2.5/5 ⭐️
The writing and explorations of different cults was done very well. Another thing that I really liked about this story was that it focused a lot on the bonds of siblings specifically sisters, and how far they are willing to go to protect one another. I really enjoyed the premise and themes that were in this story but I was never hooked into the story. Something that an author needs to do in a book is make you care about the characters and want to read more but I honestly have no feelings for this book. There was nothing about the characters that made me connect with any of them especially the main character because I felt she was overly whiny and entitled because of what she has accomplished. Overall, I personally did not like this book as much as her previous book Sadie.

A good thriller. Keeps you in suspense until the end. Good vs evil - don't believe everything you're told - or even see! Another charismatic leader revealed by the most unlikely heroine.

<i>Having a sister is a promise no one but the two of you can make—and no one but the two of you can break.</i>

lo is nineteen, working as an executive assistant at a fledgling magazine whose founder’s mission to expose the truth at any cost is one she deeply admires and hopes to someday contribute to in a more meaningful way than fetching coffee. the truth she would most like to expose is that of the unity project; a religious group in upstate new york dedicated to social betterment through community outreach under the guidance of the charismatic lev warren.

it’s also a straight-up cult.

six years ago, when lo’s sister bea was herself nineteen, she met warren in the hospital chapel where she was praying for thirteen-year-old lo, clinging to life after the car crash that killed their parents instantly. desperate and alone in the world; a teenager tasked with the burdens of funeral arrangements and medical decisions in the midst of her own grief, bea is as shattered emotionally as her sister is physically, so when lev appears, and seems to perform a miracle—bringing lo back from weeks-long unconsciousness, it is as though he is the literal answer to her prayers. once lo is well enough to be left in the care of a great-aunt neither of them know, bea joins the unity project, becoming more and more distant until she eventually cuts ties with lo altogether.

lo is convinced that the unity project is shady—there have been controversies and rumblings over the years, but no one has been able to uncover enough dirt to stick. when lo witnesses the suicide of a young man affiliated with the group—who calls her by her name and mouths “find it” before stepping in front of a train—she sets out to investigate the group on her own, hoping to find her sister, bring her back and hold lev accountable.

the story alternates between these two parallel stories in different timelines; bea gratefully entering into the project’s fold and lo barging in with her notebook, skepticism, and virtuous agenda. the more time lo spends with lev, however, the more she begins to question her own beliefs about the project, her sister, and herself.

i put off writing this review for like five months, partly because i was tears-in-my-eyes touched that courtney summers even knew who i was, let alone was offering to give me a copy of this gorgeous creature, and i wanted to Do a Good Job, but also because i didn’t love it right out of the gate, on a visceral, emotional level.

now that some time has passed for reflection, i’m able to see that on a craft level, what she did is really impressive, so even if it didn’t ponch me in my feels the way Sadie did, it’s more important and resonant a reading experience, chronicling the influence of a strong personality on two vulnerable women: both nineteen, both alone in the world, both emotionally underfed; one who wants to believe very much and one who’s not gonna believe anything.

we’re drawn to bea’s story because we want to know where she is and what happened, but we naturally align ourselves with the skeptical lo (right?), and as her resistance is chipped away by doubt, it is a potent destabilization for the reader.

it’s been a year of mass manipulation, of people believing unbelievable shit, of herman cain tweeting weeks after his own death-by-covid that the pandemic was no big deal—so many things you would read in a book and think, “that’s too contrived.”

but here we are. and this book’s depiction of the seductive appeal of being seen, of sinking into someone’s ideology, in being told how special you are by someone everyone around you regards as capital-c chosen, how, among so many true believers, a little self-doubt goes a long way; it’s masterfully written and needs to be read. the exploitation of loneliness is reprehensible.

<blockquote>I can’t stand it, anymore, when people touch me and I find it hard to explain. It’s not that I don’t want to be touched. It’s because I do—so much—and I’m afraid I’ll give away what’s left of myself to feel less alone.

I already did it once.</blockquote>


i read this and the (still-unreviewed, grrr) We Can Only Save Ourselves months apart, and—oddly enough—they both pub on feb 2. if you're gonna read one cult-themed book this year, i'd go with this one, even if you're not into YA, because—like so many of her books—it's got crossover appeal for days.

