Slonim Woods 9: A Memoir

by Daniel Barban Levin

A stunning firsthand account of the creation of a modern cult under conman Larry Ray and the horrifying costs paid by his young his daughter's college roommates

In September 2010, at the beginning of the academic year at Sarah Lawrence College, a sophomore named Talia Ray asked her roommates if her father could stay with them for a while. No one objected. Her father, Larry Ray, was just released from prison, having spent three years behind bars after a conviction during a bitter custody dispute.

Larry Ray arrived at the dorm, a communal house called Slonim Woods 9, and stayed for the whole year. Over the course of innumerable counseling sessions and "family meetings," the intense and forceful Ray convinced his daughter's friends that he alone could help them "achieve clarity." Eventually, Ray and the students moved into a small Manhattan apartment, beginning years of manipulation and abuse, as Ray tightened his control over his young charges through blackmail, extortion, and ritualized humiliation.

Daniel Barban Levin was one of the original residents of Slonim Woods 9. Ray coached Daniel through a difficult break-up, slowly drawing him into his web. After two years of escalating psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, Daniel found the strength to escape from Ray's influence and take control of his own life.

In April 2019, a New York magazine cover story, "The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence," exposed Ray's crimes to the world. In February 2020, he was finally indicted on charges of extortion, sex trafficking, forced labor, and money laundering.

Beginning the moment Daniel set foot on Sarah Lawrence's idyllic campus and spanning the two years he spent in the grip of a megalomaniac, this brave, lyrical, and redemptive memoir reveals how a group of friends were led from campus to a cult without the world even noticing.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Memoir, Cults, Audiobook, Crime, Cult Classics

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2021

About the author

Daniel Barban Levin holds an MFA in poetry from the University of California, Irvine, where he taught creative writing and rhetoric, and a bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College. He is the winner of the Stanley and Evelyn Lipkin Prize for Poetry, the Lynn Garnier Memorial Award and is the recipient of fellowships from The Frost Place, Tent, The Sarah Lawrence Summer Seminar for Writers, and The Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Provincetown Arts, Bat City Review, The Sarah Lawrence Review, The Westchester Review, The Offbeat, The Fourth River, and The Bennington Review. He lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Esme · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot of books about cults and feel I have good understanding of how they operate. I have empathy for the folks who find themselves wrapped up in groups like this. But this book…wow, I am struggling to understand what happened here and why.

The author’s style – a sort of rambling stream of consciousness -- may be an effort to reflect his thinking at the time. It also may be due to his educational training--an MFA in poetry. (MFA training is something of a cult itself, in my opinion. The MFAers are desperate for the approval of whatever somewhat accomplished writer the school finagled into headlining their program to draw in eager students' tuition dollars.)

But it left me feeling like he’d left a lot of important details out. Maybe he also did that to protect the other members of the group and spare them the humiliation of having their abuses outlined. I can only guess.

I remain perplexed at how a long conversation in a Starbucks became this all-encompassing, domineering relationship. This happened well into the age of the internet where a curious insecure guy can google average penis size and doesn’t have to get validated by his friend’s just-released-from-prison dad. In fact, he could probably just google the man’s name and find out if what he was telling him was true or not.

The author seems to have little to no agency in his own life, as demonstrated by his haphazard choice for his study abroad year. He really didn’t know anything about the university he chose, or the people there. He seems to have no money. His Svengali stepped in to get him his visa – things it really seems like the school or his family should have been on top of. He runs into another American while he's out and then finds out there’s a whole lot more Americans he didn't realize were there, but they are living in another building. He promptly rejects them and returns to his own hole in the wall.

You would think living away from the cult leader for that extended period, a period where Ray didn’t even seem to contact him that much would have led to some clarity. I mean, he had a bed and regular meals and no one making weird nonsensical demands on his time. But that segment ends, and he returns home realizing suddenly he has no place to live next semester. Again, where are all the adults in this scenario? (And if it was so easy for Ray to find himself a room on campus, why couldn’t the author have crashed on a couch or something until a room opened up for him.)

He talks about how he had no idea how to go about renting an apartment in New York City, but why would he rent there? That’s not where his college is located. Why would he need to keep a job in an ice cream shop in NYC? I’m sure there are plenty of similar jobs nearer to his college.

