What do you think?
Rate this book
To the Moon and Back: A Childhood Under the Influence
The best seats Lisa Kohn ever had at Madison Square Garden were at her mother’s wedding, and the best cocaine she ever had was from her father’s friend, the judge.
Lisa was raised as a “Moonie”—a member of the Unification Church, founded by self-appointed Messiah, Reverend Sun Myung Moon. As a child, she knew the ecstatic comfort of inclusion in a cult and as a teenager the torment of rebelling against it. As an adult, Lisa struggled to break free from the hold of abuse—battling her own addictions and inner-demons and searching her soul for a sense of self-worth. Told with spirited candor, TO THE MOON AND BACK reveals how one can leave behind such absurdity and horror and create a life of intention and joy. This is the fascinating tale of a story rarely told in its full complexity.
Lisa was raised as a “Moonie”—a member of the Unification Church, founded by self-appointed Messiah, Reverend Sun Myung Moon. As a child, she knew the ecstatic comfort of inclusion in a cult and as a teenager the torment of rebelling against it. As an adult, Lisa struggled to break free from the hold of abuse—battling her own addictions and inner-demons and searching her soul for a sense of self-worth. Told with spirited candor, TO THE MOON AND BACK reveals how one can leave behind such absurdity and horror and create a life of intention and joy. This is the fascinating tale of a story rarely told in its full complexity.
242 pages, Paperback
First published September 18, 2018
88 people are currently reading
799 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Kohn
4 books18 followersPeople ask me where I’m from and while I will mention the town in which I now reside, I always quickly add that I’m “from” New York City. Truthfully I was born in New Jersey and lived mostly there for the first twelve years of my life, but New York City is where my heart and identity reside. I am a New Yorker. An East Villager. From before it was cool – when it was just seedy and scary. When there was “no life above 14th Street” and the men’s shelter was around the corner on one side, and the Hells Angels’ world headquarters around the corner on the other.
I now live in Wayne, PA with my husband of nearly twenty years and my two (if I do say so myself) beautiful children. My friends here tease me because, city kid that I am, I’m afraid of the boogeyman when I walk down the street in the dark – even if it’s only 7pm on a winter evening. Even though the Hells Angels never really scared me!
I own a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm, and spend much of my time speaking, writing, teaching, and presenting my ideas and approaches to life and to business. Ideas that are a compilation of what I’ve learned along the journey through my bizarre and “way out” childhood, and leadership best practices learned in my many years in business and my MBA.
lisa -kitchenPeople still have different reactions when they hear all that happened to and around me. A few years ago new neighbors moved in two doors down. I quickly became fast friends with the mom. One night we were out to dinner and facts about my past came out. She looked at me, from across the table, and exclaimed, “But you seem so normal!” I guess I am, whatever normal means. My childhood was anything but. It was quite a path from there to here, and a long journey to move beyond all the things that held me captive for many years. It’s a weird story. But it’s true.
I now live in Wayne, PA with my husband of nearly twenty years and my two (if I do say so myself) beautiful children. My friends here tease me because, city kid that I am, I’m afraid of the boogeyman when I walk down the street in the dark – even if it’s only 7pm on a winter evening. Even though the Hells Angels never really scared me!
I own a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm, and spend much of my time speaking, writing, teaching, and presenting my ideas and approaches to life and to business. Ideas that are a compilation of what I’ve learned along the journey through my bizarre and “way out” childhood, and leadership best practices learned in my many years in business and my MBA.
lisa -kitchenPeople still have different reactions when they hear all that happened to and around me. A few years ago new neighbors moved in two doors down. I quickly became fast friends with the mom. One night we were out to dinner and facts about my past came out. She looked at me, from across the table, and exclaimed, “But you seem so normal!” I guess I am, whatever normal means. My childhood was anything but. It was quite a path from there to here, and a long journey to move beyond all the things that held me captive for many years. It’s a weird story. But it’s true.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
October 23, 2019
My special interest in women’s religious memoirs led me to list this among my most anticipated titles of 2018. I had it on my wish list for quite a while and then, when I saw it available for a bargain price online, snapped it up for myself. Lisa Kohn grew up in the New York City environs, the child of hippie parents she called Mimi and Danny rather than Mom and Dad. After their parents divorced, she and her brother lived in New Jersey with their mother and went into the City to visit their father, who was very lax about things like drugs. By the time Kohn was 10, her mother had gotten caught up in Reverend Moon’s Unification Church.
I knew next to nothing about the “Moonies,” so I found it fascinating to learn about this cult led by a South Korean reverend who let it be assumed that he was the new incarnation of Jesus Christ and the flourishing of his family on Earth would usher in God’s Kingdom. The Church became Kohn’s whole life until internal questioning set in during high school, and by the time she went to college she was adrift and into drugs instead. The book recreates scenes and dialogue well, but I found myself losing interest once the cult itself stopped being the main focus.
Readalikes: Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs and In the Days of Rain by Rebecca Stott
I knew next to nothing about the “Moonies,” so I found it fascinating to learn about this cult led by a South Korean reverend who let it be assumed that he was the new incarnation of Jesus Christ and the flourishing of his family on Earth would usher in God’s Kingdom. The Church became Kohn’s whole life until internal questioning set in during high school, and by the time she went to college she was adrift and into drugs instead. The book recreates scenes and dialogue well, but I found myself losing interest once the cult itself stopped being the main focus.
Readalikes: Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs and In the Days of Rain by Rebecca Stott
November 13, 2018
As an ex-member of the Unification Church, I am so grateful to Lisa for sharing the story of her struggle for freedom, sanity, forgiveness, and compassion. It takes a lot of courage to bare one’s soul to the public. She’s done a fine job of guiding the reader through her painful but rewarding process. When I finished reading it, I felt relieved of a burden I didn’t even realize I was carrying: feeling alone with my own story of leaving the church. This book has earned a permanent place on my bookshelf and in my heart. Thank you, Lisa!
