Is this the real life, is this just fantasy?

Part memoir and part exposé, I feel like this book could be alternately titled Leah Remini: Giver of No Fucks.

First off, I have been fascinated by Scientology for years now; more specifically the mindset behind the religion, how it came to be created, and how it has flourished over the years. It is straight up bananas. It’s like a real life science fiction story come to life. I think my first big introduction to it was Paul Haggis’s essay about Scientology after he left (Scientology outright condemns homosexuality, and two of his children are gay). It was an excellent read and left me wanting more, so from there I moved on to the very, very excellent, must-read book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright (Here is the Amazon link for that book. Seriously, go read it.) So when I heard Ms. Remini… you know what? I feel like she’d want me to call her Leah, so I’m going to do that. When I heard Leah had written a book about her experience in the church I immediately put in a request for the audiobook from my local library (it took for damn ever for it to become available!)

I mostly knew Leah’s work from King of Queens (though I wasn’t really a fan) and more importantly from my favorite childhood show Saved by the Bell. I wasn’t aware that Leah was a Scientologist until her very public departure in 2013, when she left the church and pulled the ultimate mic drop of filing a missing persons report on Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, whom Leah claims hasn’t been seen since sometime in 2007. This book chronicles how she and her family became involved in Scientology when she was young and follows her path to Hollywood and becoming an actress.

Whereas Going Clear takes a very unbiased approach to Scientology (and really it’s no wonder, given how the Church goes after people who speak negatively of the religion), true to her personality, Leah gets down into the nitty gritty of Scientology and brings a very personal level to it, which I loved. She swears like a sailor, and when she gets really worked up, her Brooklyn accent becomes even more pronounced, which made me love it even more.

You want the dirt on Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes? It’s here. The whole wedding experience/fiasco? Check. Other famous Scientologists like Kirstie Alley and Brooke Shields? Check and check. I usually try to keep in mind that there are two sides to every story, but given what I have previously learned about Scientology and how it treats its members, and defectors, I doubt there is much embellishing done in this book. What’s even greater about all of this is that while Leah gets into the dirt about the Church, she also never glosses over her own role and her own shortcomings in the events in her life. She has a great sense of humor about herself and I can always appreciate someone who is willing to laugh at themselves. Leah has a strong voice and although she is loud and outspoken, you can tell she has a big heart as well. Whether she intended this or not, you get the sense that she feels like the underdog in Hollywood, maybe even a bit of an outsider, and it lends a relatable vulnerability to her narrative. She gives the dirt, but she also takes time to reflect on her beliefs and the complicated way the Church affected her, and continues to affect her even after she has departed.

If you have any interest in Scientology, I highly recommend this book – specifically the audiobook as she is a very fun narrator. If you want the skinny on the workings of Scientology, start with Going Clear, but if you’re just looking for a more anecdotal story, this is your book.