Wow. What a tremendous memoir. I’ll preface this review by saying my thoughts on JW as a religious organisation are not clear cut. I have friends who are JW and are really happy, my friend doesn’t appear oppressed by her husband and her children are bright, happy and just regular kids. As a CofE Christian myself there are a few things that my friends Kingdom Hall do that I really think we could learn from as our church slowly dwindles as it’s ageing population dies. BUT all that aside I have no doubt that Ali’s experience is genuine and that she and many hundreds or even thousands of other ex Witnesses have been traumatised by the very people and place that are supposed to provide you with comfort and safety. The fact that, like Mormonism the JW faith has been written and designed by ‘modern’ day white men in ivory towers in the USA is enough to make me suspicious of its true biblical purpose and reading how women are expected to be submissive to their parents, then church then husband it’s definitely something I couldn’t be a part of.
But my experiences aren’t relevant here, Ali Millars’s are and she writes them so beautifully. It is incredible how she manages to capture the spirit of whatever age she is and imbue that into those chapters so that you’d be forgiven for thinking that she was copying from a childhood log book. Her growing maturity matches the maturity of the storytelling until by the end it is elegiac and fully grown.
I could have carried on reading it for days and am a little cross that it was so good I raced through it!

Whatever your thoughts on religion this is a great book about being a woman and how your life changes and is changed for you by the choices you make and the people who surround you.

The Last Days by Ali Millar

It is 1982 and in the Kingdom Hall we are Jehovah's Witnesses. The state of the world shows us the end is close, and Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking to devour us.
A very good insight into what life and the expectation of growing up as the child of a Jehovah Witness .
I felt Ali captured and gave us a real feel on how it all affected her.
Well written .

Wow, what an emotive book that was to read. There is a Kingdom hall not far from where I like and you've always wondered what goes on behind closed doors - this book certainly gives you the answers, and answers that now I know the answer to, I will give it a wide berth. You have to hand it to the author for wanting a life outside of being a Witness and their rules/lifestyle even if it has come at a huge personal loss.

This is a staggering work, lyrical and devastating, yet hopeful. How Millar has captured her voice through the different stages of her memories is awe-inspiring. Setting the absolute case for keeping children free from religious ideologies because of the damage they do, this has to be the non-fiction book of 2022.