Cults always make for a creepy read. Beryl is supposed to be leaving for college - her mother drops her off at the airport - but she never gets on the plane. Instead she buys a ticket for a greyhound bus bound for Durham, NC, but she doesn't get on that either. Her bags head off while she hops into a car with Bay, a guy she just met at the bus station. He promises her a family near Asheville in the mountains - people who will love her, who need her, and she can make a difference by living peacefully with the environment and respecting the land. There are hints about an apocalyptic event that occurred or is yet to come - society seems much more fragile than it is currently, but it is definitely in the near future. When she arrives she is told she can stay 3 days or forever. That'a the decision point. Beryl meets the "family" on the commune and is given her new name, Harmony by Dice the leader. The group owns nothing individually and everything in common and there is the usual prattle about being one with all, but Dice is very charismatic - like most cult leaders- and the people there are misfits who are leaving some type of loneliness or lack of belonging behind. Classic. Living so close to the land, violence goes hand-in-hand with survival - they kill everything they eat and they live by natural law. Queen is one of Harmony's "friends" though they aren't supposed to have close ties, Pear is the earth mother who does all the cooking and doctoring. There are a dozen or more others with various roles, but everything seems rather precarious rather than idyllic. Harmony missteps all the time regarding the rules - she is so needy and so eager to please. One day her old boyfriend Isaac shows up, determined to spring her from this influence, but she doesn't give in and sends him away. She also betrays her mother by letting Dice and Bay know she has money (jewelry) that would help them in their protest activities and disruptions. The center cannot hold in this cult, like most and the finale is rather ambiguous. Is Harmony truly free at the end? Compelling, but a little frustrating too. ( )

I was really excited to read this book, I'm so intrigued by cults and how they get people to stay. I could slightly get why Berie would be interested and want to be part of the Ash Family, but she seemed to go back and forth a lot. I wish she would have been a little stronger of a character and then maybe I would have enjoyed the book. The ending really fell flat for me as well. It started getting really intense and then just flat. ( )

Unfortunately, I find that I am not the reader for The Ash Family by Molly Dektar for many reasons. The biggest issue I have is the book's continuous reference to the "false" or "fake" world and the "real" world. The actual news these days is a quagmire of claims of fake news and other such things. To me, it is a dangerous thing to see it mirrored in fiction, particularly in one that has a young adult as the main character and young adults as the potential audience.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2019/11/the-ash-family.html

Reviewed for NetGalley. ( )

This was an interesting book that told the story of nineteen year old Berie and how she was lured into an isolated commune deep in the woods. The story then continues to show the manipulation and brainwashing that led Berie to eventually change her name to Harmony, shun her "fake" life and denounce her family. The book was a bit slow, there wasn't much action. Instead it focused on two years in the life of Harmony and her family, also known as "ashers." I received a complimentary ebook from the publisher in exchange for a review. ( )

The Ash Family tells the story of a disaffected young woman who was pressured to go to college who really needed a gap year to figure out what she wanted. She doesn’t get on the plane to school and is soon picked up by a young man who invites her to join him with his family on a farm. The reader quickly realizes he is a cult recruiter and this won’t end well, but we’re seeing it all through her perspective and at first, it is wonderful. She feels a sense of purpose in her life for the first time.

Of course, it is not what she expected. She has a lot of work, hard work. The community reinforces its norms with peer pressure and with accountability sessions similar to the struggle sessions of the Chinese revolution, deeply humiliating, psychological torture that continues until a person breaks under the pressure of communal disapproval. We, as readers, can see the way the leader and the members of the commune enforce a new social order and strip away the past.

I liked The Ash Family quite a bit. It gave us a good depiction of how the self can be broken by a cult. We also saw how doubt and disquiet can grow and be fostered. Harmony was ripe for recruitment because she had no goals for her future. I also like the ambiguity at the end. Dektar excels at describing the land, with active and colorful language that makes it all come alive. This is an emotionally compelling book that offers us very contrasting characters from the charismatic leader to the enigmatic recruiter and from the indomitable Queen to the pliable Harmony. The characters are credible and complex, making for a very compelling story.

The Ash Family will be released April 9th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Ash Family at Simon & Schuster
Molly Dektar on Instagram

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/04/01/9781501144868/ ( )