The Project by Courtney Summers is an interesting book that explores how a cult can destroy families. The main characters' lives are greatly impacted by the influence of a charismatic leader. The book reveals how appealing membership in one of these organizations can be to individuals seeking love and acceptance, but that acceptance comes with a cost.

The main characters in this book are sisters. One sister, Lo, is in a life-threatening accident as a child. Her older sister, Bea, struggles to deal with Lo's accident and its aftermath. She turns to Lev Warren, leader of The Unity Project, to find healing and purpose. By joining the Project, she severs her ties with her sister. Lo does not understand why her sister has left her life and blames the Project for taking Bea from her. Therefore, Lo sets out as a young woman to learn and reveal the truth behind the Project. To do this, she must get close to its leader, which is a risky endeavor.

The premise of this book is interesting and engaging. The delivery is a bit chaotic, though. The story is told in two different timelines from the perspectives of Lo and Bea. It is often not clear at first which sister's storyline is being told at a given moment in the book. Some aspects of the story do not get explained well, either. Overall, I just found myself often confused.

This is one of those books that I find it hard to really like any of the characters. That's not necessarily a problem in the writing. Not all characters are meant to be likable. It just lowers a book's appeal to me in the sense that I will not likely want to pick it up again. I will admit, however, that the cult leader character is very interesting to read and well portrayed. I wish I had enjoyed the two main characters more.

I would recommend this book to fans of fiction that is focused on cults. It portrays that lifestyle and its members in a very engaging and fascinating manner.

The Project is a compelling and riveting reading experience. It’s a story of sisterhood, but it’s so much more than that. It’s emotional, gut wrenching, and utterly heartbreaking. This author slowly, quietly, and effectively ripped my heart out with every turn of the page.

Bea and Lo’s lives were forever changed by the horrendous car accident that claimed their parents’ lives and left Lo hanging on for dear life. As their mother always reinforced, sisters share a sacred bond, and losing her parents and seeing her sister wounded was almost more than Bea could bear. She felt lost, alone, bereft, helpless…and in walked Lev Warren, the leader of The Unity Project, to make his pitch and save the day.

This may sound a bit odd, but I’ve always had a fascination with cults. They cater to the most vulnerable, lonely, frightened, lost souls and offer them the promise of family and community. In The Unity Project, they offered all of this as well as redemption.

Lo, an aspiring journalist, was lonely, angry, afraid, and in the shadow of the accident that had left her maimed and orphaned. She didn’t only lose her parents; she also lost her beloved Bea, and she would stop at nothing to get her back. Lo was on a mission to get to Bea and expose The Unity Project for what it truly was.

Lev Warren was everything that one would expect from a cult leader. He was charismatic, convincing, warm, welcoming, committed to doing God’s work and making the world a better place. He preyed on the vulnerable, offering redemption to anyone who wished to join in his life’s work. He was, after all, God’s chosen Redeemer. How could you blame people for falling for Lev’s promises? They needed to believe in something, to feel worthy, and Lev filled the void.

After several attempts and failures to go to The Unity Project’s property to confront Lev and find Bea, Lo finally got the opportunity to go and interview Lev. Her investigation brought her into the fold of the organization and its members, however, it also put her in the direct pull of Lev’s magnetism and made her question whether she could have been wrong about The Unity Project all along.

The story jumps back and forth to different years in the sisters’ lives, giving the reader a window into how everything transpired. This style worked well for this story, allowing me to get to know the characters better, to understand them and their motivations, and to feel the emotions right along with each of them.

The Project had my pulse racing and my suspicious nature on high alert. It is an intriguing, fast-paced, thrilling story that had me holding my breath in anticipation.

*4.5 Stars

Bea and Lo are sisters who lost their parents in a tragic car accident. Lo was also in the accident, but survived after what Bea thought was a miracle. That miracle was Lev Warren, the charismatic leader of The Unity Project. When Bea joins The Unity Project, she leaves Lo to survive on her own. Six years later, Lo is working at a magazine. When someone shows up claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo decides to do a story in hopes of finding her sister and proving that The Project is in fact a cult. Lo begins to get closer to Lev and the members of The Project and starts to question her beliefs. Will she figure out what is in fact real and what happened to her sister?