February 21, 2024
This is not a cult horror story about the ugly underbelly of the Moonies, as would be expected because of the popularized characterization of the Moonies in the press.
Rather, the story told by the author, who was born to parents much too young to take seriously the responsibilities of parenthood, is one centered in her confronting very traumatic experiences, from a very young age, in her broken home.
The author's mother joined the Moonies as a "seeker of the spiritual" and dragged the author and her brother to the Moonies with her.
This is a tale of the Moonies as a source of stability for children (the author and her brother) in a chaotic home due to an unstructured home life (weed? Why not. Harder to drugs? Sure, go ahead. Stay out all night on the streets of Manhattan? Feel free). The Moonies set behavioral standards high (relatively) and emphasized a life free of indiscriminate sex and wild drug use.
Ironically, the Moonie upbringing itself (while more stable than the author's home life) left its own unique lifelong traumas to scar the psyche of the author . . .
Essentially, this is a story of the trauma of childhood, and the adult quest of the former child to heal the fractured, traumatized inner self, to make it whole again, and to realize that any trauma experienced by a child is NOT the fault of the child.
Rather, childhood trauma is due to the behavior of, and decisions made by, the "grown-ups" responsible for the upbringing of the child. No adult is off the hook -- not mom, not dad, not the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, not the adult members of the Moonie Church, no one.
It is a hell of a job to figure out the past, drop the traumatic baggage others dropped on you to hold, and to incorporate both the good and the bad of the past into the present, come to terms with it all, and -- ultimately -- to allow for personal growth and hope for a better future, a new start.
I liked this book. It was honest. It was real. And the Moonies did not come off as badly as they could have. The Moonies were "humanized." Really really really an impressive snapshot of an eventually sane life born of wildly outrageous traumatic situations.
4 Stars
Rather, the story told by the author, who was born to parents much too young to take seriously the responsibilities of parenthood, is one centered in her confronting very traumatic experiences, from a very young age, in her broken home.
The author's mother joined the Moonies as a "seeker of the spiritual" and dragged the author and her brother to the Moonies with her.
This is a tale of the Moonies as a source of stability for children (the author and her brother) in a chaotic home due to an unstructured home life (weed? Why not. Harder to drugs? Sure, go ahead. Stay out all night on the streets of Manhattan? Feel free). The Moonies set behavioral standards high (relatively) and emphasized a life free of indiscriminate sex and wild drug use.
Ironically, the Moonie upbringing itself (while more stable than the author's home life) left its own unique lifelong traumas to scar the psyche of the author . . .
Essentially, this is a story of the trauma of childhood, and the adult quest of the former child to heal the fractured, traumatized inner self, to make it whole again, and to realize that any trauma experienced by a child is NOT the fault of the child.
Rather, childhood trauma is due to the behavior of, and decisions made by, the "grown-ups" responsible for the upbringing of the child. No adult is off the hook -- not mom, not dad, not the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, not the adult members of the Moonie Church, no one.
It is a hell of a job to figure out the past, drop the traumatic baggage others dropped on you to hold, and to incorporate both the good and the bad of the past into the present, come to terms with it all, and -- ultimately -- to allow for personal growth and hope for a better future, a new start.
I liked this book. It was honest. It was real. And the Moonies did not come off as badly as they could have. The Moonies were "humanized." Really really really an impressive snapshot of an eventually sane life born of wildly outrageous traumatic situations.
4 Stars
November 4, 2018
I liked this book because it shows the negative undertones of not only being in a cult, but part of any religion that prevents the asking of questions, and ruling by fear. Lisa shows us the struggle of breaking away from such control.
I relate to those feelings and the fear of being “bad” of not pleasing God. I recall such thoughts attending Lutheran church with my family.
But I was a curious child, and something inside me just couldn’t keep believing it at face value. Once the questions and search for answers began, it was the end of believing in that kind of a god.
The differences between Lisa and me as children made it hard at times connecting to her story. I understand the adult Lisa much better, easily relating to the impact her childhood experiences had on her adult relationships.
Lisa and I were opposites in other ways. My mother suffocated me. I longed for freedom. Lisa in a sense had total freedom. But what we share is that feeling of abandonment, of a mother not there for us.
In some sense, no matter what we have we often long for something else. I guess what I’m trying to say is, we all end up with wounds from our childhood, and it’s what we do with those wounds as adults that matters most.
I commend Lisa on her brave journey of dealing and healing those wounds. Our childhood has an impact on our adult life and that is an important message.
Since I write memoir, I understand how difficult it is to open yourself up, spread your hopes, dreams, pain on paper for all to see.
But the more we share this inner world, the more we help others know that they are not alone. That they can heal from their past.
This book allows us to question, think, feel, and connect not only with Lisa’s life, but with our own, and that we can make peace with our past.
I relate to those feelings and the fear of being “bad” of not pleasing God. I recall such thoughts attending Lutheran church with my family.
But I was a curious child, and something inside me just couldn’t keep believing it at face value. Once the questions and search for answers began, it was the end of believing in that kind of a god.
The differences between Lisa and me as children made it hard at times connecting to her story. I understand the adult Lisa much better, easily relating to the impact her childhood experiences had on her adult relationships.
Lisa and I were opposites in other ways. My mother suffocated me. I longed for freedom. Lisa in a sense had total freedom. But what we share is that feeling of abandonment, of a mother not there for us.
In some sense, no matter what we have we often long for something else. I guess what I’m trying to say is, we all end up with wounds from our childhood, and it’s what we do with those wounds as adults that matters most.
