krista ☽✧'s Reviews > The Project

'' It's that people get so confortable in the prisons they make for themselves , they instinctively reject what will set them free....''

"If you tell a story , something real , something true , you get to be alive in other people. and writing feels like the most, the greatest chance i wil ever have at being alive. ''

This revieuw is spoiler free for major things that happen , major spoilers can be found at the end of my revieuw in the spoiler section that is marked with spoiler tags

5 freaking stars. read this , be aware of this , let your mind be confused and be blown away. especially if you are intrested in cults then pick this up.....

The project by Courtney Summers , the author of sadie which i enjoyed and i gave 4 stars.
This is a book that explores the topic of a cult , a super important thing in my opinion that should be explored more often because it isnt fiction. Cults excist , these things are real and we should be aware of them. And its also about trauama , about losing your way in life. This story is definitly spreading awarenes and shows multiple sides of a situation dealing with a cult which was truly so fascinating for me damn. I got confused by this book by my own thoughts about this '' project '' i felt myself thinking is this really a cult , is this really bad '' and that scared the crap out of me. It felt like i was in this book myself besides the two main charracters , I found myself questioning everything with the main charracters and about the project and what it truly was, And if a book can make me think that much and makes me feel like i am truly in it then its definitly a good book for me and thats what this book did too me. I was fucking mindblown and confused during this story and ohmygod. I cant even explain. This book just really goes intoo this topic that is such an important topic as it is happening for real in this world. And i personally feel that it was done in such a good and real way. that didnt back off of the cruel things and the confusion of the minds of these main charracters. I also feel like this isnt basic YA. i felt that this was more NA/Adult because of how this topic was explored.

The author also mentioned about this book herself that this shows the less '' good '' way of coping with your feelings and traumas , its about charracters that deal with trauma and are coping in their own way which can also be less pretty. She also mentions that with this story and these charracters she wants too show the less pretty way of coping with trauma that is less accepted. Honestly such a true words that also describe this book so good. This book to me felt really real as i said before and i felt like i walked beside the charracters.

A little about the plot and my thoughts on it The project is a group of people who live in their own kinda town under the leaderment of Lev Warren , believer of god. The people who live here are all people who struggle with themselves , who feel like they dont matter anymore , people who are seeking something too feel alive again and feel usefull again after traumas they went too. These are the people that feel like they are not good enough , that are not being seen. They feel like they dont matter. But in this community they do have the feeling of mattering , of being seen , of feeling alive and doing something good too the world. These people help eachother too get trough their traumas under the guidance of Lev , trough the faith in god. If you put it like this do you now get yourself thinking ? do you have yourself thinking '' is this a cult for real or is this more a place where people connect , maybe this isnt that bad ? '' yes right? at least i did have these thoughts while reading and that is freaking scary.

Charracters The book follows two main charracters , two sisters and two timlines. We have the point of vieuw of the first main charracter ; Bea this is written in third person and is about her after the car accident where both the sisters have been in and where they lost their parents in and how she is traumatized by it as her sister ,Lo. is in the hosipital with really bad injuries. It follows her journey and how she came in the project and her journey while she is in it. The way she is badly traumatized and feels all alone and feels like she needs something too comfort her. Bea her story truly broke me. The way you see her slowly coming intoo the project , intopo the live she now lives... The other point of vieuw follows Lo this is written in first person and we are in her mind. It follows her in current time where she is also traumatized from everything that has happend. She blames the project for taking her sister away from them as Bea isnt in contact with her anymore and lives in the Project. She wants too look intoo the project too prove that they are a cult and wants too know where her sister is now , we follow her doing just this. But is the project what she thought it would be? even if you say a thousand times i would never be in that situation make these decisions can you still be sucked intoo it yourself too? this book also explores that situation in Lo her chapter. I loved thw two povs and how they always ended of this sort of twist which made me want too get too that pov again asap and then the pov of the other charracters also ends on a kinda cliffhanger and so it goes on and i wanted too keep reading , sucked in by this horrible story. Because it isnt a light fluffy read. Also Lev is truly freaking terrifying and more scary then all monsters in fantasy books , he is a monster as they live in our real world.. but the author making him this way and showing us this , respect.

End reccomendation I personally loved this book but it isnt a light read. I would definitly reccomend this if you like stories that are dark and explore cults , humanity. You also have too be able too deal with weaker/unlikeable charracter because this has in my opinion in the end really strong charracter but they go trough a journey of confusion which i love and made them so real and i felt with them but this could maybe be a point you woudnt like in this story. For me this story was so powerfull and made me feel with the charracters and it even twisted my own mind , its a story of manipulation and humanity and the uglyness it can have.

this book will leave me thinking about it so long after it and will always be with my i just know that. This is just such a powerfull story. I reccomend it too anyone too at least try and too become aware of this topic

SPOILER PART about the ending and big spoilers of the book !!! BE AWARE.
Ohmygod. That ending. it made me sob a lot. the realization that Bea and Lo havent seen eachother since the time Lo was in the hospital and that breaks me somuch. The way Bea thought she did good , the way she got manipulated into the project which is a cult. The way she just coudnt handle her trauma and then the project was there. And then the history repeats itself with Lo as she is also dealing with her trauma , she keeps saying its a cult, she is convinced but then also she gets manipulated and me allong side her... like honestly for real i sometimes questioned the project if it was really that bad and i got part manipulated too even tho i knew it was a cult and terrible. But dam rthe way Courtney has wrote this.... i cant. Also in the ending Bea is death and i expected thisd and feared this... But lo , i am so proud of lo she came trough this journey and now she will publish the story and tells everyone about the project , about her sisters story damn. Also lev is disgusting and ugh but the way the author created him damn. I see some people saying in revieuws that Lo is spoiled and acting like she has it so bad when she as a normal job at a good company and she wants more. i dont agree with this fully . I feel like you can have a good job but you can want more and feel like you want more. She also deals with a lot of trauma because of everything and i didnt feel like she was acting spoiled. it felt human too me. Alos yes the relationships between both the sister fucking Lev , yes that disgusting but this whole story is freaking discusting and that is the point of it too show the ugly part and these cults and people like Lev can make people do things like this and i believe it can and that is freaking scary realizing that. Damn