- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Epigraph Publishing (30 July 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 098245306X
- ISBN-13: 978-0982453063
- Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.5 x 0.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 517,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
This is a mother's account of her experience as a disciple of her own son - Andrew Cohen, a well-known American guru - and of her struggle to free herself from his control. What had been a close, affectionate relationship slowly becomes a nightmare of domination. The story begins quiely in India and unfolds with growing intensity as Andrew, his mother, and a few people who have gathered around him, travel to England, Holland, Israel, and finally the United States, but which time Andrew has attracted hundreds of devotees to his "meetings." The abuse of power, incessant fear, and the pyschology of obsession are all explored here from an intimate perspective. Since brainwashing cults and their grandiose gurus are proliferating - in this country and all over the world - this book is not only a mother's lament, but also a finger pointing to the growing appeal everywhere of authoritarianism and absolutism.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I think that this is a courageous book. Luna writes honestly and openly about her own experience and in so doing exposes herself to the judgmental criticisms of those who find raw emotion uncomfortable. It is painful and self-exposing at times, and I have to admire her openness in this. Of course many who read this book will do so out of curiosity re Andrew Cohen, and this was what attracted my own interest. I knew a number of people who had contact with him in Devon at the time of events described in the book: some I remember as being very enthusiastic, others very anti, but all of them were OK people who I liked. It's unfortunate that Andrew seems to create a polarity around him, as can be seen by previous reviews on this page: people either put him down or worship him; there is no middle ground. (Yes, object relations theorists draw your own conclusions from that well known position of Mrs Klein). So this book tells us more about Andrew, and gives another side of the story. It also highlights how difficult it is to move away from the position of devotee or "student" once one has invested a significant amount of oneself in the "teacher/guru", even if one has reservations about this "teacher/guru". However the real interest for me in this book is the account of a mother-son relationship in all its emotional rawness and this I suspect is what some readers find difficult. I had read Andrew's "Autobiography of an Awakening" some years before and his comments there about his mother had indicated that all was not well in Eden. In reading Luna's book now, I find that their relationship gives me useful insight into my relationship with my own mother, and how, like Andrew I tend to avoid or control this. This for me has been the real value of this book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In an age in which all psychic ills are placed upon the parent, it is refreshing to read a mother's story of her desperate attempts to accept and be accepted by her son following his "enlightenment" in India. She tells the story with unexpected objectivity, arising perhaps from aseemingly total naivete throughout a bizarre turn of events: her son's elevation to the rank of guru by his Indian teacher and his adoooption by followers in England, Holland, Israel and America. This reader is reminded of similar studies of human folly such as "Escape From Freedom" by Eric Fromm, who might have made a parallel (but didn't) between the human animal and another pack animal, the dog, and how each is ready to sacrifice autonomy to its leaders. Sadly, one remembers the charming and contrasting account of a more famous American guru, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and his developing friendshiip with his widowed father. Luna Tarlo has given us a well-told, engrossing memoir. It's worth a try!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'The Mother of God' by Luna Tarlo has a literary value far exceeding the limited genre of the "tell-all-cult-stories" of ex-disciples. The real interest of Tarlo's story is in its depiction of a mother and son who go way beyond the accepted boundaries of the conventional parent-child relationship (and of a mother unconventional enough to share this experience). It is in this sense most of all, perhaps, that Luna Tarlo's 'The Mother of God' is not only a fascinating book, but a brave one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
mother of god
This was of personal interest because I had undergone a similar experience but I did find it a bit of a rant. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Nicola Vernon
Great, but for all the wrong reasons...
Just like Andre Van Den Braak's "Enlightenment Blues", this is a different take on spiritual guru and "Evolutionary Enlightenment" (?????) vendor, Andrew Cohen. Read more
Published on 30 May 2007 by A reviewer
Absolutely no beef!!
On every page of this book the author describes in painful detail the seeming horrors of her son as he allegedly, in her view, hides his abusive power over others beneath the thin... Read more
Published on 18 Oct 1998
Descent into obsession, story of a woman's depression
This is one of the worst books I have ever read. A poorly written basically stream of consciousness book, this novel takes you through the darkness of one woman's mind. Read more
Published on 12 Oct 1998
DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY
I'm writing in response to Luna Tarlo's book Mother of God. It's about her son, spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen. I've read this book, and I have to say that it is really awful. Read more
Published on 12 Oct 1998
A suspect narrative
Don't be deceived. The publicity kit for this book admits that it is a novel! One has to question the mother who tries to destroy her son using a fictional account as the... Read more
Published on 11 Oct 1998
There is a dark side to this guru ...
If you would like to know where this guru is really coming from, perhaps you might consider reading the book his mother has just written about him. Read more
Published on 2 May 1998
"You have to delude yourself before you can delude others."
It took courage for Luna Tarlo to write a frank book like this, with no attempt at making herself look good. Read more
Published on 2 May 1998
we learn too late of the devastation that cults can cause ..
Luna Tarlo's book, "The Mother of God" describes what seems inexplicable: how one human being gains power over others through the promise of permanent future happiness,... Read more
Published on 29 April 1998
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