REVIEW: Even amidst the pain, author manages to show kindness

A review of Excommunicated. A multigenerational story of leaving the Exclusive Brethren, by Craig Hoyle

Abstract

Excommunicated. A multigenerational story of leaving the Exclusive Brethren, by Craig Hoyle. Auckland: Harper Collins, 2023. 327 pages.  ISBN 9871775542018

IN THIS deeply personal memoir, Sunday Star-Times journalist Craig Hoyle turns his lens on his own family and the destructive effects upon them of their religion. Growing up in an Exclusive Brethren family meant closeness and warmth, but it also meant strict discipline, public prayers every day, and not really having schoolfriends for young Craig.  It also meant there were family members nobody talked about because they had transgressed increasingly arbitrary sets of rules, or called out high-handed or incompetent leadership.