GoodWGirl reviewed Growing up Duggar by Jana Duggar
Review of 'Growing up Duggar' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Although I always suspected this book was largely a cash grab fueled by their father's desire for noteriety, I loved this book when I read it years ago, and genuinely felt like the "it's all about relationships" message was a beautiful one.
However since then, the Duggars deeply hurtful views about LGBT people and their silence on, downplaying of, or covering up sexual offenders/offences have all caused me to think twice about my support for their media. There were also implications of healing mental illness exclusively with religion, which needless to say does not work for everyone.
On top of the resulting breech of trust based on these views and actions, there is also the hypocrisy that has become more clear over the years.
Thousands of young girls took to heart the Duggars testimony and advice about everything from dying your hair, to modesty standards, to media engagement, etc; and …
Although I always suspected this book was largely a cash grab fueled by their father's desire for noteriety, I loved this book when I read it years ago, and genuinely felt like the "it's all about relationships" message was a beautiful one.
However since then, the Duggars deeply hurtful views about LGBT people and their silence on, downplaying of, or covering up sexual offenders/offences have all caused me to think twice about my support for their media. There were also implications of healing mental illness exclusively with religion, which needless to say does not work for everyone.
On top of the resulting breech of trust based on these views and actions, there is also the hypocrisy that has become more clear over the years.
Thousands of young girls took to heart the Duggars testimony and advice about everything from dying your hair, to modesty standards, to media engagement, etc; and yet the authors of this book no longer follow many of the things they implored their readers to when this book was written! There has not been an attempt to explain or apologize or rewrite portions of the book to account for these changes.
For these reasons I would no longer recommend this book, not supporting the family financially in any way. I think a lot of former fans feel betrayed at this point, and they have not been acknowledged by the Duggar family.