This memoir moved me to tears over and over. At the end I wanted to stand up and shout "Bravo Jaycee!"

posted Jul 25, 2011 at 6:26PM

REVIEW In a word, this book is excellent. But to give Ms. Dugard her due credit there are not enough superlatives in the English language to adequately describe it. It is, quite simply, just that good. All at the same time it is educational, informative and gut-wrenching, yet sometimes also entertaining and even humorous. I am an aficionado of true crime having devoured dozens and dozens of these annals. I have been appalled by the depths of depravity to which the human soul can sink. Not even Dante himself could imagine such horrors. I’ve read it all. But nothing could prepare me for the cruel and insulting things done to this girl by previously convicted sex offender/pedophile Philip Garrido. However, the language used to describe these events is needlessly harsh. Until I remembered that these diabolical acts were committed by a 40 year old man against and 11 year old girl. It is then that I realized that the language used is not only acceptable but necessary to tell the story, her story. She weaves a marvelous tapestry as she relates in surprising detail the events of her life as she lived them at the time in which they happened combined with reflections gained through the clarity of hindsight and a world based in reality rather than the delusional rantings of a person descending even farther into the abyss of psychosis. One of the ways Garrido took and maintained control was to strip Jaycee of her identity by forbidding her to write or even speak her name for 18 long and painfully lonely years. But he could not take away the amazing intestinal fortitude possessed by her at the tender age of 11, at 29, and now. This is evident throughout the memoir. She is the person for whom the word survivor was invented. One comes away marveled by the incredible woman who can now, once again, claim to be JAYCEE LEE DUGARD.

posted Aug 7, 2011 at 10:27PM

Jaycee has triumphed by not letting hate or revenge consume her. An amazing story of survival and the power of a mother's love, both Jaycee and Jaycee's mother.

posted Aug 17, 2011 at 6:00PM

Even though this is a very disturbing story, I am amazed at Jaycee’s resilience and her ability to go on with her life.

posted Aug 19, 2011 at 6:36AM

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