Overview

"""Visceral and uplifting."" -- The Daily Beast A raw and electrifying memoir about a young woman’s journey from self-destruction to redemption, after cutting ties with her ultra-Orthodox Jewish family For fans of the television series Unorthodox and Shtisel, this brutally honest memoir tells the story of one woman’s quest to define herself as an individual. Leah Vincent was born into the Yeshivish community, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect. As the daughter of an influential rabbi, she was taught to worship two things: God, and the men who ruled their society.  Then, at sixteen, Leah was caught exchanging letters with a boy, violating religious law that forbids contact between members of the opposite sex. Shunned by her family, she was cast out of her home, alone and adrift in New York City, unprepared for the freedoms of secular life and unaccustomed to the power and peril inherent in her own sexuality. Fast-paced, harrowing, mesmerizing, and ultimately triumphant, Leah's story illuminates both the oppressive world of religious fundamentalism and the broader issues facing young women of all backgrounds."

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9780143127413

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Reviews

Wrenching ... Her book should be read, not just as a warning of the very real dangers of the world, but also of the price to be paid when, in the name of religion, people forget humanity. -- The Wall Street Journal A sometimes-sweet, sometimes-harrowing memoir by a smart, passionate ultra-Orthodox girl. . . . engrossing and so thoughtfully written, and never mocks the traditions and values of a culture that few of us can fully comprehend. --People.com Painfully raw. --Susannah Cahalan, New York Post Gripping. . . . Readers will appreciate Vincent's uncensored honesty in sharing the horrors of her past. -- The Washington Post As thoughtful and heroic as it is gripping and tragic ... riveting and relatable ... [Vincent] familiarizes, rather than exoticizes, the life she's led ... The finest example of this sort of memoir yet. --Flavorwire Visceral and uplifting. --The Daily Beast Compulsively readable. -- Bookpage Never before has rebellion been so sweetly rendered. And never--not since the memoirs of Mary Karr--has the connection between self-destruction and family dysfunction been so tangible and clear. To know Vincent is to love her, to ache with her, to kick up your feet and let down your hair with her. This is the kind of extraordinary book you'll finish in a day, and think about for months and years after. --Koren Zailckas, bestselling author of Smashed and Mother, Mother Cut Me Loose brims with a girl's longing, and shines with a woman's insight. This book so courageously describes the forbidden: the great bind of being caught between desire and tradition. Vincent's voice is as lyrical as it brave, as hopeful as it is honest. Leah Vincent magically depicts the labyrinth of what it means to be vulnerable, sexual and female. --Christa Parravani, author of Her Gutsy, smart, and incredibly difficult to put down, Cut Me Loose chronicles Leah Vincent's perilous and poignant search for identity. As she grapples with profound loneliness and her dreams for the future, she ultimately arrives at a place filled with hope. --Wendy Lawless, author of Chanel Bonfire Leah Vincent's memoir is a fascinating view into Yeshivish life that feels as familiar to the reader as her own life because, Orthodox or not, we all grew up wrestling against our forbidden desires, mundane and normal as they were. Vincent's story is full of despair, of longing, of trying to find a place for herself amid a world that doesn't allow girls to be their whole yearning selves. The reader cheers for her when she finally escapes the prisons built by the various institutions she grew up with. --Kerry Cohen, author of Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity Leah Vincent's family abandoned her in the name of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. In her poignant memoir, she explores the imposed ignorance of her fundamentalist upbringing, the open wounds of her abandonment, her desperate, at times self-destructive, yearning for connection, and the self-discoveries that gave her the courage to shape her life and find her voice. The voice Vincent has claimed is unflinchingly honest and incisive. It has already begun to resound on behalf of others who struggle to escape abuse and oppression. -- Anouk Markovits, author of I Am Forbidden Vincent's writing brims with tension, insight, and longing. This quickly paced book is not about sex, though sex is a part of the narrative. It's ultimately a meditation on love and its myriad cruelties, as well as its eventual beauty and transcendence. --Margaux Fragoso, author of Tiger, Tige r Leah Vincent shares a harrowing journey that will speak to all children fleeing intolerance, who struggle to be seen and accepted on their own terms. --Julie Metz, bestselling author of Perfection

"""Vincent doesn't sensationalize what happened to her; she's more concerned with writing about he she reclaimed what belonged to her all along -- freedom, agency, self-sufficiency. This is what separates her tale from most...Orthodox memoirs: it's as thoughtful and heroic as it is gripping and tragic...It's the finest example of this sort of memoir yet."" —Flavorwire ""Wrenching ... Her book should be read, not just as a warning of the very real dangers of the world, but also of the price to be paid when, in the name of religion, people forget humanity."" —The Wall Street Journal ""A sometimes-sweet, sometimes-harrowing memoir by a smart, passionate ultra-Orthodox girl. . . . engrossing and so thoughtfully written, and never mocks the traditions and values of a culture that few of us can fully comprehend."" —People.com ""Painfully raw."" —Susannah Cahalan, New York Post ""Gripping. . . . Readers will appreciate Vincent's uncensored honesty in sharing the horrors of her past."" —The Washington Post ""Compulsively readable."" —Bookpage ""Never before has rebellion been so sweetly rendered. And never—not since the memoirs of Mary Karr—has the connection between self-destruction and family dysfunction been so tangible and clear."" —Koren Zailckas, bestselling author of Smashed and Mother, Mother ""Cut Me Loose brims with a girl’s longing, and shines with a woman’s insight."" —Christa Parravani, author of Her ""Gutsy, smart, and incredibly difficult to put down."" —Wendy Lawless, author of Chanel Bonfire ""Vincent's story is full of despair, of longing, of trying to find a place for herself amid a world that doesn't allow girls to be their whole yearning selves. The reader cheers for her when she finally escapes the prisons built by the various institutions she grew up with."" —Kerry Cohen, author of Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity ""The voice Vincent has claimed is unflinchingly honest and incisive. It has already begun to resound on behalf of others who struggle to escape abuse and oppression."" —Anouk Markovits, author of I Am Forbidden ""Vincent’s writing brims with tension, insight, and longing."" —Margaux Fragoso, author of Tiger, Tiger ""Leah Vincent shares a harrowing journey that will speak to all children fleeing intolerance, who struggle to be seen and accepted on their own terms."" —Julie Metz, bestselling author of Perfection"

Author Information

Leah Vincent, who now goes by Jericho Vincent, is the author of Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood and the co-author of Legends of the Talmud, a collection of illustrated children’s stories. They have lectured on sexual assault, trauma, and Judaism at colleges, organizations, and synagogues across the country. Their essays have appeared in the New York Times, Salon, the Cut, the Daily Beast, Mask Magazine, the Forward, and the Rumpus. The first member of their family to go to college, Jericho was a Pforzheimer Fellow at Harvard, where they earned a master’s degree in public policy. Named to the Jewish Week’s 36 Under 36, they have organized numerous initiatives advocating for reform in the ultra-Orthodox community, including co-producing the nationally-profiled It Gets Besser Project. They live in Brooklyn with their partner and collaborator, Ben Ash Blum.

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