Jaycee Dugaard's nightmare began when she was abducted while walking up a hill to her school bus on June 10, 1991, when she was 11 years old. It ended when her abductors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, were asked eighteen years later to attend a parole meeting August 26, 2009, after two UC Berkeley's campus officers became suspicious of Garrido when he appeared on campus with Jaycee's young daughters. Their unusual behavior sparked an investigation that led to the positive identification of Jaycee Lee Dugard, living in a tent behind Garrido's home.
A Stolen life is Jaycee's story of how she, beginning at the age of 11, confronted 18 years of evil by doing what she had to do to survive mentally and emotionally. Her story is told with unflinching detail. It is a harsh book to read. Jaycee leaves nothing to the imagination with her ordeal at the hands of the evil Garridos. There were some parts in the book where I thought I just couldn't go on, but I'd put the book down and reflect and then pick it back up and carry on. Jaycee's story is a testament to the natural instinct that lies inside all of us to survive no matter what the cost.
I have read so many bad reviews on this book, that I have to write a good one. Some have complained about the writing being too repetitive and grammatically flawed, some of it sounding too much like a fairy tale ending(really?) . Some have said that no one who endured such atrocities could survive without having major issues and that the real story hasn't been told.(How much worse could it get?) And last but not least some have bashed her for not trying to escape.(Why this was even mentioned in a book review is beyond me)
My Rebuttal
Jaycee and Simon and Schuster for whatever reason decided she should write her story in her own words.(And we should remember that she had only a 5th grade education). For those reviewers who say it seems too fake with a feel good ending, well there was a feel good ending for Jaycee and her family, she was found alive. And lastly for those of you who question why she did not try to escape, let's take ourselves back to when we were 11 and how most of us were afraid of the dark. One never knows what one will do until they are faced with the same situation.(Would you have survived?) I do believe most critics have forgotten to ask the big question,”Was there anything to be learned from this work?” With "a Stolen Life," the answer is a resounding yes. For anybody who has ever felt insignificant, overlooked, or powerless to break out of a trap or find his or her own brand of happiness, (which is most of us) courage is a lesson in perseverance. Jaycee has survived her ordeal, she has told her story and we should rejoice in that fact. Her story gives us hope that miracles do exist.
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