No Crying For Elena

No Crying For Elena by N. Meridian

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was an awesome read! It is one of those books that I found very hard to put down once I opened its pages.

No Crying for Elena tells the story of the life of a woman who was raised within the confines of the Nation of Yaweh cult in Florida. Seperated, along with her siblings, from her parents she is raised with other cult children and given Hebrew names as well as given little food and given strict discipline. When the cult begins to break apart amidst legal turmoil she finds herself in the real world as a teen and has to learn not only how to live but also to help raise her many younger siblings.

As the story is told you feel as though you are sitting on a porch somewhere listening to the story of her life. You feel her pain and shame as she survives rape and molestation. You see life from her point of view as a woman looking back on her childhood and teen years. Its amazing how she not only survives but grows to be a strong woman that makes a life for her and her child. A woman that has to make hard decisions and is better for it.

Women so often feel as if rape is their fault. And in this book we really understand the why behind this. Its not only men that make women feel this way, its society as a whole. Meridian tells her story in such a way as not to lay blame for this fact but just to state that it is. And through this we see how much of a horror and a crime it is for a family to turn a blind eye to the victem of rape as it is for the actual crime that was committed.

But there is so much more to this book than just these aspects. Its a very powerful, honest journey through the life of a remarkable woman. This is a book that everyone should read.



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