Book Review: Uncultured: A Memoir by Daniella Mestyanek Young

 Hello dear Readers,

Below is my book review of Uncultured: A Memoir by Daniella Mestyanek Young.

Title: Uncultured: A Memoir

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Memoir

Author: Daniella Mestyanek Young

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: September 20, 2022

Language: English

Hardcover: 352 pages
Meet the Author: Daniella Mestyanek Young
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

A Buzzfeed Best Book of September

In the vein of Educated and The Glass Castle, Daniella Mestyanek Young's Uncultured is more than a memoir about an exceptional upbringing, but about a woman who, no matter the lack of tools given to her, is determined to overcome.

Behind the tall, foreboding gates of a commune in Brazil, Daniella Mestyanek Young was raised in the religious cult The Children of God, also known as The Family, as the daughter of high-ranking members. Her great-grandmother donated land for one of The Family’s first communes in Texas. Her mother, at thirteen, was forced to marry the leader and served as his secretary for many years. Beholden to The Family’s strict rules, Daniella suffers physical, emotional, and sexual abuse―masked as a godly discipline and divine love―and is forbidden from getting a traditional education.

At fifteen years old, fed up with The Family and determined to build a better and freer life for herself, Daniella escapes to Texas. There, she bravely enrolls herself in high school and excels, later graduating as valedictorian of her college class, then electing to join the military to begin a career as an intelligence officer, where she believes she will finally belong.

But she soon learns that her new world―surrounded by men on the sands of Afghanistan―looks remarkably similar to the one she desperately tried to leave behind.

Told in a beautiful, propulsive voice and with clear-eyed honesty, Uncultured explores the dangers unleashed when harmful group mentality goes unrecognized and is emblematic of the many ways women have to contort themselves to survive.

My Thoughts

Another incredible memoir. One of the best I read definitely.

While reading I just kept thinking: "wow, wow". What a heartbreaking but amazing story. 

This was one of those books that you can't help but keep reading. Daniella's story is so heartbreaking and incredible, some may say, regardless, one worth telling for sure, and one I personally feel lucky to have had the chance to read, an eye-opener for sure.

It needs to be kept in mind that this book contains a lot of sensitive topics that could trigger the reader, such as sexual abuse in children, violence, verbal and psychological abuse, suicide, hunger, and poverty. 

I really loved this book and highly recommend it. 

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the free advanced readers' copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Wendy