This book is a slow burn. It is told from both Bea and Lo’s perspectives and jumps around from different time periods. It was a bit confusing figuring out who everyone was at first and what time we were in even though there are headers with the years. There are no chapters in this book just five parts, and I think that if there were chapters stating the year and who was telling their story it would be more helpful to the reader. There are some jumps from one situation to another that do not have a break, which can be confusing to the reader.

I found Lo to be unlikeable and preferred the sections told from Bea’s perspective. I thought that Foster was a great character and really liked his story. Lev was the epitome of a cult leader so it was definitely hard to like him, and Casey was another interesting character as she helped Lev all along throughout the book.

I liked the setting of upstate New York and found the author to be very descriptive. I could picture the lake and cabin at The Unity Project. Parts 1-3 were a bit slow for my liking, but Parts 4 and 5 moved quickly and were the most interesting to me. I liked the mystery aspect of what happened to Bea and how it all came together at the end although I do feel some parts were rushed and skimmed over. However, if you enjoy books about cults, I would recommend this.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was so thrilled to receive a copy of The Project to read for review, after recently reading and loving Sadie. I was and continue to be a huge fan of Summer’s writing and the themes and topics she writes about are so compelling.

After Bea loses both her parents in a tragic accident that leaves her younger sister hospitalized and in the care of a family member, she becomes involved with The Unity Project. Years later and Lo, her younger sister, is investigating The Project as a writer and more importantly in search for her sister.

I loved the back in forth in time and character POV throughout the book and the pacing was on point for my taste. I wish we could have seen even more of the actual cult but I understand it wasn’t the sole focus...I’m just fascinated by cults and would probably always want to read more. I was surprised with some of the paths the story took, while other reveals were less surprising but still satisfying.

When Courtney Summers won the Edgar Award in the Young Adult category for her 2018 novel Sadie, long-time fans such as myself nearly stood in ovation. Here was a book that took serious chances and really said something to readers – both young and old. Since then, we have waited patiently to see how Courtney Summers would follow up this success and next week she releases The Project. Believe me when I tell you it was more than worth the wait.

At the core, The Project is a story of sisters – Beatrice (Bea) and Glory (Lo) Denham. When a tragic car accident takes their parents from them and leaves Lo at death’s door, it seems that all is lost forever. But then along comes Lev Warren, the spiritual leader of The Unity Project, making promises to the vulnerable Bea. When Lo eventually wakes in the ICU, she learns that her parents are gone (dead) and her sister is gone (left); Bea has joined The Unity Project.

Several years later, working a grunt job at a highly controversial magazine, Lo stumbles upon what she hopes can be her first big journalist assignment. After witnessing a suicide on her way to work, she discovers that the victim’s father believes that The Unity Project is at fault. The fact that this boy called out Lo’s name before he jumped onto the subway tracks links this back to Bea and sets Lo on a journey to save her sister – and herself.

Granted unparalleled access to Lev Warren and The Unity Project, Lo’s exposé proves to be more complicated than she could ever imagine. Every step is a potential trap and Lo, for all her single-mindedness, is still in an extremely vulnerable state.

Readers know that Courtney Summers isn’t going to take the easy path – nor even the predicted path – with her novels and The Project is no different. This is a difficult read in the sense that the scars, both literal and figurative, are very near the surface. Anyone who has ever wondered about how cults work and what types of people are susceptible to them will find much to explore in The Project; but trust me when I say that you may be surprised.

To narrow The Project down to a “cult novel” is unfair. It is really a book about self-discovery, trauma, faith, and family and uses the cult as a powerful backdrop upon which all of that unfolds. Courtney Summers is a beautiful writer; she crafts sentences that sing while they mine for emotion that wants to stay buried by ultimately must be torn asunder. Forget trying to mount a defense against the hypnotic power of The Project.

Who knows where Courtney Summers will go next, but I know that her fans will follow her anywhere and we will be justly rewarded.

This was a good read, but not mind blowing like others by the author. Overall, it was well written, fast paced, and hard to pit down at times, but something war missing for me and I just couldn’t give it the full 5 stars. I don’t even know for sure what is off, but it was lacking something that brought it to the mind blowing 5 star good! I would still highly recommend, as it’s quite easy to get through and does provide the thrills, chills, and shocks most us genre lovers yearn!

