Double Vision: A Travelogue of Recovery from Ritual Abuse
Author: Anna Richardson
List Price: $16.95
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ISBN: 0962387975
Publisher: Trilogy Books (March, 1997)
Sales Rank: 263,979
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Double Vision's quest
This is a compassionate and brave book about a woman's journey to heal from the incest and ritual abuse she experienced as a child and young adult. Stylistically, the writing is beautiful in a way that illuminates yet does not mask the brutality of her past experiences. This is important because the eloquence of her language captures that which is most critical to a survivor's work: the dignity and heart of the spirit and a refusal to surrender to monsters under the bed and shadows in the night. Instead, the author dances with her demons and her dreams in a way that I find touching and haunting. My praise is unapologetically lauditory, because I can honestly say that this book has touched me more deeply than probably any other I have read about healing from sexual abuse and trauma, and one that all of us on a journey to heal can benefit from. The author puts responsiblity where it belongs (on those who abused her) yet takes self-responsibilty for her own healing quest. If you are a survivor of severe sexual or ritual abuse, or someone who wants to understand a survivor, as well as understand the complexity of the "dual" worlds of order and chaos in a family where abuse occurs, you will surely find something in this book which can feed and fuel heart, mind, and self.
Rating: 5 out of 5
A painful but essential book
As a ritual abuse survivor, I found this book very helpful. The reading is painful at times but left me feeling far less alone and "different." This book was an important step in my healing and in helping my friends understand my experience. I am very grateful for its existence and the author's bravery and honesty.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Disbelief
I'm a ritual abuse survivor, and I felt very uncomfortable as I read this book. I felt that there truly was a great deal of 'leading' from the woman's minister, and that her memories were often the result of other people's experiences. I'm in a difficult position as a survivor myself; wondering if I've turned into a traitor -- or worse a part of the "backlash" everybody else is talking about.I think what got me the most about this book was the lack of information. She simply didn't know enough of the reasons for her abuse -- a strange and unbelievable fact for any sra survivor. I know that the cult was determined to instruct me in their ways. Out of everything I know, I know with exquisite detail and by rote precisely why they did what they did. I know their beliefs, I know their motivations, I know the specifics. It has never been otherwise. I have never sat and wondered "why" they did what they did -- but rather "how could they" and "why did they do this to me"?
I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for this -- partially because I'm battling disbelief, and partially because I'm a fellow survivor who should "know better" than to doubt another.
And I suppose that's okay, too. Because in the end, I know my story, I know what happened to me, and I know that I don't have to believe other people's story simply because I'm a nice person.
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