I commend Lisa on her brave journey of dealing and healing those wounds. Our childhood has an impact on our adult life and that is an important message.
Since I write memoir, I understand how difficult it is to open yourself up, spread your hopes, dreams, pain on paper for all to see.
But the more we share this inner world, the more we help others know that they are not alone. That they can heal from their past.
This book allows us to question, think, feel, and connect not only with Lisa’s life, but with our own, and that we can make peace with our past.
May 9, 2018
What a read. An inside look at the moonies the cult we heard about ages ago and thought was to far out to be real. Well, I guess it’s real and far out but not in a good way. This was so well written it was hard to put down and hard to believe.
February 13, 2020
While this narrative certainly makes for an interesting story it seems almost manically nostalgic at times in the author’s unconscious longing for her past. Instances where she refers to her former, brain-washed life as pleasant and concludes with an indication that she only feels love towards the source of her earlier imprisonment- the struggle on which she seeks to build this narrative.
Am almost perplexed as to why the author didn’t include any hints of personal reflection or objective criticism towards family decisions but instead seems to passively embrace an almost sheepish attitude of radical acceptance. A sort of acceptance that would be entirely unhelpful in efforts directed towards cult deprogramming.
Am almost perplexed as to why the author didn’t include any hints of personal reflection or objective criticism towards family decisions but instead seems to passively embrace an almost sheepish attitude of radical acceptance. A sort of acceptance that would be entirely unhelpful in efforts directed towards cult deprogramming.
November 5, 2018
I can vouch for the trauma, since I was a member of the group too. Nice intimate account of an experience that many will not experience, but that everyone can learn from. Religious extremism is dangerous - just look at the terrible cults Moon's children are forming (worshiping with assault rifles, for instance).
May 29, 2018
via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
'At first I had no idea that anything was wrong with my childhood.'
I have a vague memory as a very young child and a newscast of a lot of people marrying one another (strangers to each other) in Madison Square Garden, and my parents mumbling something about it being ‘crazy’. I was a kid, dazzled by the many brides so when reading this memoir about the Unification Church (which some still call the Moonies and consider a cult) it clicked that this is the group from that long ago newscast. People often talk of Bohemian childhoods, but Lisa’s far surpasses many ‘hippie’ stories, her parents were free spirits that ‘stuck out’ even among those of their generation. Sure, she watched Jefferson Airplane in central park but her childhood was anything but carefree and charmed. “Mimi had tried on religions and movements like some women try on clothes.” Mimi, her mother, falls under the spell of Father ( Reverend Moon)- not her real father Danny (whom isn’t one for the label father anyway) when hearing him speak she found her purpose in life. Her children are dragged along by her passion for the religion.
When her parents first met, her mother was a straight A student, daughter of a judge while her father, Danny was ‘the beatnik son of socialist intellectualists’. Rushing headfirst into marriage the summer they were out of highschool, having children, her father attending college for a time, their marriage didn’t last long and her parents divorced. Danny moved to New York while Lisa, her mother Mimi and brother Robbie lived in New Jersey. Her father, a bartender and partaker of serious drugs had always been ‘anti-establishment’, and certainly isn’t able to provide stability anymore than her mother who is swallowed by the Church. A mother who once made the children suffer through micro-biotic diets, sugar-free living, a tv-less existence, an abusive boyfriend and whatever new fad caught her attention now pushes her children away to devote her entire being to the cause of Reverend Moon. While her mother needed to find truth and meaning, and their father came and went with the wind, Lisa and her brother relied on themselves confused by the differences in their parents lifestyles, slowly becoming aware just how strange their lives, their parents were in comparison to their peers.
“These were the beliefs that wrapped themselves like creeping vines around my mind as I grew up- during my most formative preadolescent and adolescent years- always clasping tighter and holding my life, my soul, and my sense of self together.” Lisa becomes just as enraptured as her mother, she learns to share the love and sell the ideas of the church on strangers, and friends alike. Love-bombing people with the hopes they will join, not exactly appealing to fellow students. Lisa and her brother Robbie fall in love with the positive energy and the always smiling fellow moonies. It isn’t long before they become close to the ‘True Children’, top of the hierarchy. The church becomes more their ‘real life’ than school and home, soon their mother is no longer living with them, her devotion solely to the church- her ‘calling’. Living with their grandfather “Pop”, she begins to shoulder adult responsibilities. Rather than feeling anger towards her mom, she just assures herself that it’s an important sacrifice her mother has to make, and Lisa should feel proud. Easier said than done.
When her Pop is admitted to a psych hospital it is Danny’s turn to house Lisa and her brother. Danny’s lifestyle is loud, carefree, filled with late hours, crazy wild friends and there is little chance of him putting his partying ways and drug abuse aside. He is as passionate about coccaine as her mother is about Reverend Moon and his teachings. Living with their mother, not an option, Lisa is unwanted. Her ‘puritanical’ church beliefs begin to collide with her peers, who are more interested in skipping school and experimenting with drugs, sex, all things forbidden youth loves to flirt with. Danny’s way of life too is antithesis to the Church of Unification’s values, exposing his children to everything the church reviles.
As time goes on, her mother moves often and seems to drift further from her children. As Lisa comes of age, she becomes a groupie, discovers she and her brother are banished (considered impure) for a time, and begins to question this church she once felt devoted to with all her being. Then there is Stuart, and first love. Her life is in turmoil -just what does she believe in? Church rules change, now she can’t even be with True Children, due to Reverend Moon’s latest decree, because people like her are a ‘satanic influence’. She begins to experience new forbidden things away from the church. Drinking, dancing, parties, boys and eventually Cornel. She begins to crack. It takes years, but she begins to emerge from her difficult childhood and the influence of both her parents and the church. While suffering with an eating disorder she proves even her therapist wrong with her pregnancy, already trying her best to be a better mother than her own. Finding that with her first-born child, old fears rise. A life spent distancing herself from her past involvement with the church comes full circle in the last chapter, Reunion.
