Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing

 Book 60 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from August 9 - 17

Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough

published 2021

Summary (via the book jacket)

As an adult, Lauren Hough has had many identities: an airman in the U.S. Air Force, a cable guy, a bouncer at a gay club. As a child, however, she had none. Growing up as a member of the infamous Children of God cult, Hough had her own self robbed from her. The cult took her all over the globe, but it wasn't until she finally left for good that Hough understood she could have a life beyond "the Family".

At once razor-sharp, profoundly brave, and often very, very funny, the essays in Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing interrogate our notions of ecstasy, queerness, and what it means to live freely. Each piece is a reckoning: of survival, identity, and reclaiming one's past and future alike.

My Opinion

3 stars

I'm rating this neutrally but it's a low 3/high 2 stars for me.  I would never discourage someone from sharing their stories and I hope the author finds peace in her life but for me personally, it was difficult to read because it felt so freshly angry.  Understandably angry (not that she needs my permission) but still difficult.