Will make sure to buzz it up on platforms and use low amazon reviewer number on release date!

It's hard to read this and not compare it to the last Courtney Summers book. SADIE was phenomenal, the kind of reading experience I crave and rarely find. THE PROJECT was great but I was wanting so much more.

It's not the page-turner I was expecting, and the plot is a slow build. The non-linear timeline took some getting used to and the sister's relationship didn't touch the emotions like I thought it would. With topics of cults, abuse, and trauma I didn't get the dark, suspenseful vibe. The ending seemed rushed or thrown together.

I liked this book (even with all those problems) and CS can write. The realness of the topics CS writes about exudes from the page. The characters feel like real people along with their issues. I look forward to the next CS book.

3.5 stars- the writing was compelling & I was definitely sucked in, but the middle third lagged & Lo was not a very smart character. she honestly just annoyed me a lot. Also, maybe like one too many sub-plots going on. Overall, I liked it, but didn’t love.

[Content warnings: cult, gaslighting, manipulation, child abuse, abuse (cigarette burn, scalding, etc.), panic attacks, death of family members, suicide (jumper), vandalization, pregnancy, car accident, substance-induced psychosis, threatening, possible PTSD, infidelity]

“The Project” is a story about a cult, The Unity Project led by Lev Warren, and the unbreakable ties between sisters Lo (b.1998) and Bea (b. ca. 1992) Denham.

Lo has always dreamed of being a writer but is currently, in 2017, stuck working as an assistant for Paul Tindale at SVO, a magazine company. When the opportunity arises for her to dig into The Unity Project, a religious organization Lo believes to have taken Bea from her, she risks her own safety for a series of exclusive interviews with Lev. With Lo being facially scarred from a life-threatening car accident that killed both her parents in 2011, she is recognizable everywhere at The Project’s compounds as Bea’s little sister. But Lo is tired of everyone else knowing Bea when she hasn’t heard from her sister in a long time, and she is desperate to find out what is really going on at The Unity Project.

I finished the book in one afternoon, the plot so intense that I couldn’t put it down. The most unsettling thing is that Lev Warren truly believes in what he preaches and that he seems like a very nice and incredibly charming person (as many cult leaders are). I kept wanting to know what hides behind his façade.

There are two alternating timelines: Lo’s present first-person POV and Bea’s past third-person POV, both in present tense as young adult fiction often is. Most of the story is set in 2017-2018, the present time for Lo, but we get glimpses of what Bea was going through over the past few years.

The Unity Project takes advantage of the human need of being seen, loved, and cared for. I can definitely see why Lev has so many followers, but given Lo’s blatant hatred toward him in the beginning, I couldn’t quite see how she slowly falls into his thrall. I guess being on the outside looking in, I could never fully see the shift. But it is undeniable that Lo, who lost her parents to death and her sister to The Project, has no one in her life, and as a 19/20-year-old, she has definitely gone through way more pain and trauma than anyone should ever have. I understand that her yearning for the idea of being part of a family plays a big role in the plot, too.

“The Project” was a bit more complex than I had anticipated; it isn’t just about exposing Lev Warren but also the butterfly effect of Jeremy’s suicide, Lo’s almost-fatal car accident years ago, and the bond between between siblings. I love that we get to see some characters from different viewpoints, especially Foster and Rob, and I really like the pureness of the three-year-old Emmy.

I did expect the book to end on a darker note but was pleasantly surprised that it has a relatively happy ending. The Unity Project feels like a warm place but throughout the narrative, there is always a sense of foreboding that makes this book such a page-turner. In the end, there is hope despite the horridness of theme.

“The Project” is a thrilling YA on cult and familial losses. This is my first book by Summers; I love the world she created for this story and will certainly be reading more of her works as well.

Two sisters. One trying to find answers and one holding them.

Nineteen-year-old Lo is on her way to work when a man confronts her before throwing himself in front of a subway train. Shortly after a man comes into her work at a small newspaper, claiming a cult called the project, killed his son. Soon Lo starts digging into the group in order to find her older sister that she hasn’t seen since a tragic accident that left Lo barely alive and their parents deceased. Now if she wants answers she will have to trust in the man that started it all, Lev Warren.