I feel like I’ve led a somewhat sheltered life, but even at 18, I would have had some questions. Guy gets out of prison and has to live with his daughter, but soon he can afford a limo that is seemingly always on call to ferry his crew around? How does he come up with envelopes full of $10,0000 cash that he passes out, forces them to count, and then takes away again? Where did this apartment in this swanky building come from? Who is paying the rent? He single handedly ended the Kosovo War too? Lots of red flags. It all just reeks of a con job.

Did he think absolutely nothing of sexual abuse that was clearly taking place between this much older man and these young women? What did he think was happening behind closed doors? Did he have no opinion of the creepy, over intimate nicknames that he and his daughter called each other? He never calls attention to it, but it reeks of enmeshment and incest.

The book has some grainy black and white pictures included, that aren’t explained. I’m assuming one was (inexplicably) of the bins from the storage unit where he had to go to pick up Ray’s daughter’s sweaters. One might be a deer being hung. He discusses how that happens in the woods behind his house. One appears to be a growth on tree, which he discusses with his professor at one point. There's a picture of ducks on the ledge at his English college.

The fact the book is called “Slonim Woods 9” rather than “Larry’s chaotic overcrowded apartment in the city” is something of misnomer. Certainly, it sounds more ominous that way. Most of the book takes place in the apartment that Ray has either rented or conned someone out of. (Because how does an ex-con rent an apartment in NYC?)

I almost quit reading this book several times because I was just so frustrated by it. I believe the author, but it just left me with so many unanswered questions. It also included a lot of seemingly random unconnected details. Slonim was the name of the village where some of his ancestors had lived before they'd been sent to concentration camps. A couple of Germans apologize to him for the Holocaust. Hmm. Okay. It was confusing and left me asking “why” a lot.

Early on, Ray tells him how good James Joyce's "Finnigan's Wake" is, how transcendent, he can't stop laughing as he reads it because it is so funny. He gets it in a way others don't. As a former English major who studied Joyce I definitely could have could have called him on this. "Finnigan's Wake" is a great con job book to claim to love because no one without a PhD who is desperate for a publication credit in James Joyce Quarterly can challenge you on it.

I finished this book unsatisfied. I don't understand how he was so vulnerable to this manipulation in the first place. I don't understand why he continued to put up with it. I think that is fundamentally where the book fails. Get some more therapy, process, give it more time, and try again.

[LLA]

I find it impossible to assign this a star rating. It was a very tough read, at times; and I don't know that I enjoyed it. But it was fascinating, and I am glad that I read it.

[Shainlock · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 or so
Sometimes I could follow his thoughts and sometimes I couldn’t …
There were times where I wondered why he let himself be so easily convinced to change his mind about his own thoughts, memories, and deeds. Some ppl are entirely a great deal more stubborn than others,and by that I mean their will; and they will not lose their sense of self so easily. It depends on a host of other factors too, maybe, but most important is the sense of self and knowing what kind of person lives inside your heart and mind. You can improve or deteriorate.
Whatever you do, you can’t let anyone shake you; or that “you” will crumble. It took Danny a long time to figure out the self and cultists seem to latch on to that.
This was pretty creepy, but those involved had to be pretty willing to relinquish their hold on privacy, space, freedom, and independence.
There were some real and solid moments of eloquence here and one point where it brings up the question between the difference in poetry and prose. I liked that.
Other than that it bordered on true crime and psychologically bizarre.

[Austin Coss · Rating 1 out of 5]

I so badly wanted to like this book and buy into the cult mentality… I couldn’t get invested because it just felt like a non-linear retelling of events, most of which didn’t seem relevant. I was constantly frustrated with the authors inability to stand up for himself in even the smallest ways, moping about not having a girlfriend, worrying about being poorly endowed and potentially gay.

I ended up skimming the second half of the book in lieu of putting it down altogether.