I was thinking about the whole ‘cult/church’ aspect and thought ‘really families themselves are a little like cults’. What family is without its strange habits or demands? What family doesn’t warp the mind a little of each member? Now add an actual cult (outside influences) to your own family chaos and you can imagine Lisa’s struggle. If we spend our adulthood recovering from our families and childhood, how does one manage to recover from life in an actual cult? How does a woman learn to be a solid, present mother and wife?
This is a first person account of a life inside a cult, or church, depending on who you ask! Facing pain, rejection, abandonment, the confusing chaos of two parents who are equally destructive forces in her childhood, Lisa Koon somehow creates a stable, healthy beautiful life out of the ashes of her childhood.
Publication Date: September 18, 2018
Heliotrope Books
'At first I had no idea that anything was wrong with my childhood.'
I have a vague memory as a very young child and a newscast of a lot of people marrying one another (strangers to each other) in Madison Square Garden, and my parents mumbling something about it being ‘crazy’. I was a kid, dazzled by the many brides so when reading this memoir about the Unification Church (which some still call the Moonies and consider a cult) it clicked that this is the group from that long ago newscast. People often talk of Bohemian childhoods, but Lisa’s far surpasses many ‘hippie’ stories, her parents were free spirits that ‘stuck out’ even among those of their generation. Sure, she watched Jefferson Airplane in central park but her childhood was anything but carefree and charmed. “Mimi had tried on religions and movements like some women try on clothes.” Mimi, her mother, falls under the spell of Father ( Reverend Moon)- not her real father Danny (whom isn’t one for the label father anyway) when hearing him speak she found her purpose in life. Her children are dragged along by her passion for the religion.
When her parents first met, her mother was a straight A student, daughter of a judge while her father, Danny was ‘the beatnik son of socialist intellectualists’. Rushing headfirst into marriage the summer they were out of highschool, having children, her father attending college for a time, their marriage didn’t last long and her parents divorced. Danny moved to New York while Lisa, her mother Mimi and brother Robbie lived in New Jersey. Her father, a bartender and partaker of serious drugs had always been ‘anti-establishment’, and certainly isn’t able to provide stability anymore than her mother who is swallowed by the Church. A mother who once made the children suffer through micro-biotic diets, sugar-free living, a tv-less existence, an abusive boyfriend and whatever new fad caught her attention now pushes her children away to devote her entire being to the cause of Reverend Moon. While her mother needed to find truth and meaning, and their father came and went with the wind, Lisa and her brother relied on themselves confused by the differences in their parents lifestyles, slowly becoming aware just how strange their lives, their parents were in comparison to their peers.
“These were the beliefs that wrapped themselves like creeping vines around my mind as I grew up- during my most formative preadolescent and adolescent years- always clasping tighter and holding my life, my soul, and my sense of self together.” Lisa becomes just as enraptured as her mother, she learns to share the love and sell the ideas of the church on strangers, and friends alike. Love-bombing people with the hopes they will join, not exactly appealing to fellow students. Lisa and her brother Robbie fall in love with the positive energy and the always smiling fellow moonies. It isn’t long before they become close to the ‘True Children’, top of the hierarchy. The church becomes more their ‘real life’ than school and home, soon their mother is no longer living with them, her devotion solely to the church- her ‘calling’. Living with their grandfather “Pop”, she begins to shoulder adult responsibilities. Rather than feeling anger towards her mom, she just assures herself that it’s an important sacrifice her mother has to make, and Lisa should feel proud. Easier said than done.
When her Pop is admitted to a psych hospital it is Danny’s turn to house Lisa and her brother. Danny’s lifestyle is loud, carefree, filled with late hours, crazy wild friends and there is little chance of him putting his partying ways and drug abuse aside. He is as passionate about coccaine as her mother is about Reverend Moon and his teachings. Living with their mother, not an option, Lisa is unwanted. Her ‘puritanical’ church beliefs begin to collide with her peers, who are more interested in skipping school and experimenting with drugs, sex, all things forbidden youth loves to flirt with. Danny’s way of life too is antithesis to the Church of Unification’s values, exposing his children to everything the church reviles.
As time goes on, her mother moves often and seems to drift further from her children. As Lisa comes of age, she becomes a groupie, discovers she and her brother are banished (considered impure) for a time, and begins to question this church she once felt devoted to with all her being. Then there is Stuart, and first love. Her life is in turmoil -just what does she believe in? Church rules change, now she can’t even be with True Children, due to Reverend Moon’s latest decree, because people like her are a ‘satanic influence’. She begins to experience new forbidden things away from the church. Drinking, dancing, parties, boys and eventually Cornel. She begins to crack. It takes years, but she begins to emerge from her difficult childhood and the influence of both her parents and the church. While suffering with an eating disorder she proves even her therapist wrong with her pregnancy, already trying her best to be a better mother than her own. Finding that with her first-born child, old fears rise. A life spent distancing herself from her past involvement with the church comes full circle in the last chapter, Reunion.
I was thinking about the whole ‘cult/church’ aspect and thought ‘really families themselves are a little like cults’. What family is without its strange habits or demands? What family doesn’t warp the mind a little of each member? Now add an actual cult (outside influences) to your own family chaos and you can imagine Lisa’s struggle. If we spend our adulthood recovering from our families and childhood, how does one manage to recover from life in an actual cult? How does a woman learn to be a solid, present mother and wife?
