Petting Tigers: My Life as a Witness of Jehovah

by Shelley Smith Jones

Finalist for High Plains Book Award 2019 in Creative Nonfiction. Petting Tigers is a story of what happens when a young girl is robbed of her childhood after a parent becomes one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a cultish religious organization that demands complete submission. It further describes how a beautiful mind can be washed away and instead filled with rote beliefs that make no sense in the real world. The airtight belief system, which is called The Truth by its devotees, turns self-destructive when the child grows into an adult who continuously fails to meet the expectations of the set mold. Petting Tigers takes the reader through the author’s painful self-realization and valiant journey to extricate herself and her three sons from the Organization. She knows full well that everyone they know will then shun them. Petting Tigers is about finding a way out and the slow, awkward steps taken after emerging like a newborn into a world she had not known or understood. Author Shelley Smith Jones grew up in Livingston, Montana, the daughter of a Northern Pacific Railroad conductor and a devout Jehovah's Witness mother. She raised her three sons in Southern Idaho before moving to Seattle, Washington, in 2001. Currently, she lives in rural North Central Washington with her husband and two horses.

354 pages, Paperback

Published August 7, 2018

About the author

Author Shelley Smith Jones grew up in Livingston, Montana, the daughter of a Northern Pacific Railroad conductor and a devout Jehovah's Witness mother. She raised her three sons in Southern Idaho before moving to Seattle, Washington, in 2001. Currently, she lives in rural North Central Washington with her husband and two horses.

Reviews

[TJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little slow to get through the first 3rd of the book. I think I stalled somewhere in there for several months. When I picked it back up though, I finished the other 2/3 in two days. I knew it would start getting exciting once she started to break away from the org. I liked her references to how things were at the time she lived. It’s nice to know some of the news she mentioned and even how much rent and certain items cost. It made the book more homey for me. Her life in Idaho was described beautifully. I enjoyed hearing about the garden and canning.

I also liked how there were a lot of chapters but they were short. It helped with my attention span. I’m surprised that she didn’t get disfellowshipped when she divorced her husband. I thought that was a given, but maybe you have to commit adultery in order to get out. The author was messed up mentally there for quite some time, but I don’t know if sex with her therapist was all HIS fault. She seemed to put the blame on him. I do believe he took advantage of her in a professional situation which is totally wrong. I am just not sure he was all to blame. I think he had a wife too at least he had pictures of his daughters up anyway. One of the best well written ex-witness experience I’ve read. You really get an idea of how controlling the org is. I didn’t know you get in trouble for flamboyant colors as a man, or not keeping your family disciplined if ur an elder, or even playing tennis with a worldly woman. She had her piano privileges (at least she thought) revoked because she was seen playing tennis with them and also the outfit she wore.

Only thing I wished to see more of was her personal transformation spiritually. She mentioned some good things about Buddhism which I appreciated, but I wish she would have gone deeper in that. I thought the book wrapped up a little quickly, I wanted to know more! Thank you, Shelley for your thoughtful book!