[Caro Buchheim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading "The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence" back in the day, wondering about that blank space in the middle of the story: What exactly happened there? Daniel Barban Levin now offers a compelling first-hand-account of the strange cult of Larry Ray, as he himself tries to figure out that blank space. His book is intimate and claustrophobic, beautifully crafted and hard to bear. It's an excellent account of coercive control: The sleep-deprived dread of life in the apartment, the unspeakable things that happen in its bedroom and the strange hold Larry Ray has over Daniel even from far away can be acutely felt, overwhelmingly so in a chapter written in Larry Rays mindnumbing monologue. There is no complete answer to what happened there, the blank space remains somewhat empty, as Daniels understanding of his experience seems to be ever deepening - but this is a tour de force and I am so glad to have read it.

[Khris Sellin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I worked on the trial of Larry Ray and saw and heard what he did to these people. So I was very interested to read a firsthand account by one of the victims. Very brave writing by Levin. He does leave out the worst of the worst, but it may have been just too painful, and he also says at the end he doesn't want to take the liberty of sharing other victims' stories.
It's hard for most of us to comprehend how this could have ever happened, to bright, intelligent college students, from good families, who seemingly have it all. Just really heartbreaking. And infuriating.

[Yousra & Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: cult, manipulation, rape, mental and physical abuse, conspiracy, suicide, porn.

Please read this book!

I just finished reading Daniel's memoir and I'm still confused! Both sad and mad for what happened to him and how easily abuse can go unnoticed and under the radar for years.

I can't help but ask why isn't this book more popular?

Anyways, I'll write a full length review about it on IG soon but before I do that I want to thank Daniel for opening up about what happened to him and hope he gets the justice and acknowledgement he deserves.

[Zana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needed a lot less creative writing major style philosophical meandering, but the parts on his experience in the cult was written well.

Note to self: if you're in your late teens/early twenties and your roommate's dad wants to move into a dorm suite full of other late teens/early twenties college kids, then that might just be a red flag.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The descriptions of how things happened are often well-written and somewhat compelling and many insights about life are poetically portrayed, but the “why” was only scratched at periodically and I am baffled as to how Larry had such power over people other than emotionally beating them down. He seemed absolutely charmless, yet they all sat under his mysterious gravitational charm?

The author also had some book smarts and clear writing ability, but such little insight into how things in life really work, despite obviously being college-level intelligent. He exhibited such little agency, such a learned helplessness and seemed to be constantly acted upon by others with not even the basic understanding of how things function. For such a potentially fascinating actual story, I came away feeling very disappointed overall in the story that was told. How did Larry dupe an entire group of college kids? I literally have little more idea about that than I did going into the book. And the story just dragggggged every few chapters, turning the second half of the book into an absolute slog.

[Dennis Diehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

***REQUIRED READING***
Along with Cultish by Amanda Montell, a more lucid and honest picture of what a cult actually is—both views in and out—I can not imagine.

[Julie Wiskirchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Sarah Lawrence alum, I’ve been fascinated in this cult story since the New York magazine article. This memoir wasn’t as engrossing or illuminating as I expected. There’s a lot of dailiness that gets slow. But it’s ultimately very unsettling and gripping. I respect the author’s choice to tell his story without going too much into his friends’ stories but the effect is that the reader isn’t left with a full picture.

[Joyce Hamel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dangerous Vulnerability

Sarah Lawrence is small liberal arts school located near Yonkers, New York. It has been known as a prestigious college and only admitted men in 1968.

This is a memoir, written by Daniel Levin, a student who came under the spell of Larry Ray. Larry is the father of Talia, who told her roommates that her father was coming to live with her in the communal house called Slonim Woods 9.. He had been in prison and they needed time together. No one objected to this odd intrusion and in moved Larry Ray. Our author was a student and part of this group and seemed both ambivalent and under the spell of Mr. Ray. Ray appeared to target the young men’s sexual weaknesses or lack of confidence and play on it until it became untenable. He did the same with some of the young women.

To put this group into a controlled environment, they moved to Ray’s one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. The only positive here was that they no longer had housing costs and Daniel would never have been able to afford a New York apartment. Ray led delusional counseling sessions and meetings with this group which achieved mental, sexual and physical abuse.

Ray was an ex-convict preying on his daughters’ roommates. He referred to his important position in our government and/or army called the DIA or Defense Intelligence Agency. He used this position to impress these college students. Why didn’t someone look him up at the beginning?