This is a first person account of a life inside a cult, or church, depending on who you ask! Facing pain, rejection, abandonment, the confusing chaos of two parents who are equally destructive forces in her childhood, Lisa Koon somehow creates a stable, healthy beautiful life out of the ashes of her childhood.
Publication Date: September 18, 2018
Heliotrope Books
August 8, 2018
In this solid, brutally honest memoir by a former member of the Unification Church, popularly known as the Moonies, Lisa Kohn shares the story of her tumultuous youth, growing up in the 1980s and 90s among the church's inner circle, the so-called Messiah, Sun Myung Moon, and his family.
When Kohn was a little girl, her young mother dabbled in various cults and philosophies in search of meaning and simple answers. What she found within the Unification Church clicked and she soon brought Lisa and her brother into the fold where they stayed until they eventually broke away in young adulthood. To complicate matters further, Lisa's father was a hard drinking and drugging bartender who thought nothing of encouraging his 12-year-old son to smoke pot or allowing his lecherous buddies to make off-color comments about his pubescent daughter .
To the Moon and Back delivered both more and less than I expected. Lisa's story is first and foremost one of parental abuse and emotional survival. Her mother essentially abandoned the children and the home provided by their father was marginal at best. Although Kohn describes members' cultish devotion to Moon, the caste-like system among members, and the bizarre group marriage ceremonies that made headlines back in the day, the exposé of the Moonies I was expecting never really materialized, whether because the culture of the church is more benign than my own prejudices led me to believe or because Kohn still harbors considerable affection for the community that, to some degree, nurtured her during her childhood.
Overall, I found Kohn's book about her unusual (to say the least!) and heartbreaking childhood and coming-of-age engaging and compelling. I recommend it to anyone who likes reading about overcoming abuse and adversity or is curious about life among the Moonies.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
When Kohn was a little girl, her young mother dabbled in various cults and philosophies in search of meaning and simple answers. What she found within the Unification Church clicked and she soon brought Lisa and her brother into the fold where they stayed until they eventually broke away in young adulthood. To complicate matters further, Lisa's father was a hard drinking and drugging bartender who thought nothing of encouraging his 12-year-old son to smoke pot or allowing his lecherous buddies to make off-color comments about his pubescent daughter .
To the Moon and Back delivered both more and less than I expected. Lisa's story is first and foremost one of parental abuse and emotional survival. Her mother essentially abandoned the children and the home provided by their father was marginal at best. Although Kohn describes members' cultish devotion to Moon, the caste-like system among members, and the bizarre group marriage ceremonies that made headlines back in the day, the exposé of the Moonies I was expecting never really materialized, whether because the culture of the church is more benign than my own prejudices led me to believe or because Kohn still harbors considerable affection for the community that, to some degree, nurtured her during her childhood.
Overall, I found Kohn's book about her unusual (to say the least!) and heartbreaking childhood and coming-of-age engaging and compelling. I recommend it to anyone who likes reading about overcoming abuse and adversity or is curious about life among the Moonies.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 21, 2018
A Story of Courage and Love
Lisa Kohn wanted two things in her childhood, to love God and to be with her mother. When her mother chose God instead of Lisa and her brother, the conflict begins, but by this time Lisa is a whole-hearted believer in “The Principle”. Lisa’s desire to do the right thing, her confusion as the adults in her life take advantage of her, and her struggle for self confidence and self love make this one hell of a compelling story. Her struggle with abuse, addiction, and abandonment is intense and her recovery is inspirational.
Lisa Kohn wanted two things in her childhood, to love God and to be with her mother. When her mother chose God instead of Lisa and her brother, the conflict begins, but by this time Lisa is a whole-hearted believer in “The Principle”. Lisa’s desire to do the right thing, her confusion as the adults in her life take advantage of her, and her struggle for self confidence and self love make this one hell of a compelling story. Her struggle with abuse, addiction, and abandonment is intense and her recovery is inspirational.
February 10, 2019
Lisa Kohn's childhood was spent in the shadow of the Moonies when her mother joined the cult and abandoned her children, leaving them to the tender mercies of their alcoholic father. The author's writing is strongest when describing these painful early years away from her mother, and how her need for love led her to embrace the Moonies as an alternative source. However, Lisa Kohn was only on the periphery of the cult, never fully drawn in, and there is little real insight into its workings - in fact the Moonies come across as fairly benign. As she grows up and learns to think for herself there is little left to say, other than to hammer home the turmoil in her mind about breaking away, and the book degenerates into a description of her relationships with men. None of this is particularly interesting or well done, added to which there are some dubious passages of dialogue which must be semi-fictional unless the author has a photographic memory. I skipped over most of the second half of the book for these reasons, but the beginning remains troubling and memorable, and distinguished by some fine writing.
May 23, 2019
Real and heartfelt
Lisa shares her childhood with an unbelievable honesty. Events she experienced are horrible to read but share with a calm factual manner. My heart ached for Lisa as a child and it soared when I read about the amazing woman, mother and wife she becomes. The book is fascinating and a wonderful read.
Lisa shares her childhood with an unbelievable honesty. Events she experienced are horrible to read but share with a calm factual manner. My heart ached for Lisa as a child and it soared when I read about the amazing woman, mother and wife she becomes. The book is fascinating and a wonderful read.
August 31, 2019
Very interesting non-fiction read about a woman who grew up during the seventies as part of the Moonies religious group. Fans of The Glass Castle will enjoy this book. I had no idea about the Moonies and this was an interesting insight into this religious group. Thank you to the author for the free book.
January 14, 2024
Dang. Super interesting and well written.
August 10, 2018
If you have ever felt as if you don’t belong, this book is for you.
