This book is sad. It’s the story of Jaycee Duggard, the girl
who was kidnapped at age eleven and kept captive until she was twenty-nine. She was forced
to live in her kidnappers' backyard in a shed (also a tent at times) with no running
water and no bathroom. She didn’t step outside the shed for two years. At the
beginning, she was sexually abused and raped. At the age of fourteen, she had the
first of her two kids. She was forced to use a different name and was brainwashed into thinking her life was okay. She was not found until her
kidnapper walked all of them into his parole office and Jaycee admitted her
real name to authorities.
My guess is most people have probably heard her story.
However, there is nothing like reading it from her point of view. The writing
is simple yet detailed. The reader really gets into the thoughts of Jaycee and
sees what she was struggling with every day. Jaycee shares journal entries and
pictures she kept while in captivity. I feel like I have to say it again: the
story becomes incredibly real reading it from her perspective.
Throughout the book I constantly felt bad for Jaycee.
She attempts to make the best of things and enjoys the company of her
kidnappers because she is so lonely. It’s a depressing story. You wonder how no
one ever noticed. There were parole officers constantly coming to the house.
The neighbors. No one even asked who these young women were staying with a
convicted sexual predator. It’s understandable how Jaycee felt helpless. In a strange way, Jaycee makes the reader realize how grateful we should be for the simple liberties we all have.
My rating for A Stolen Life: 5 stars out of 5. Get it here!
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