The book was difficult to read, not only because of the cult-like subject matter but it was told in a stream of consciousness. The author did not really explain situations in chronological order. The writing encompassed one incident after another without much connection to previous incidents. The shaming and revolting punishments, under the guise of awareness of oneself, were often abject torture. Embarrassment seemed to be Ray’s claim to fame. Daniel liked poetry and could write poetry. I believe he escaped into this talent to find solace.

When Sarah Lawrence learned of this “sex cult,” the college expressed shock. They didn’t even know how Ray, a guest, could be allowed to stay in the dorm, Slonim Woods 9. Reading the book took concentration as one incident could roll into another unrelated one. The entire depiction and awareness became gruesome and cruel. Reading about abuse is not pleasant and this book was often disjointed, incoherent and muddled. It may have mirrored the travesty.

My gratitude to NetGalley and Crown, a division of Penguin Random House ,for providing this pre-published book in exchange for an honest review.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out really weak, but once we got into the nitty-gritty of just exactly how Larry Ray manipulated these naive Ivy League kids, it got good and dark fast. Levin has a brilliant section in full stream-of-consciousness Larry mode that gives you a taste of being subjected to a real-life Larry monologue, full of outlandish boasts, subtle digs, large purchases, promises of future instruction, and just general weirdness.

I’d like to think I’m not, frankly, so psychologically fragile that I could be manipulated by someone as Colonel Kurtz ugly as Larry Ray, but that’s what we all think. This guy is a full-on psychopath who seemed to get genuine pleasure sexually and financially exploiting these kids. I think I’d take one look at him and get the eff out of that bizarre house with Larry sleeping in one bed with his daughter and his lover (at the same time!?) and everyone else huddled on the floor next to paint cans being accused every other day of deliberately breaking some overpriced object as a manifestation of anger.

This book reads as though Levin is still very very wounded and gentle and confused, and I wish him well, but I did get the impression from the afterward that some part of him is still frightened of Larry Ray and still somehow feels like he owes him or is treading on someone’s feet or doing someone wrong. He doesn’t and he isn’t. He is free, of his own doing.

[Hannah DG · Rating 4 out of 5]

To anyone who considers themselves a seeker, read new age books, went to a liberal arts school, or felt lonely in college, I would recommend this memoir. I found it validating and grounding. It shows how you can go off the path looking for answers and lose yourself in delusion, while acknowledging how reality can hurt us too. It is wonderfully written and compelling, and you can definitely tell the author is a gifted poet and well read.

For those coming from the Hulu documentary Stolen Youth and finished it wondering more about what this cult actually believed in and how someone could be kept in it, this book fills in a lot of the gaps. While it only focuses on one of the victims, the author, and the experiences' of others are left out, it feels more complete than the doc. The best way to put it I think is that the doc showed us from the outside what was actually happening - which to us seems so obviously horrific and cultish - while the book gives us a view into what someone on the inside thought was happening.

In particular, I found it eye opening to learn Daniel had lived abroad for a year while still in the cult...it was not just a matter of walking out of the apartment doors. It was a mental door he had to walk out of.

[Kassie Parisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think it would be appropriate to give this anything other than five stars, if I have to assign a rating to a recollection of extremely traumatic and triggering events. Seriously, Larry Ray is evil and I found myself incredibly disturbed and saddened while reading this.

Anyone with an ounce of empathy, or experience with mental illness and depression should be able to recognize the signs of a seriously struggling and lost young person.

That doesn’t make it less sad to read about Ray’s victims being buried further and further into a nightmare- the chapter of page upon page of Ray’s monologuing is really harrowing and it’s so easy to see how he was able to trap these people.

It was extremely brave for Daniel to write this and I’m glad he came out the other side…maybe him unapologetically sharing his story with us will help us remember that victims in these situations deserve our support, always.

[Lauren Hopkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars. This was hit or miss for me depending on what was happening. A memoir from a young man who unwittingly joins a sort of cult under the leadership of his Sarah Lawrence College dormmate's father, Larry Ray, when he moves into their building after serving time in prison, I was drawn to the story the second I read "The Cut" article a couple of years ago, because of course "The Cut" was all over it, and I was intrigued when I saw one of the victims would be sharing his own story.