If you have ever felt as if you have to twist and turn to get your parents’ attention, this book is for you.
If you have struggled with self-destructive behavior in an effort to mitigate emotional pain, this book is for you.
Lisa Kohn’s memoir about growing up in Reverend Moon’s Unification Church startles with its clear descriptions of an unusual life, but it is her ability to dial down to the underlying confusion and emotion of a child that makes her story universal. We see her world through the narrator’s eyes, and so it doesn’t seem so radical or extreme. As Kohn writes, “When it’s all you know, it’s all you know.”
Torn between a mother who abandoned her children for religion and a father who was more committed to drugs than to parenting, Kohn’s memoir is a story of a girl and her brother left to pretty much raise themselves:
“My brother says that we were raised by wolves. I don’t always agree with him, but I don’t have a more accurate description of our upbringing. A friend of my dad’s pointed out that wolves raise their young with more structure than our parents gave us.”
Kohn was forced to balance her desire to be pure and obedient with the need to fit in at high school in the 1970s—a complicated dance that inevitably led to missteps and perpetual guilt. Yet she kept going. Kohn kept moving forward, even when she didn’t want to, even when she didn’t know which way to go. She kept gaining more clarity, more insight. She managed to take the fragile, cracked shards of her life and turn them into something beautiful. To me, this is why I read memoir, both to find the universal threads that weave through us all, and for that moment of hope and redemption. I found plenty of both in To The Moon and Back.
If you have ever felt as if you have to twist and turn to get your parents’ attention, this book is for you.
If you have struggled with self-destructive behavior in an effort to mitigate emotional pain, this book is for you.
Lisa Kohn’s memoir about growing up in Reverend Moon’s Unification Church startles with its clear descriptions of an unusual life, but it is her ability to dial down to the underlying confusion and emotion of a child that makes her story universal. We see her world through the narrator’s eyes, and so it doesn’t seem so radical or extreme. As Kohn writes, “When it’s all you know, it’s all you know.”
Torn between a mother who abandoned her children for religion and a father who was more committed to drugs than to parenting, Kohn’s memoir is a story of a girl and her brother left to pretty much raise themselves:
“My brother says that we were raised by wolves. I don’t always agree with him, but I don’t have a more accurate description of our upbringing. A friend of my dad’s pointed out that wolves raise their young with more structure than our parents gave us.”
Kohn was forced to balance her desire to be pure and obedient with the need to fit in at high school in the 1970s—a complicated dance that inevitably led to missteps and perpetual guilt. Yet she kept going. Kohn kept moving forward, even when she didn’t want to, even when she didn’t know which way to go. She kept gaining more clarity, more insight. She managed to take the fragile, cracked shards of her life and turn them into something beautiful. To me, this is why I read memoir, both to find the universal threads that weave through us all, and for that moment of hope and redemption. I found plenty of both in To The Moon and Back.
March 17, 2021
Emotional and Inspiring
I have just been on an emotional roller-coaster ride with Lisa, in this book she bares her emotions, exposing her vulnerability, writing in an honest and transparent no holds barred way. Going through an incredible journey which all started when her mother abandoned her children to join a religious cult, The Moonies, eventually, they were forced to live with their alcoholic, drug-using father. Written in an honest and deep way it is a truly moving memoir.
Throughout her life all Lisa wanted was love and approval from her mother, and she would follow mum everywhere, even to the extent of sitting outside the bathroom door waiting for her to come out. Lisa and her brother used to spend as much time as possible at the main premises of the cult in order to be near to mother. Making friends with the True Children but never really fitting in. This lifestyle continued through their childhood, they too were ruled by the cult until finding the courage to step away.
Lisa bares all with her honest account of the struggles she faced to overcome the psychological damaged her parents had caused. Attending therapy sessions she believes that with some self-belief she can move past the hurt, the pain, the blame, move forward, and create the life she had always hoped for. The ups and downs of her life had me in tears and holding my breath as to what could befall this child next.
An amazing read which I can recommend.
I have just been on an emotional roller-coaster ride with Lisa, in this book she bares her emotions, exposing her vulnerability, writing in an honest and transparent no holds barred way. Going through an incredible journey which all started when her mother abandoned her children to join a religious cult, The Moonies, eventually, they were forced to live with their alcoholic, drug-using father. Written in an honest and deep way it is a truly moving memoir.
Throughout her life all Lisa wanted was love and approval from her mother, and she would follow mum everywhere, even to the extent of sitting outside the bathroom door waiting for her to come out. Lisa and her brother used to spend as much time as possible at the main premises of the cult in order to be near to mother. Making friends with the True Children but never really fitting in. This lifestyle continued through their childhood, they too were ruled by the cult until finding the courage to step away.
Lisa bares all with her honest account of the struggles she faced to overcome the psychological damaged her parents had caused. Attending therapy sessions she believes that with some self-belief she can move past the hurt, the pain, the blame, move forward, and create the life she had always hoped for. The ups and downs of her life had me in tears and holding my breath as to what could befall this child next.
An amazing read which I can recommend.
January 15, 2021
An inspiring account of a young person’s escape from adversity
Reading the author’s story of her childhood highlighted for me how vitally important it is for good parenting. Like the author, I found it hard to understand why a mother would abandon her children for the sake of a religious cult, one that she decides to leave in a somewhat casual way later in life once the damage had been done and the children had grown up.
It was left to a heavy drinking, drug user father to bring up these two abandoned children. In this unsavoury environment, at a young age, Lisa was encouraged to follow her father’s footsteps.
The author’s very deep and honest account of her struggles to overcome the psychological damage caused by both parents shows how strong and deep her personal moral sense was. There were mistakes made along the way but the story has a good ending.
