Lake of Fire

by Kate Gale, Mark Cull (Photographer)

In the Sixties, the Flower Children were making love not war, the Hippies were dropping acid and protesting Vietnam and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was demanding civil rights. Cults, communes and live-ins sprang up around the country. One charismatic leader started a cult in New England that continues to this day. This shocking true story tells of one girl's life in that cult. Brought there as a three year old, cut off from all contact with the outside world, the young Andie struggles to survive in a world that is both claustrophobic and frightening. In the wake of Jonestown, Waco and Heaven's Gate, we see a closeup view of life in a cult and a young girl's escape from one brave new world to another.

252 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2000

About the author

Dr. Kate Gale is managing editor of Red Hen Press, editor of the Los Angeles Review, and president of the American Composers Forum, LA. She was the 2005-2006 president of PEN USA. She is author of five books of poetry: her most recent, Mating Season, from Tupelo Press; a novel, Lake of Fire; and Rio de Sangre, a libretto for an opera with composer Don Davis. Her most recent projects include a co-written libretto, Paradises Lost with Ursula K. LeGuin and composer Stephen Taylor, and a libretto adapted from Kindred by Octavia Butler with composer Billy Childs. Her new poetry collection, Goldilocks Zone, will be released by University of New Mexico Press in February 2014. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children.

Reviews

[Jesse English · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't write many reviews for books, but when it's a book that you grew up fearing; grew up being told you should never read, one has to write something.

The Review
So why only 3 stars?

This might not be a popular opinion, but I wasn't a huge fan of how this book was written. Maybe Kate was trying to push the angle of how her emotions were being controlled/governed by those in charge, but to me as the reader and especially as someone who grew up at the Farm, I had a hard time connecting with the emotional side of her struggles.

I don't plan to use this review to talk about my own experiences as I still have family and friends living there and have no desire to drag anyone through the mud, but the most long-lasting effects I've had to work through/still am working through are from the emotional side of the things that happened during my childhood. For example, I grew up intimately knowing the feeling of never being able to please those in charge. Of constantly being punished for somehow leading the other kids "astray". Of never being good enough no matter how hard I tried, prayed, or repented.

For me, looking back, there is this looming darkness; this ominous cloud of guilt that permeates many a memory from my childhood. For years I desperately wanted to leave, but couldn't bring myself to walk away - to sever all connections with my friends and family. I felt trapped, both mentally and physically - like in a dream when you are trying to run from danger, but your legs stop working and you're stuck in place.

Reading Kate's story, I didn't get that same sense of foreboding, of being frozen in that dark, guilt-laden state. Maybe that's how she intended the book to be written. Or maybe what she went through affected her differently. Either way, I'm glad I got to read her story and I hope writing it has helped her heal.

Final Thoughts
...for those still reading, especially to those of us who grew up there.

It was scary writing what I have because I know folks still living there will read this - folks I still care about and don't intend to throw shade at. I have been back to visit several times over the past years and, other than maybe the first or second time where some folks didn't seem to know how to act around me, I've experienced a warm welcome. Things have changed a LOT since leaving and I've had several people reach out asking for forgiveness for how they treated me throughout my childhood. This has meant more than I can express in simple words. There is still much healing to be done, but forgiveness has gone a long way to closing old wounds.

I'm guessing there are many who haven't had this opportunity to face those from your past, and maybe you never wanted to, but if you did and that opportunity never arose, I'm deeply sorry. I only hope you've had the chance to find healing and peace some other way.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually give this book 3 1/2 stars, but don't know how to execute a half star on Goodreads. ;-) Poet, author, librettist, and founder/editor of Red Hen Press, Kate Gale gives us an inside look at her experiences growing up in an extremist Christian cult, from age three into her teen years.

Cut off from all contact with the outside world and even from her mother (who, with her two young daughters, left Kate's father and joined the cult), young Kate (called Andie in the book) endured beatings, verbal and psychological abuse, child labor, and the lack of familial love and affection. At the age of eighteen she was cast out of the commune when her sister turned her in for speaking idle words. After years of struggle and therapy, Andie manages to come to terms with much of the pain and confusion of her past and to build a new, remarkable life for herself.

The first 150 pages of the book sometimes seem to move slowly--probably due to the drudgery and sameness of the daily routines of the commune. The last third of the book has momentum as Andie begins to learn the good and bad of the outside world and how to cope and function within it. Her grit and determination to heal and succeed move and inspire the reader. Each chapter ends with a poignant, lovely poem by this gifted woman.

[Laura Castle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast read kina like not being able to look away from a car wreck...