My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru

When I think about children growing up in communes, victims of cults, I think about the abuses you always hear happen in these situations. I imagined when I picked up this book that it would be a horrifying tale of sexual and physical abuse of a small child. I braced myself. Instead, I found that the child narrator, Tim, wasn't sexually or physically abused. In fact, he seemed to have many fond memories related to the commune and his life there. It was only when considered from an adult's point of view that the shocking amount of neglect comes into focus. The children in the commune did suffer in this very specific way. The damage was not as graphic and sensationalized as many people expect from a story about growing up in a cult, but it was horrifying nonetheless. Tim Guest did a fantastic job balancing this story to show why people might have been sucked into this commune in the first place, and then why they would decide to leave.

This book gives a startling, funny, sometimes unbelievable account of a child's life growing up in existentialist communes all over the world. From six years old, Tim Guest travels the world, dragged helplessly by his mother, in search of enlightenment--all through the teachings of Bahgwan, an uconventional guru. As the reader, you can experience the contradiction of the notion of a carefree childhood and living a life where attachment to family and friends was viewed as a path to certain destruction. What's more, you can read it through the eyes of child. It is a compelling story, without judgement or prejudice. It is the most eloquent and poignant book I have read TO DATE. The ultimate book for my fellow yogis out there. Read it, then pass it on!