) Anywayyy it was pretty funny and had some telling anecdotes about how effed up JWs can be.

This book was hilarious and spot on for a child raised in “the truth” in that time period. I'm guessing that those reviewing this poorly either do not understand what a memoir is, what growing up as (and recovering from life as) a JW is like, or have no grasp on sarcasm or sardonic humor.

Yes, parts of it are dark and terrible decisions are made with no seeming understanding of the consequences, but you also have to take into account that children raised as JWs are growing up in a totalitarian, mind controlling organization which leaves you completely terrified of and unprepared for the real world -- which Kyria addresses sardonically in the last chapters. It takes years, decades for some, for recovery from this kind of emotional stunting and trauma and she probably wasn't "out" for many years before the publication of this book. For a "snapshot" in time sort of memoir from a person who probably wasn't fully recovered at the time of writing, I think the ending is perfectly rounded.

This is a gem and I regret not buying it sooner. If you are DF'd or actively in recovery, you may be triggered by this book because it doesn't hold back.