SLONIM WOODS 9
A Memoir of the Sarah Lawrence Cult
Close your eyes and picture a cult; what does it mean to you? Maybe you envision people in white robes, endlessly monotone chanting, back-breaking hard labor, ceaseless exercise, and slavish devotion. Perhaps images of Charles Manson, David Koresh, or Keith Raniere and Allison Mack come to mind.
For the writer and poet Daniel Barban Levin, it was something entirely different.
In his forthcoming memoir publishing this September, Slonim Woods 9, Levin explores what it was like for him, as an undergraduate student at New York’s Sarah Lawrence College, to gradually fall under the thrall of a charismatic, duplicitous man named Larry Ray, the father of one of Levin’s classmates.
What began as a simple enough visit from his classmate Talia’s father to their co-op style college dormitory ever so slowly evolved into something much more sinister and controlling in nature. Along with some of his other friends and roommates, Levin found himself swept up into the circle of people around Larry Ray, who spun enthralling tales of his top secret government work, his high level connections, expansive influence, and mysterious associates. Luring the teens in with promises of helping them to achieve their inner greatness, defeat their self-made obstacles, and to get to know themselves on a deeper level, Levin’s memoir expands into a shocking tale of how easy it can be to be pulled into a uniquely chilling cult unlike any other in modern memory.
Written in Levin’s honest and open voice, bringing us inside of his head and looking through his eyes, Slonim Woods 9 lets us witness firsthand how deeply — and creepily — a master manipulator can sink their influence into still-developing brains and psyches. Tracking from the leafy idyll of upstate New York to the pulsing thrum of Manhattan, the claustrophobically tight environs of Larry’s apartment, and across the ocean to Europe, Ray’s influence proves to be unyielding, and Levin spirals and suffers all the more for it.
For even when he isn’t physically in Ray’s presence, or the coterie of friends who all jostle for prominence and position next to this seemingly great man, Levin finds himself remapping his life to a constant, self-imposed question: What would Larry do? Fitting himself to such an unpredictable mould takes its toll, whether he’s obsessively exercising at dawn, buzzing off his hair, handling envelopes stuffed full of $10,000, pushing his sexual exploration to discomforting extremes, or finding cruel humiliation at Larry’s hand in front of his fellow followers.
Though he survives to unspool his experiences for us, Slonim Woods 9 brings us along for every step of the exhilarating and terrifying journey. Underscoring how vital it is for us to find some sense of rooted security within ourselves, and not the most charming person in the room, it’s sure to be one of 2021’s most engaging cult memoirs.
