This is an intense read, chronicling Jamie Mustard’s childhood inside Scientology and the neglect, poverty, and illiteracy he endured as part of “the movement.” The memoir traces his daring escape, and his rise as an artist who reclaimed meaning and connection. Alongside his personal story, Mustard weaves in the larger arc of his family’s rise from slavery to prominence—and how counterculture movements of the 1960s and 70s unraveled that legacy. It’s a raw, unflinching account of survival that ultimately transforms into a story of resilience and redemption.

Being a big fan of memoirs of cults and high-demand religions, I was intrigued by “Child X” by Jamie Mustard as the author grew up in Scientology. So many of the memoirs out there about Scientology are from those who joined it as adults, a quite different experience. That fact seemed to have been a driving force behind the author’s desire to write this story, and something he acknowledges as a difficulty in the ex-Scientology community today. Jamie Mustard grew up essentially as the son of a single mother, a devoted and high-ranking Scientologist. Being biracial meant that Jamie was also different, especially in the 1970s and 1980s when he was growing up. The author spends a lot of time talking about his Black ancestors and family members, a bit too much time in my opinion as it detracted from his own story. I also want to point out that while the book does delve into Scientology beliefs, the author does not use the terminology of the group. This meant that the book was a bit more confusing for someone like myself who has read other books about Scientology and is familiar with the terminology. I did really enjoy this book, and thought it was really well written. Thank you to BenBella Books and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Having read a number of memoirs of ex-Scientologists, I thought this one sounded particularly interesting given that it is written by a man who was raised in Scientology from birth. His early childhood experiences were horrific, including untreated physical issues, a lack of meaningful education, a lack of adult oversight (let alone love), and he went on to a quirky adolescence of both torturous work and excessive freedom. Though he ultimately managed to escape Scientology and find education and acceptance, he remains haunted by his experiences within it and angered by what was done to him—parts of this book burn with fury., particularly at the fact that he feels there is massive neglect of the needs of the children raised in Scientology, even by ex-Scientologists.

Also running through this book is a larger theme of exploration and condemnation of “othering” and people’s enslavement (and effective enslavement) of other people. Stories of the author’s family history and his reflecting upon his experience are interspersed with stories of Black history overall (he is mixed-race). Scientology, as much of an influence as it was on his life, is almost a minor character in this book, which is less a memoir than a reckoning with difficult truths about human failings. I learned more than i would have expected, which I appreciated, but given that this was billed as a memoir, I wanted a more nuanced version of the personal story that it seemed as if the author was still struggling to tell even to himself.