The only reason why I have not given this review a five star rating is because I found some of her mental battles of wanting to walk away from the moony cult a little too repetitive. Even so, this is an excellent well written book and certainly is an eye opener and an inspiration for those that have also suffered an unusual and confusing childhood.
Reading the author’s story of her childhood highlighted for me how vitally important it is for good parenting. Like the author, I found it hard to understand why a mother would abandon her children for the sake of a religious cult, one that she decides to leave in a somewhat casual way later in life once the damage had been done and the children had grown up.
It was left to a heavy drinking, drug user father to bring up these two abandoned children. In this unsavoury environment, at a young age, Lisa was encouraged to follow her father’s footsteps.
The author’s very deep and honest account of her struggles to overcome the psychological damage caused by both parents shows how strong and deep her personal moral sense was. There were mistakes made along the way but the story has a good ending.
The only reason why I have not given this review a five star rating is because I found some of her mental battles of wanting to walk away from the moony cult a little too repetitive. Even so, this is an excellent well written book and certainly is an eye opener and an inspiration for those that have also suffered an unusual and confusing childhood.
October 10, 2018
Lisa Kohn's memoir really resonated with me. Her troubling childhood growing up as a member of the "Moonies" cult was honest and well-described, and her unique voice came through. Clearly written and well-paced, I couldn't put it down. As heartbreaking and horrific as her mother abandoning her (and her brother) for the church was, her journey toward healing was in equal parts uplifting. I especially liked how the book came full circle when she was able to embrace some of the members of the church without anger, and move forward in her life with a sense of peace.
Raised in the Southern Baptist church, I related to her feelings of guilt when breaking free from it and forming a belief system of her own, as I went through a similar trajectory during my high school and college years. There were many parallels in my life to the author, but people of all backgrounds will appreciate this personal story of healing. "I'll be okay today. I'll be alright tonight." was her touching mantra throughout childhood—and her inner strength won out both as a child and as an adult.
Raised in the Southern Baptist church, I related to her feelings of guilt when breaking free from it and forming a belief system of her own, as I went through a similar trajectory during my high school and college years. There were many parallels in my life to the author, but people of all backgrounds will appreciate this personal story of healing. "I'll be okay today. I'll be alright tonight." was her touching mantra throughout childhood—and her inner strength won out both as a child and as an adult.
July 27, 2019
Shortlisted for the 2019 Rubery Book Award
This is a memoir written by a woman who was drawn into the Unification Church (the Moonies) as a child by the involvement of her mother. She occupied a privileged position in the heart of the church, enjoying a special status amongst their people of influence, making friends with the treasured, revered children of their leader. The book paints a powerful portrait of how she become part of the organisation, a result of growing up in a dysfunctional family with no practical way of separating herself. The style is compelling and her progression from an insecure child who is desperate for attention to a rebellious teenager and finally to a woman who finds it hard to fit into a world for which she has had little preparation is utterly convincing. Kohn avoids the language of blame and revenge, even when exploring the outrageous hypocrisy of so many of the members, and in doing so, invokes genuine sympathy from the reader.
RuberyBookAward.com
This is a memoir written by a woman who was drawn into the Unification Church (the Moonies) as a child by the involvement of her mother. She occupied a privileged position in the heart of the church, enjoying a special status amongst their people of influence, making friends with the treasured, revered children of their leader. The book paints a powerful portrait of how she become part of the organisation, a result of growing up in a dysfunctional family with no practical way of separating herself. The style is compelling and her progression from an insecure child who is desperate for attention to a rebellious teenager and finally to a woman who finds it hard to fit into a world for which she has had little preparation is utterly convincing. Kohn avoids the language of blame and revenge, even when exploring the outrageous hypocrisy of so many of the members, and in doing so, invokes genuine sympathy from the reader.
RuberyBookAward.com
April 6, 2020
Raised Under a Full Moon
Unusual to find a memoir by someone raised as a child in a Cult, and I learned a lot in this book. With two parents who did not fulfill many of her needs, when her Mom embraced Moon's Church, the author shows us how the cult did indeed finally fulfil many of her needs. People there were kind and warm to her, she was shown a way of life; most of all, she finally had a real family.
As she grows up, especially after reaching high school, she begins to peel away from her loyalties to Moon and his ideas. She writes about this realistically; she is confused, jerking away from his church, and then back to his Church. Because she finally finds a loyal group of friends outside his Church, and is exposed to non-Moon beliefs, gradually seeing they are not harmful, after all, she can ultimately break and away. At the end of the book, she is able to reconcile both parts of her life.
Highly recommended.
Unusual to find a memoir by someone raised as a child in a Cult, and I learned a lot in this book. With two parents who did not fulfill many of her needs, when her Mom embraced Moon's Church, the author shows us how the cult did indeed finally fulfil many of her needs. People there were kind and warm to her, she was shown a way of life; most of all, she finally had a real family.
As she grows up, especially after reaching high school, she begins to peel away from her loyalties to Moon and his ideas. She writes about this realistically; she is confused, jerking away from his church, and then back to his Church. Because she finally finds a loyal group of friends outside his Church, and is exposed to non-Moon beliefs, gradually seeing they are not harmful, after all, she can ultimately break and away. At the end of the book, she is able to reconcile both parts of her life.
Highly recommended.
December 9, 2018
Always amazes me that In a time when we as a society have so much.....and children around us, close to us, have so little and struggle to be normal, (normal in their eyes), and at times do not even realize or acknowledge that they have been dealt an injustice in their love, nurture and care, not only by their parents, but by society in general.
This story displays the fortitude of one little girl and her brother that beat all the forces against them and how they somehow survive and triumph to a place of love and forgiveness. Truly an inspirational read and one that makes the reader reflect on their own upbringing and appreciate it from a different perspective.
