Slonim Woods 9

April 12, 2021
Poet Levin debuts with a chilling account of the two years he spent living as part of a cult. Writing in eloquent prose, he describes how such a thing can happen, and why, as he puts it, “The alarms kept screaming, and we ignored them.” Levin’s freshman year at Sarah Lawrence College was like any other student’s, until he met Larry Ray, his classmate Talia’s father, in 2010. Ray lived with his daughter and her friends at their communal dorm, and, claiming to be a Defense Intelligence Agency operative, he ingratiated his way into the group first with relationship advice, and then guilt and intimidation. “You make your world what it is,” he tells Levin, “closed, small, weak, empty, bleak, barren... they don’t see it, but I see it.” Gripped by fear, the friends were eventually subjected to sexual and physical violence, and explicit torture, all by Ray. After two years, Levin finally found the strength to leave, seek therapy, and, with the encouragement of a friend, begin to write his story. (Ray currently awaits trial on federal charges of, among other things, conspiracy, extortion, and sex trafficking.) It’s tragic, but it’s also a powerful portrayal of a young man’s ability to emerge whole from an experience intended to break him. As dark as it is, there’s real beauty in this story. Agent: Chris Clemans, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

July 2, 2021

Levin and his housemates in Slonim Woods 9, a residence house at Sarah Lawrence College, were an offbeat bunch, so they had few qualms about letting Larry Ray (the father of their fellow student Talia) stay at their dorm for a while. But Ray turned out to be a charismatic manipulator and con man who preyed on the insecurities of the bright but vulnerable young students; within a year, Levin and his roommates were living with the man in his Manhattan apartment, where Ray subjected them to extortion, forced labor, and physical, mental, and sexual abuse under the guise of assisting them with personal and psychological problems. Levin recounts his three years within Ray's circle and his gradual self-liberation and recovery, offering a first-hand example of how anyone can be drawn into a cult environment, and how isolation and erosion of self-worth hamper one's ability to recognize and free themselves from an abusive person. Levin's writing is powerful throughout: he doesn't dwell in shame but rather finds a way to make peace with the past and move forward. VERDICT A poetic and intimate memoir of a harrowing ordeal. Any reader interested in the workings of cults or the experiences of people in cults will find this book worthwhile.--Kathleen McCallister, William & Mary Libs., Williamsburg, VA

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2021
This unsettling memoir depicts college friends in thrall to one student's devious, domineering father. Levin vividly evokes the collegiate atmosphere of the early 2010s, focusing on the bizarre experiences he endured at Sarah Lawrence College. "When I lived there I was a member of what I can now call a cult," he writes. While living in group housing, several students' lives were hijacked by Larry Ray, one girl's father. Initially introduced as "an incredible human being" with national security credentials, he served time in prison due to a vengeful ex-wife's machinations and involvement in scandals surrounding one-time Rudy Giuliani associate Bernard Kerik. Without much scrutiny, Ray moved in with the students and insinuated himself into their lives. A manipulative charmer, he soon commanded instant obedience. He moved the group to an apartment in Manhattan, increasingly controlling their sexual identities and inner lives, as he noted: "My skill set has been breaking minds, creating loops it's impossible to get out of....But I also have the ability to unravel the knots people have made in themselves." The narrative bubbles with tension as readers wonder how Ray will further extend his control over the group members, who were still "pretending we had something private, though nothing, really, was private anymore." Even when Levin studied in England, he remained preoccupied with Ray. "Something in me," he writes, "clamored for that feeling: time vanishing, that warmth washing over me, being able to share my secret fears, being told--convinced, rather--that every-thing would be all right." Levin controls this unsavory tale by contrasting Ray's bombast and deceptions with his own struggles with depression and identity alongside intense depictions of settings ranging from the bucolic campus to the group's flashy Manhattan environs. He captures how intense adolescent friendships are vulnerable to manipulation. Sometimes the author's exactitude becomes tiresome, as he relies on re-created conversations, including Ray's menacing monologues. (Ray has since been indicted on federal charges pertaining to the events documented here and elsewhere). An unusual, affecting portrait of how post-adolescent power dynamics are susceptible to cultish abuse.

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