Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2009, Page 45
care, he says, seemingly to himself, ―I can‘t help but think that it … was a way to hide child
abuse.‖
Lost Boy is important also in providing an added perspective in the dialogue concerning
abuses that have been endured within Mormon and Christian fundamentalist polygamy
because, so far, there are relatively few male voices among this former-member
demographic. And although not a typical ―lost boy‖ (his parents and siblings are a part of
his life and also exiled from the FLDS church), Brent gives readers great insight into the
plight of male children who are expelled or otherwise exiled from their families,
communities, religion, and way of life.
Ultimately, Lost Boy is the story of a young man confronting memories of the sexual abuse
he endured, and bravely standing up to the perpetrator. To have undertaken the task of this
daunting self-examination, and then to have made his story public, Brent Jeffs is to be
commended, as well as for the lawsuit he filed against his Uncle Warren.
Lost Boy is an important work for anyone studying, or wishing to gain further insight into,
the subject of contemporary Mormon fundamentalist polygamy.
Andrea Moore-Emmett
Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult
By Jayanti Tamm, New York, NY: Harmony Books (an imprint of the Crown
Publishing Group, Random House). 2009. ISBN-10: 0307393925 ISBN-13: 978-0-
307-39392-0 (hardcover), $22.99 ($15.63, Amazon.com Canada: $25.99). 304
pages.
The author of this beautifully written, excellent memoir, Jayanti Tamm, was born into and
raised in Sri Chinmoy‘s meditation group in New York City. After Sri Chinmoy ordered her
parents, both new disciples who did not know each other, to marry, Tamm‘s mother became
pregnant, even though Chinmoy had forbidden sexual activity. The guru declared the
resulting child Jayanti to be his ―Chosen One‖, his special disciple, a burden she carried
throughout her life in the group.
This is not a story of the isolation, neglect, starvation, or physical or sexual abuse we have
come to expect from children raised in cults. To me, it is even more interesting because
Tamm vividly chronicles her attempt to make sense of her double life in ―normal,‖ outside
society and her ―privileged‖ status within the closed group, as: a youngster too tired from
traveling every night between her family‘s home in Connecticut and meditation gatherings
in Queens to do her public school homework (where were the teacher or the counselors and
school administrators?) the sensitive child trying to fit in with her outside-world peers the
bright teenager ironically sent to an expensive boarding school in Connecticut, forbidden to
go to college or to attend parties or proms an attractive young woman not allowed to have
a boyfriend or even to mingle with men an adult without a life of her own, attempting to
fulfill her destiny as the ―Chosen One‖ by following Chinmoy‘s dictatorial directives and
decisions for her life.
Tamm tells us how Chinmoy ruthlessly manipulated his followers, and she illustrates this
charlatan‘s cruelty. She details how he sought out celebrities and infiltrated his followers
into the United Nations, although she never clearly explains his motives. Tamm documents
Chinmoy‘s obsessions with claiming superhuman feats such as lifting heavy objects (all, of
course, fraudulent), playing tennis, running, and animals. He forbade his followers to have
pets (in a moving section, Tamm pleads with him to give her permission to have a rabbit,
and he does), but he collects his own illegal zoo in the basement of his home, and one of
Tamm‘s jobs as a child is to clean the animals‘ filth.
care, he says, seemingly to himself, ―I can‘t help but think that it … was a way to hide child
abuse.‖
Lost Boy is important also in providing an added perspective in the dialogue concerning
abuses that have been endured within Mormon and Christian fundamentalist polygamy
because, so far, there are relatively few male voices among this former-member
demographic. And although not a typical ―lost boy‖ (his parents and siblings are a part of
his life and also exiled from the FLDS church), Brent gives readers great insight into the
plight of male children who are expelled or otherwise exiled from their families,
communities, religion, and way of life.
Ultimately, Lost Boy is the story of a young man confronting memories of the sexual abuse
he endured, and bravely standing up to the perpetrator. To have undertaken the task of this
daunting self-examination, and then to have made his story public, Brent Jeffs is to be
commended, as well as for the lawsuit he filed against his Uncle Warren.
Lost Boy is an important work for anyone studying, or wishing to gain further insight into,
the subject of contemporary Mormon fundamentalist polygamy.
Andrea Moore-Emmett
Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult
By Jayanti Tamm, New York, NY: Harmony Books (an imprint of the Crown
Publishing Group, Random House). 2009. ISBN-10: 0307393925 ISBN-13: 978-0-
307-39392-0 (hardcover), $22.99 ($15.63, Amazon.com Canada: $25.99). 304
pages.
The author of this beautifully written, excellent memoir, Jayanti Tamm, was born into and
raised in Sri Chinmoy‘s meditation group in New York City. After Sri Chinmoy ordered her
parents, both new disciples who did not know each other, to marry, Tamm‘s mother became
pregnant, even though Chinmoy had forbidden sexual activity. The guru declared the
resulting child Jayanti to be his ―Chosen One‖, his special disciple, a burden she carried
throughout her life in the group.
This is not a story of the isolation, neglect, starvation, or physical or sexual abuse we have
come to expect from children raised in cults. To me, it is even more interesting because
Tamm vividly chronicles her attempt to make sense of her double life in ―normal,‖ outside
society and her ―privileged‖ status within the closed group, as: a youngster too tired from
traveling every night between her family‘s home in Connecticut and meditation gatherings
in Queens to do her public school homework (where were the teacher or the counselors and
school administrators?) the sensitive child trying to fit in with her outside-world peers the
bright teenager ironically sent to an expensive boarding school in Connecticut, forbidden to
go to college or to attend parties or proms an attractive young woman not allowed to have
a boyfriend or even to mingle with men an adult without a life of her own, attempting to
fulfill her destiny as the ―Chosen One‖ by following Chinmoy‘s dictatorial directives and
decisions for her life.
Tamm tells us how Chinmoy ruthlessly manipulated his followers, and she illustrates this
charlatan‘s cruelty. She details how he sought out celebrities and infiltrated his followers
into the United Nations, although she never clearly explains his motives. Tamm documents
Chinmoy‘s obsessions with claiming superhuman feats such as lifting heavy objects (all, of
course, fraudulent), playing tennis, running, and animals. He forbade his followers to have
pets (in a moving section, Tamm pleads with him to give her permission to have a rabbit,
and he does), but he collects his own illegal zoo in the basement of his home, and one of
Tamm‘s jobs as a child is to clean the animals‘ filth.