This story is such a thrilling, deep and mind twisting ride. Just when I thought I knew how things are going to go they just flip again. I’ve always enjoyed Courtney Summers books and this was another good one in my opinion. The characters were intriguing and the way she made the cult feel was so perfect. It was a mild thriller. I wouldn’t say an on the edge of your seat thriller but it was still a thriller non the less. The story itself kept me glued to it and I had a hard time putting it down.

I recommend this story for fans of mysteries and light thrillers. I would say its also a good start for older teens just getting into the genre since its not too intense for newcomers.

The Project by Cortney Summers is a compelling look at what drives people to join a cult and stay even after they realize what it is.

What I Liked

I liked the many relevant themes that wound their way throughout the story providing an authentic feel. They all work together to tell the tale of two sisters whose lives drastically change the day a devastating accident occurred - themes of sacrifice, grief, loss, forgiveness, and love, as well as the all-important theme of the need to belong to something much bigger than ourselves. The story is rich with emotion, devastating in its truths, and insightful with its look into the human mind.

The crafting of the characters is so divine that their vulnerability and need shine through in a way that makes them sympathetic, even when you want to shake reality back into their minds. The complexities and the layers upon layers of those complexities are just mind-blowing. Lo and Bea share the spotlight though Lo is the one telling us the tale, and she does so in such a stark, matter-of-fact manner that it is easy to forget this is a fictional story.

The story Lo tells was in 2018, and the rest of the story in this dual timeline tale is set between the accident and a year prior. The dual timeline is essential to the story but could be discombobulating to read, especially at first. Yet, it's hard to fault it as it allows the telling of the complete tale.

To Read or Not to Read

If you love exploring how the mind works and why people join cults, this is the perfect book for you and will draw you in from the first page and keep you there well after the last page.

I really enjoyed this one! I loved the cult storyline (it reminded me quite a bit of some of the cults I've been binge-watching documentaries about - particularly NXIVM). The vibe was definitely reminiscent of Sadie, which I liked, though I think I preferred Sadie just the tiniest bit more because I listened to the audiobook, which is amazing. This was very close to five stars, but I found the ending kind of unsatisfying. It's not open-ended, but it also wrapped up in a way that I didn't particularly love. But, overall, a great book!

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Content warning for emotional, physical, and sexual violence, including child abuse and rape, as well as suicide. Caution: there are some vague spoilers ahead.)

Having a sister, Mom says, is a place only the two of them will share, made of secrets they never have to say aloud—but if they did, it would be in a language only the two of them could speak. Having a sister is a promise no one but the two of you can make—and no one but the two of you can break.

***

Bea closes her eyes. She wants Lo to understand that night in the hospital, what was supposed to be Lo’s last night on earth. How it brought Bea to her knees and how it split her heart in half and how its break called forth a miracle. She wants Lo to understand how it felt to be there, to feel death so imminent, a palpable rot, and then to have Lev stand over Lo’s prone body and take it all away. To see him lay his hands on her, to feel the electricity that filled the small space. It was an electricity that traveled through all of them but none more than Lo.

***

The Unity Project was so burned into her there was no other place for that stranger but here. And if that stranger isn’t here, and my sister still isn’t with me— Who is she now?

***

When she was thirteen years old, Gloria "Lo" Denham was in a devastating car accident. Lo was pulled from the wreck, barely clinging to existence, with the jaws of life; her parents, also in the car, were not as fortunate. In one catastrophically unlucky moment, fate claimed most of Lo's small family - everyone except her older sister Bea(trice).

Only six years her senior, Bea was ill-equipped to deal with the tragedy, let alone the toll it took on her sister. When it looked like Lo might die, Bea prostrated herself on the floor of the church chapel, begging for the intervention of a god she didn't entirely believe in. What she got was Lev Warren, founder of The Unity Project, who purportedly brought Lo back from the dead by laying hands on her.

Grieving, lost, and feeling indebted to Lev, once it became clear that Lo would survive, Bea ran off to join The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great-aunt Patty, whom neither of them had ever met before. Lo hasn't seen her sister since, though it's not for lack of trying: all of Lo's calls to The Project's HQ are rebuffed, allegedly at Bea's request. Eventually Lo gives up, though she finds the moving on much more difficult.

