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Cartwheels In A Sari: A Memoir Of Growing Up Cult (2009)

by Jayanti Tamm(Favorite Author)

3.29 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0307393925 (ISBN13: 9780307393920)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Crown

review 1: There might be a good number of Sri Chinmoy (or Guru as he's referred to more often in the pages) followers who would frown upon the title of this book (specifically the "cult" part). I didn't know who he was before reading this book and decided to google him. One of the first things to pop up was his obituary in The New York Times, which makes it clear that he had a following and was deeply mourned by his community. The author of this book - Jayanti Tamm - didn't have as many praises for him as the NYT did.As you read through Tamm's journey as one of Guru's highly-regarded disciples (as a child of two devotees, she was deemed as the "Chosen One"), you really do wonder if Sri Chinmoy was a manipulative con artist. She is pretty convincing. (And for the record, I believe ... moreher.)
review 2: This book is the memoir of Jayanti Tamm, a child born into the Sri Chinmoy cult in 1970. Born of parents in an arranged marriage, she was designated by the guru of the cult as the "Chosen One" and raised in the cult as a special child, with special privileges and responsibilities. The book describes the life of a child in a cult, and the ultimate maturation of Jayanti into early womanhood and independence. I read this book in one sitting. It's a relatively easy read, while still containing narrative and detail enough to make it a page-turner. I found the ending rather anti-climactic however. I believe that the author's early life contained so much public exposure that perhaps she didn't want to divulge much about her re-adjustment to a life of her own making, whatever that became. Or perhaps she didn't want trouble from the remnants of the Sri Chinmoy cult? I don't know, and probably will never know. But that's okay; it was a good book and an informative one, since I'm interested in cults, closed societies and religious groups. less

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