This story displays the fortitude of one little girl and her brother that beat all the forces against them and how they somehow survive and triumph to a place of love and forgiveness. Truly an inspirational read and one that makes the reader reflect on their own upbringing and appreciate it from a different perspective.
April 8, 2019
Lisa Kohn’s “To the Moon and Back” pulled me into the chaos and pain she endured as a child but left me filled with the hope and love she exudes as an adult. I recommend this book to (1) anyone who is curious about brainwashing and the inner workings of one of the most ‘successful’ cults of the 1970s, (2) anyone brave enough to feel the pain of being a child of a drug addicted bartender parent on the lower east side in the 1970s and early 1980s, (3) anyone who has ever felt isolated, misunderstood, uncared for, uncherished or just ‘not enough’ for a parent, and (4) anyone looking to rise above and be filled with hope, understanding, courage and love.
July 24, 2019
Lots of people are born into dysfunctional families- Lisa Kohn among them. Despite that, she does an admiral job navigating her way through a life with divorced parents who are both too busy doing their own thing to pay much attention to Lisa or her brother. Her dad is a hippie drug addict, her mother a devout Moonie (as in the Unification Church). Her upbringing is far from “normal”, but she tries to find happiness wherever possible. The emotional toll it all takes is the real challenge, especially her involvement with the Unification Church, and this books speaks to that the most. Honest and well written book.
October 26, 2018
Think your childhood was challenging? It might have been, but can you imagine growing up in a cult? Or even worse, splitting your time between a Moonie Mother and druggie Dad? That is the climate that Lisa Kohn found herself in during her formative years, and you better believe it left some scars. Between desperately seeking her mother's approval and hiding from unwanted attention from her father, it is no wonder that Lisa ended up with a whole lot of angst, low self-confidence, poor relationship choices, and a host of other issues. As she works through the choices and struggles along the way though, she manages to make it "to the moon and back".
If you've ever wondered what life in a cult looks like, Lisa offers a glimpse of her time in the Unification Church with the infamous Reverend Moon. She also dips into the deep, drug underbelly of New York in the 70s. Plenty of soul searching ensues. Enough to make you question some of the choices you have made in your own life? Perhaps. You have to read her new book to find out.
For more, check out my book review here.
If you've ever wondered what life in a cult looks like, Lisa offers a glimpse of her time in the Unification Church with the infamous Reverend Moon. She also dips into the deep, drug underbelly of New York in the 70s. Plenty of soul searching ensues. Enough to make you question some of the choices you have made in your own life? Perhaps. You have to read her new book to find out.
For more, check out my book review here.
October 22, 2018
I was very moved by Lisa's story. This is a raw and honest accounting of the influence of our parents on our lives, for better and for worse. It is also a chronicle of one family's experience inside the Unification movement. I appreciated that this book did not tie up all the loose ends neatly. I was left with as many questions as answers about her parents and why they parented the way they did. This book well captures the messiness of life and the pain, hope, shame, and joy as well. If you enjoy human stories you won't want to miss it.
August 22, 2019
A brave and fascinating memoire by a woman whose parents were young and, I'm being kind, not really parent material, in addition to being young when they became parents, layered into Moonie culture and church. I give lots of props to the author for baring all in a generous way and for all the work she's done as an adult to get her head screwed back on straight. Tough reading and not always smooth writing, but certainly real. I think it's an important book about parenting and what one as a parent owes to one's children (stability, love, respect, regular meals - these all come to mind).
June 11, 2018
To the Moon and the Back is a roller coaster ride. Alley cats were better parents than Kohn's. Her mother walked away from her kids so she could devote herself to a new consuming religion. Her dad did allow them to live with him, but it was in squalor. Kohn eperienced an eating disorder, drug usage, and unhealthy relationships. Her theme is healing. By the end of her memoir, she's found stability and peace with her murky upbringing. Thanks To NetGalley for the advance read.
October 16, 2018
Really fascinating story about a woman coming of age in 1970s NYC living in two diametrically opposed worlds -- the world of her mother, a member of the religious Moonies cult, and her father, a world of drugs & sex. It's a wonder that Lisa grew up to be a normal, functioning, accomplished adult! Great read for anyone interested in cult culture, 1970s NYC history, or a young woman trying to make sense of it all.
January 2, 2019
This is a captivating read about coming of age as a moonie in NY and the NYC area. It is a shattering memoir of a childhood gone awry by some very "different" types of parents. One abandoned her children to join the Moonies and the other with his drinking and drug habits was not so great either. It is ultimately about healing as that comes later in the author's life as she deals with the aftermath of her wild childhood.
August 22, 2018
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of Lisa Kohn’s To The Moon and Back. The rating and review are my own thoughts and opinions, and have not been influenced by receiving this book to read.
This book was an amazing insight into the weird world of the moonies. Lisa Kohn tells her story in a brutally honest way and we are taken along for the ride. This is particularly affecting as her view seems to be pretty much front row as she plays with the ’true family’, the cult leaders children.
Aside from the moonies, Lisa had a different upbringing with 2 parents completely incompetent at parenting. This makes for an engaging story and I liked hearing how her relationship with her parent developed over time as Lisa herself grew up and had children.
I would definitely recommend.
This book was an amazing insight into the weird world of the moonies. Lisa Kohn tells her story in a brutally honest way and we are taken along for the ride. This is particularly affecting as her view seems to be pretty much front row as she plays with the ’true family’, the cult leaders children.
Aside from the moonies, Lisa had a different upbringing with 2 parents completely incompetent at parenting. This makes for an engaging story and I liked hearing how her relationship with her parent developed over time as Lisa herself grew up and had children.
I would definitely recommend.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews