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  • Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology

  • By: Sands Hall
  • Narrated by: Sands Hall
  • Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (58 ratings)
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Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology cover art

Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology

By: Sands Hall
Narrated by: Sands Hall
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Summary

In this audiobook, Sands Hall chronicles her slow yet willing absorption into the Church of Scientology. Her time in the Church, the 1980s, includes the secretive illness and death of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and the ascension of David Miscavige. Hall compellingly reveals what drew her into the religion - what she found intriguing and useful - and how she came to confront its darker sides. 

As a young woman from a literary family striving to forge her own way as an artist, Hall ricochets between the worlds of Shakespeare, avant-garde theater, and soap opera, until her brilliant elder brother, playwright Oakley Hall III, falls from a bridge and suffers permanent brain damage. In the secluded canyons of Hollywood, she finds herself increasingly drawn toward the certainty that Scientology appears to offer.

In this candid and nuanced memoir, Hall recounts her spiritual and artistic journey with a visceral affection for language, delighting in the way words can create a shared world. However, as Hall begins to grasp how purposefully Hubbard has created the unique language of Scientology - in the process isolating and indoctrinating its practitioners - she confronts how language can also be used as a tool of authoritarianism.

Hall is a captivating guide, and this audiobook explores how she has found meaning and purpose within that decade that for so long she thought of as lost; how she has faced the "flunk" represented by those years, and has embraced a way to "start" anew.

©2018 Sands Hall (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

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Interesting look at someone's time in scientology

This story is told in a way that gives a level headed look at scientology. The author is not attempting to create scandal or expose, she is relating her journey.
I myself am not religious and I am interested in how people get in to these sorts of things, I appreciated the authors candid account of how she got in to scientology.
As for the delivery of the content, the authors voice is not at all jarring and the audio book was an easy listen thanks to that.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

strange

totally ruined by dreadful singing.
Still a believer teaching others . This is a cult. Either disclaim it or not.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating journey, wonderfully told

Perhaps my favorite performance on Audible to date, and the material itself is very engaging. An enriching account of mistakes made and lessons learned, although the last section drags

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Good scientology story

Great story, narrated really well. I Just wished she wouldn't sing, it really grated on me.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Hard to keep track of, very untethered

Lots of unnecessary information which clouds the actual story and makes it very hard to follow

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Excellent

I came to this from an interest in scientology, having never previously heard of Sands Hall (or her father and brother). From a family of writers, Sands is an excellent writer, and this book is very much about the interior life. There are no thrilling motorbike escapes from Church of $cientology compounds or harrowing tales of persecution by megalomaniacal dwarves.

Among many other things, the book captured something of the appeal of scientology to 'public' scientologists (those who mainly or exclusively pay for 'services' rather than being bound over for a billion years to serve the organisation).

The book is very well read by the author. I feel it is too long -- the author sometimes seems to want to say everything, rather than stopping when she has said enough. But that's a minor criticism. And don't be put off by the singing, mentioned in another review. There's very little of it, and though not to my personal taste I found it perfectly bearable.

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Informative

loved the book which gives a very good description of what it is like to be part of a place that calls themselves a church.

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Enjoyed this book

Enjoyed this book and how it was written. Interesting insight in to Scientology too. As a Christian I pray you would find the truth of the gospel Ms Hall.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Dull

This book is dull and overcomplicated. The author has clearly the aspirations to write but in the process she leaves the reader uninvolved and even bored. Consequently, she doesnt do a very good job at either entertaining or enlightening the reader, even though her writing skills are above avarage. i have read many book about scientology, and although written in a simple language and with an easy structure, they were much more involving. This book jumps between past and present, which kills my interest. Additionally, from the very beginning of the book, she focuses for ages on the boring details of scientology rules, keeping the pace disappointingly stagnant.

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