Review: Member of the Family: My Story of Charles Manson, Life Inside His Cult, and the Darkness That Ended the Sixties

Member of the Family: My Story of Charles Manson, Life Inside His Cult, and the Darkness That Ended the Sixties by Dianne Lake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Charles Manson. A lot. Not in the "I write fangirl letters to him in prison and hope to one day marry his psychopathic, yet so damn charismatic, self" way, but let's just say that if I was alive and into LSD in the late 1960's, I could see myself hopping on that little repurposed school bus with the rest of the Family.

I actually just love cults in general, but anyone that knows me knows that Manson and the Family are my #Favorite! I have watched so many documentaries, read so many articles, listened to so many podcasts about Charles Manson and his followers that I could personally teach a brilliant college course on this shit. I am to the point where I watch documentaries for the sole purpose of pointing out how incorrect their representation of facts are and to brag (to myself mainly..) about how much more educated I am on the topic. Silly amateurs.

This novel is pretty legit - it's supposedly a true account of Diane's experiences as a Manson girl, and for the most part I can believe it. I mean, let's just all agree that she clearly embellished some aspects as there is NO FRIGGIN WAY she would be able to remember with such precise clarity the details of events that transpired when she was 15 yrs old and high as a kite on marijuana and LSD. But I will forgive her because it's interesting as hell to hear her side of one of the most fantastically notorious (and always #1 in my heart!) cults in America.

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