What I think this book did well was describe how one can join a cult without really knowing they're joining a cult, and how easy it is to fall under the spell of cult leaders, especially when they're older, wealthy, and promise you great things, and you're young, naive, and desperate to find yourself in an unforgiving world. Cults have always been wild to me because it's hard to see many of those who join them – the ones who aren't being forced into them – as victims. You throw away everything in your life and willingly drink the cyanide Kool-Aid because you really loved some weird stuff this guy told you? It's REALLY difficult for me to identify with the kind of person who would choose to do this. But the author showed his desperation, his loneliness, and his struggles with his family and home life in a way that made me feel like if I was in his frame of mind as an 18-year-old, I'd probably instantly fall for the first person who told me I belonged. He also showed how subtle the process can be, where one day you're just hanging out at this guy's house having philosophical discussions and making out with a girl who's into you, and the next you're being emotionally abused and manipulated into thinking it's not a problem. It's shocking what people can convince you of when you're at your breaking point, and I think even if you're not dragged into a cult by force, it's still not the same thing as making a choice if someone takes advantage of the state you're in to get you involved.

The issues I had were mostly minor in comparison, with the biggest being that life outside of the cult happenings was kind of...dull at times? And the transitions were kind of jarring. In one moment we're reading about a horrifying instance of sexual abuse, and the next, the author is spending a full page talking about how many push-ups he does every morning while studying abroad, and how he can do press handstands, and how his morning routine is to go back and forth between push-ups and doing the dishes. Like...cool?!?! There's also a saga where he turns the air conditioner off when he worked at an ice cream shop and his boss comes in the next morning to find things melted...like, I get this is a big thing when you're 18 and yeah, maybe it's worth the juxtaposition between you feeling like trash for screwing up at your summer job but then going to the cult apartment and finding people who love and respect you no matter what happened at work...but it was just A LOT of talk about closing by yourself and not knowing where the instructions were and debating whether to turn off the AC or not because your boss likes to save money and so naturally she'd want to turn it off...I feel like we could've dropped MOST of that and still understood the point. I just read a book where there was literally NO filler, so I think that made the extraneous info in this one stand out all the more, but pieces of this felt very much like "I need to fill a word count."

The author is also a poetry major and a lot of the prose is...very much what you'd expect from someone who was like "I'm gonna be a poetry major at Sarah Lawrence." Real Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You" vibes. This is kind of bitchy, I guess, given the context and that it was someone's real life, but there were several pretentious 'deep thoughts' that were unfortunately lol-worthy, which kind of takes you out of the moment, especially when things were getting really dark and horrifying and icky. It really was just very noticeably not good and unfortunately it affected how I connected to the story.

That said, it was still absolutely worth reading, which is why I'm rounding up to a 3.5. Larry Ray and one of his victims-turned-accomplices Isabella Pollok are both now facing trial in 2022, with Ray charged with 16 counts of racketeering, sex trafficking, and money laundering while Pollok is charged with four counts for being Ray's co-conspirator related to prostitution and forced labor. I hope the author and the other victims – including Ray's daughter – are able to get justice and be able to enjoy life without this experience defining them.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit to having a morbid fascination about cults and cult leaders. Manson and his Family, Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, and more. When I recently read about Larry Ray and the abuse he heaped upon several Sarah Lawrence students, I knew I had to read this book.

I'm not sure why I have this fascination. I think it's a combination of trying to figure out how anyone could fall for such claptrap and an effort to ensure that I remain skeptical enough to never be sucked in by such a thing. I'm a gullible person in some ways but it seems that the scientific side of me stays rooted in reality.

I'm happy that I'm that way because Mr. Levin's account is a horrific one. Humiliation, psychological manipulation, physical abuse. A few months ago, Ray was found guilty on all charges brought against him. He will be sentenced this fall and could spend the rest of his life behind bars. I don't know if that will be enough to help the kids he abused but I hope that it will help them feel some justice and vindication.

Mr. Levin sounds like he's in a better place now, after finding enough inner strength to see through the con and break away. I found this passage exactly right:

"WE WANT SO BADLY for the world to be ordered, and reliable. We want it to be magical, too, to be meaningful. The idea that everything is random and unpredictable, that our memories and perceptions are shifting and chaotic, that we have no control over our place in the world, what happens to us, our futures or our pasts, is terrifying. We want to look up at the stars and see shapes that resemble ourselves."

