Book Club #3: A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

[Bethella]

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

I don't have time to post my thoughts now, I'll try to get them up later today.

 

 

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April 15: Quiverfull by Kathryn Joyce

May 1: Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright

May 15: Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back by Frank Schaeffer

June 1: In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How it Changed a Nation, a Language and a Culture by Alister McGrath

June 15: Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by John Krackauer

July 1: Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction by John Fea

July 15: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

[crazyforkate]

Really compelling story, told in a straightforward manner. I cannot imagine living through what this woman and her daughters survived. Hopefully their lives are going well now. Writing the book in itself was extraordinarily brave.

[Bethella]

On page 145 Jaycee wrote:

It still scares me, the fact that I can't protect my daughters from everything. What mother wouldn't want to protect their children from the dangers of the world? But I have to choose to believe they will both be okay and realize that sometimes when we shelter our children too much we are really protecting ourselves.

I'm really impressed that Jaycee was able to reach this conclusion. When I compare her to the sheltering fundy families we talk about like the Duggars and the Maxwells, it just makes me so sad for them. Here is someone who in spite of all the evil she faced she can still allow her children to live their own lives. Depending on how you define it while she was being held by the Garridos she was completely "sheltered" from the outside world, but instead of protecting her from evil she was locked in with it.

[princessjo1988]

It was really interesting to me to see how she processed it throughout the book - towards the end you could tell that she was in a better, more mature, head space than when she started. I have read it quite a few times now, and it leaves an impact each time I do. I am just in awe of how she survived - incredible.

Go Jaycee!

[MamaJunebug]

One of my sisters read this and was impressed mightily by Jaycee's strength - after a childhood spent like that!!!

I can hardly wait to get to it. The observations about sheltering are incredible in their truth and their irony, vis-a-vis both Jaycee's experience and those of the chil-dult families we comment on over at QFOS.

[Syd+Marky]

This book told an incredible, unbelievable story.I still cant believe that a man on parole was able to hide her right under everyones nose!Nancy could have helped Jaycee, though.I think she was as sick as Phil.Jaycee came out in as good a shape as anyone could have ever hoped.

[DrPusey]

I obtained the book this afternoon, and finished it a couple of hours after I got home. It's difficult to read. I hope that Jaycee is still progressing through therapy and that she's doing well. It's amazing that she didn't come out of that experience hating the world.

Oddly, I found that one of the more difficult parts to read were the reproduced pages from her journal about one of her kitties that went missing. It was heartbreaking to me that at the beginning, her kidnappers would bring in cats, and then take them away. It looked like a homework assignment from any tween girl in happier circumstances.

Oh yeah, and the fact that the voices that her kidnapper heard were "angels" reminded me of the fact that many sick people process perverted ideas or delusions through religious prisms.

[Gertie]

I "enjoyed" the book in the sense that I basically couldn't put it down, even though what happened to Jaycee is horrible. I agree with everyone; she is a very strong woman. One thing that made an impression on me was the "normal" stuff in her diary, like how she made goals to lose weight. It really emphasized that here is this totally normal woman, it could be any of us, stuck in this horrible situation. So glad she got out.

[Boogalou]

So, I'm a little late to the thread but I'm here now.

People have pretty much written a lot of what I thought. While reading I found it really sad that, early on, they kept giving Jaycee cats and then taking them away again. She had one tiny shred of happiness and normalcy and they kept taking that away, then giving it back, then taking it away. The whole situation was cruel but that was just extra sad. Also, I can't imagine how Carl must have felt to see her get abducted and try to pedal after her but not being able to keep up. That would be hard to live with.