As Warren's congregation continues to grow, rumors swirl around The Unity Project: namely, that it's a cult, on a par with the People's Temple or Heaven's Gate. Could something more sinister be lurking behind The Project's social justice outreach and good works, or are those in power just threatened by Lev's?

Fast-forward six years. It's now 2017, and a chance encounter with a suicidal young man at the subway station pulls Lo back into the orbit of The Unity Project. Now working at SVO as the assistant to acclaimed journalist Paul Tindale, and desperately eager to prove herself, Lo starts digging into The Unity Project with renewed vigor. What she finds is earth shattering: her sister left The Project several months before - and without Emmy, the three-year-old niece Lo is just discovering she has. Most bonkers of all, media-shy Lev Warren wants Lo to profile the group for SVO - after all, what better publicity than a glowing piece by a longtime skeptic?

THE PROJECT is exactly what I expected from Courtney Summers - and also not! (It's a weird, disquieting feeling.) There was more than one moment when I wanted to throw my Kindle into the snow drifts outside, but I'm glad I stuck it out: THE PROJECT is a twisty thriller about a cult (or is it?); Jim Jones given the Courtney Summers treatment.

The suspense angle of the story is pretty great, and there are plenty of smaller mysteries that all tie into the larger one (is Lev the Big Bad or the next best thing to JC?). Summers manages to keep it going right to the very end, even after the big question mark has mostly been wrapped up. It's a satisfying story, if frustrating at times.

I know that, at its core, this is supposed to be a book about sisters - but honestly, I felt like the relationship between Bea and Lo mostly takes a backseat to the culty stuff (and at least in part because their relationship is so colored by Bea's involvement in The Project).

I'm kind of obsessed with cults (a plot line involving a cult is an insta-read for me) - but even those with just a passing interest will easily recognize all the neon pink warning signs Summers throws up here: being cut off from your friends, your family, all remnants of your previous life. The social isolation. Giving all your earthly possessions to the church. The taped confessions, public shamings, and "spiritual audits." And, of course, the psychological manipulation and physical and emotional abuse.

The fact that Summers had me doubting even for a moment? Impressive, but also kind of scary.

Bonus points for Lev's prediction of Donald T****(*chef's kiss*).

Lord have mercy. The Project will take you on the ride of your life and while you might be a little emotionally bloody at the end, you’ll be happy you did it.

Characters (and a little bit of structure)

Lo is me. She is the skeptic, the one who’s been hurt and left behind, and the one trying to save the people she loves from being hurt. Which is why the way Lo is drawn into The Unity Project is all the more scary. Because she is us all. She is the person you’d never expect to “fall for it.”

But when she discovers what the head of The Unity Project, Lev Warren, did for her when she was in the hospital as a kid, it’s easier to understand how she comes to accept it.

That’s not to say she comes to it easily. For most of the book, Lo is fighting against The Unity Project and trying to find out where the fuck her sister is. That fight is who she is for so long. She lost her sister because of this thing and she’d rather die trying to get her back then give up.

The third option, the becoming part of The Unity Project for real, doesn’t even enter her mind until it does. And again, that’s what makes it all the more scary.

Now to Bea. Damn, I love her too. She cares for Lo so much, but there’s only so much someone can do when they’re are young, scared, and hurting. And that’s when Lev strikes. For her, he’s someone to talk to, someone who undestands, and someone who helps her sister.

We get Bea’s point of view through flashbacks of her time in the hospital with Lo, her time first meeting Lev, and her days, months, and years in The Unity Project.

Y’all know I LOVE a book with multiple POVs and Courtney Summers is an expert at it as she’s shown in both Sadie and The Project.

The Writing

I don’t know how Courtney Summers does it but she takes a topic that you might be scared of or worried about and she makes it so you can read it. I don’t know how else to put it.

I had plenty of emotions while reading The Project (many of them included me shouting “holy shit!”), but I never felt so overwhelmed that I needed to stop reading. Her writing never becomes so graphic or gratuitous that it’s unbearable. It feels like she fully respects the topics she writes about, her characters, and her readers that she doesn’t want to cause any real harm.