I realized some time ago that life is more often than not completely random. I still find meaning, and even magic, in it all but understanding that we have little control over things was rather liberating for me. It has been my experience that those drawn to cults or certain "religions" are often looking for a meaning to the randomness. They need a reason behind everything. Learning to let reason fall by the wayside (at least when it comes to any sort of hidden meaning) made me feel more at peace and less susceptible to those who would prey on others.

A fascinating book and I wish the best to the author.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly remarkable. I picked this up because I find cults and other high control groups interesting. I did not expect it to be so devastatingly written or such an effective exploration of the nature of trauma. The NY magazine article explaining this group, while a good introduction to the key events, does not properly explain exactly how everyone involved got sucked in. This book does an incredible job not just explaining that, but how anyone who has been in an emotionally abusive situation can get tricked into staying. A great line that I wish I had written down in full, but paraphrasing here—“you start to think everything is normal because for you, it is.”

If you have lived through religious trauma, any kind of fundamentalist upbringing, or have survived abuse, you may find this book either validating or extremely upsetting. (Perhaps both.) This book caught me at exactly the right moment, but some readers might struggle.

[Mars D ✰ · Rating 2 out of 5]

A memoir about group of friends who were unknowingly part of a cult in which they were manipulated and abused by their friends dad, Larry Ray. This is the first book I’ve read on the topic of cults.

It was easy to see how Larry gaslighted Daniel and his friends into living in his one bedroom apartment while he claimed to “help them” find themselves. I just couldn’t believe none of them ever questioned to one another what Larry was saying and doing after a while. I don’t know why they endured all that for free food and rent. Perhaps the manipulation was that intense, and I just can’t relate or understand how someone could accept to live like that for so long. I also couldn’t believe Daniel’s parents didn’t do more to intervene. I felt that the dinner with Larry and Daniel’s friends at his parents house was so strange that any parent would have serious suspicions.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you ever watch the news or a documentary about cults and think to yourself, “How do they not know how nuts this is? I would NEVER join a cult!” Well, this book shows how literally anyone at any time can wake up and realize they’re in a cult.

Daniel and his friends were college students when one of their dads needed a place to stay. This narcissistic, forceful man turned their college experience, a time when they should be learning about themselves and exploring the world on their own, into a living nightmare. They didn’t ask to join, they didn’t wake up one morning like “Oh, I should be in a cult today!”, and they didn’t deserve the years of manipulation at the hands of a sadistic asshole.

A truly horrifying experience - thank you to Levin for sharing his story. Your strength is admirable and I wish you all the success in the world as you work to reorient your life.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75/5

I did not get this book. The author in my opinion did a poor job of explaining... anything? It's unclear why he goes along with this absurd situation for as long as he does. We get no explanation aside from the exhausting lack of self esteem. By the end I was so frustrated with his sheer wimpiness it was hard to finish the book. And sure it was interesting but the vast majority in the book is just upsetting descriptions of what this guy did to them, and then its wrapped up in five pages? Where is all the information about what happened to Larry and the rest of them? I'm so interested in the aftermath and there just is none at all.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trigger warning: physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse

I highly recommend watching the documentary on Peacock before reading this; but my God, this was so good.

[Ariela Basson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a crazy, scary, upsetting story but I’m so impressed by Dan’s resilience and strength. It was such an interesting insight into how people fall into cults and really gave me a lot more perspective and honestly empathy for people that are victims of cults. I think it’s really easy to say “oh I would never join a cult” but this book really shows how much easier said than done that is. Larry Ray is so disgusting and I’m very interested in watching the documentary about this to learn more about what ended up happening to him and the other kids. I will say that times it felt like the writing was a bit superfluous and unnecessarily metaphorical – which does check out given that Dan is a poet. I also would have loved a little bit more of a consistent narrative in terms of time structure. It kind of felt like a bunch of anecdotes at times, but with that being said I think that also speaks to the fact that Dan is still healing from this traumatic experience all these years later. I also would have liked to hear a bit more about how Dan reconciled with his family and friends that were not in the cult.

