Helpful Score: 17
Jaycee Dugard's book is going to be very hard to read for anyone that has any sense of empathy towards other people. If you know anything at all about her story, you'll know why that's the case. Everything from the writing style to the way that events are recalled will very much put you in the place of that little eleven year-old girl, who will then take you with her as she grows up in captivity, gives birth to and raises two daughters, and then finally regains her freedom after eighteen very long years. Sometimes the journey is told briefly, and sometimes in heartbreaking detail, but it is always painful to read regardless.
You can definitely tell as you read that the book is written by Jaycee Dugard herself. Though she continued to read and attempt to educate herself after her kidnapping, it doesn't change the fact that her formal education stopped at the fifth grade. You can also tell that she had very little in those eighteen years, meaning that a very large part of her life, and among the very few things that she could gain any sense of happiness from, were her various pets and other simple things. So, you shouldn't start reading the book expecting a literary masterpiece full of excitement and adventure. You need to take it for what it is. She wrote the truth of what her life was, and it would be foolish to expect anything more.
I came away from this book, and from the TV interview, with a great respect for Jaycee's courage and determination. Despite everything, she not only survived, but is becoming ever stronger, and now serves as an inspiration for abuse victims everywhere to not be afraid to come forward and speak out. She is also an absolutely devoted and loving mother to her daughters, though they came from the most terrible of circumstances. She deserves our support and our respect, and I can only hope that those who do discover the identities of her and especially her daughters will continue to respect their privacy and treat them the same as they did before. It's the very least any of us could do in such a situation, and perhaps would let Jaycee put her fears to rest and know that her daughters will be allowed to live as normal of a life as possible. I certainly wish them all the best now and in their future. It certainly looks far more hopeful than their past.
You can definitely tell as you read that the book is written by Jaycee Dugard herself. Though she continued to read and attempt to educate herself after her kidnapping, it doesn't change the fact that her formal education stopped at the fifth grade. You can also tell that she had very little in those eighteen years, meaning that a very large part of her life, and among the very few things that she could gain any sense of happiness from, were her various pets and other simple things. So, you shouldn't start reading the book expecting a literary masterpiece full of excitement and adventure. You need to take it for what it is. She wrote the truth of what her life was, and it would be foolish to expect anything more.
I came away from this book, and from the TV interview, with a great respect for Jaycee's courage and determination. Despite everything, she not only survived, but is becoming ever stronger, and now serves as an inspiration for abuse victims everywhere to not be afraid to come forward and speak out. She is also an absolutely devoted and loving mother to her daughters, though they came from the most terrible of circumstances. She deserves our support and our respect, and I can only hope that those who do discover the identities of her and especially her daughters will continue to respect their privacy and treat them the same as they did before. It's the very least any of us could do in such a situation, and perhaps would let Jaycee put her fears to rest and know that her daughters will be allowed to live as normal of a life as possible. I certainly wish them all the best now and in their future. It certainly looks far more hopeful than their past.
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