I was pulled in from the first chapter and didn’t want to stop (but apparently sleep is something I need. ugh lol)

Trigger Warning: physical violence/abuse, drowning, cults (obviously), mentions of child abuse, car accident, manipulated sexual consent, manipulation in general, blackmail, panic attack, suicide (there’s a train involved), grooming, branding and burning

Overall

Overall, The Project is amazing in that it will make you feel all the things and shockingly…there is kind of a happy ending???? If you know Courtney Summers’ books, you know this is like a rarity. Or maybe it’s not happy but just like…not the most sad thing ever. Either way, READ THIS BOOK!! (if you can, obviously. take care of you first)

Oh and I’m giving this 5 out of 5 stars if you couldn’t tell already.

The Project comes out February 2, 2021

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is fabulous!! I am obsessed with cults and I really was fascinated by this look inside a fictional cult. This story switches between two sisters points and view and it was really difficult to put this one down.

Fans of Courtney Summers' Sadie will find her latest novel to move a bit slowly and with a lot less drama, but her characters are just as complex and hard to like in The Project. Two sisters, Bea and Lo, encounter Lev and his Unity Project, a religious group in upstate New York. Bea and Lo have suffered trauma in the past, and trauma victims make the best candidates for membership in the Unity Project. But both of the Denham sisters have strengths beyond their scars, and Lev's mind tricks and powers of persuasion might not break these sisters or the promises they made to each other.

grief pours from this book like an open wound. i feel, quite frankly, emotionally flayed by the project.

my main takeaway is this: sometime between when i read sadie last year and now, i have come to deeply appreciate courtney summers’ prose.

despite all the hype, i was lukewarm about sadie. i was interested in its subject matter but somehow left wanting with the execution. in the case of the project, things were exactly reversed. i'm no fan of cult-related storylines; they frustrate and enrage and terrify me a bit too much for my liking.

yet i can't deny that the writing in this novel absolutely sucked me in.

there’s something to be said about how deftly it captures a story that inspired such visceral feelings in me. summers, through lev, through the unity project, through the project touches on some of the softest, most vulnerable parts of a person—unresolved trauma and profound insecurity; the humiliation of rejection; seeking someone (writer, sister) and someplace (acceptance; a place free of pain) that you believe you will never be good enough for.

◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️

before i cracked open this book, i came across a post by the author on her instagram. in it she writes:
Beyond an emotional thriller, [THE PROJECT is] a very human story honoring the experiences of victims and survivors. It is not a spectacle. And though a certain type of response might challenge me, it also reaffirms my need to keep writing books in opposition of the idea that victims and survivors have to react and cope with trauma in palatable, easily understood ways to deserve empathy.⁠

i am glad i saw this before i started the project, because i needed to know to brace myself for the worst.

and it does come, eventually—the worst. it is not easy watching a girl, a 19-year-old woman, being taken advantage of by a man and his fevered congregants under guise of we are doing you the greatest kindness. it is even harder to watch history repeat itself with her sister, years later.

like many cults, the unity project is made up of people who, vulnerable in their hopelessness, mistake condescension for comprehension. whose veneration feeds lethal self-righteousness—to the point of abuse. and it is painful to see lo and bea ensnared in their machinations, their deception, their struggle to cope with their own horrors. at its worst moments, i had to turn away from this novel.

but summers’ prose is just so. damn. good that you can’t help but turn back.

the lyrical dexterity of this novel is relentless in its rawness, its power to make you see, hear, feel every single thing the characters themselves undergo. at different points: you are a father grieving the son who took his own life; you are the three-year-old whose innocence makes you want to laugh and cry in equal measure; you are the fledgling writer who’s got everything to prove and nothing to lose; you are the girl who, overcome with fear, broke the promise she made to a sister long ago.

at several points, the intensity got to where i felt myself on the verge of calling it quits on this book. each time, however courtney summers brought me back.

the past/present flashbacks, alternating between bea’s third-person and lo’s first person, worked really well to draw the reader in—just as i felt myself getting overwhelmed with one storyline, we jumped to another. the vividness of this book never fell into, never relied on, cliché, and i think this is what made the project so compulsively readable.

bottom line: it goes without saying that this is an incredibly difficult read; after all, it tells the story of people who exploit rock bottom. as someone who feels very strongly about cults (i.e., can’t usually stomach any discussion of them), i nonetheless found myself drawn in. summers parses the nuances of emotion so skilfully—invoking outrage but also sympathy, fear but also understanding—that the project remains, above all, painfully believable and ringing true.




Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.