[Colin McFarland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in this story for years, since the article about it first ran in The Cut. While this book doesn’t really offer new information it offers new insights which were very compelling. At times the book felt a little disjointed, which is perhaps due to the nature of the events described. But I thought taking the time to address his friends at the end was deeply moving.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 some parts were hard to read due to the violence and serial interactions. He definitely write a few parts of the story to make you feel as confused as he probably was during parts of this chapter in his life. Its hard to imagine that these kinds of things still happen to people with all of the information and ways to stay connected to each other.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in two days. By 2/3 of the way through, I couldn’t put it down. I actually stayed up until 1:30 am to finish.

When seeing footage of cult leaders like Charles Manson or David Koresh, I’ve always found it interesting to try to imagine how someone could fall under their spell. How do otherwise intelligent people give control of their lives to someone else? It was fascinating in this book to witness the entire arc of the cult experience. We get to know Daniel Levin before, during and after his experience with the Slonim Woods group. It was really an intimate look into his psyche, and he was very brave to write so candidly about the horrific abuse he experienced.

The book dedication is “To the friends I cannot reach.” Sad to know that some of his friends are still caught in Larry Ray’s web.

I didn’t know much about this cult at Sarah Lawrence, and assumed while reading that some of the names had been changed in the book, but no, the facts are all there and have been corroborated by other witnesses. I looked up Larry Ray after finishing the book, and wow, that guy is every bit as bizarre as the author described. And he has the high-level military and intelligence connections he claimed to have. He actually drove Mikhail Gorbachev around in his own vehicle when Gorbachev visited the USA. And apparently a capo from the Gambino crime family attended his wedding, so there are seemingly organized crime connections as well. There are lots of articles about the Sarah Lawrence group. Sadly, one person has since committed suicide, and another has been indicted on federal charges (related to sex trafficking and fraud, I believe.)

Just look up Larry Ray’s photo, and you can get a real sense of his magnetism. It’s easy now to see how those impressionable friends of his daughter became entranced by him.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I get the book. I get Daniels stylistic choice.

This was a good book.

I read the reviews, some say it was slow going, it was confusing, convoluted. But that’s how Daniel became part of the cult in the first place. Small innocuous events that the reader thinks is mundane, slowly building, consulted and illogical. Yes as a reader who read the article in The Cut, I knew what was happening. We knew what was happening but at the time, Daniel didn’t. I like the stream of consciousness style. Because after all, from the events in that occurred- reality outside of Daniels consciousness was so convulsed the only thing Daniel had that he knew was true was his own experience.

As an author, a survivor, and most likely will be involved in the upcoming case I know why he didn’t offer more on what happened to the others and more details on Ray.

I get why there were time jumps. It would be wrong for Daniel to write anything other than his experiences. Even though we know Ray posted a lot online- we still need to respect the privacy of the survivors.

All this to say, this was a really good book with really good writing that took me along for the ride and made me feel nervous, scared, and confused. Just like these young adults were back then.

[Janja Lalich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best memoirs I've ever read about a cult experience, and I have read a lot! Not only did Levin suffer through terrifying experiences at the hands of the cult leader, Larry Ray; but he is able to describe so thoroughly his own thought process and how the manipulations of a sadistic narcissist work to enlist all the group members into his sick sick world. The description of Levin's recruitment, indoctrination, and the coercion imposed on him is brilliant -- while also devastating to read about. This is certainly a must-read book for anyone who wants to understand how cults work.
Bravo, Daniel Levin!

[Sarah-louise Raillard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely riveting, if also deeply disturbing. So many memories bound up in the memoir for me and yet obviously such a dark side of the SLC campus I never experienced.
It was a poignant stab in the heart that “Angela” - the literature professor who serves as a framing recipient for this story - was in fact my don when I was a student at Sarah Lawrence. In fact, I could not help but notice that the author and I had similar experiences with Angela - transcendental change when she taught how to really, truly read for the first time - followed by what we believed to be some kind of intellectual connection and respect amongst peers - to a devastating disappointment at the critical moment.

[Alison Hadley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trauma Bond Story

I have worked with many victim-survivors of varying severities of abuse and torture, and this is a rather short story of such a situation. I am relieved to know Daniel (Danel) was able to escape this situation, as many are still trapped by the psychological methods used by psychopaths like Larry. His daughter became sadly complicit. The book itself could have been improved by providing more information about the effect on others and their loved ones, who also must have suffered. Hope author is receiving competent therapy for comprehensive recovery.