A Stolen Life
Jaycee Dugard
A Stolen Life
On 10 June 1991, eleven-year-old Jaycee Dugard was abducted from a school bus stop within sight of her home in Tahoe, California. It was the last her family and friends saw of her for over eighteen years. On 26 August 2009, Dugard, her daughters, and Phillip Craig Garrido appeared in the office of her kidnapper's parole officer in California. Their unusual behaviour sparked an investigation that led to the positive identification of Jaycee Lee Dugard, living in a tent behind Garrido's home. During her time in captivity, at the age of fourteen and seventeen, she gave birth to two daughters, both fathered by Garrido. Dugard's memoir is written by the 30-year-old herself and covers the period from the time of her abduction in 1991 up until the present.
3.5 out of 5 based on 2 reviews
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Biography, True Crime |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
288 |
| RRP |
£14.99 |
| Date of Publication |
July 2011 |
| ISBN |
978-0857207111 |
| Publisher |
Simon & Schuster |
| |
On 10 June 1991, eleven-year-old Jaycee Dugard was abducted from a school bus stop within sight of her home in Tahoe, California. It was the last her family and friends saw of her for over eighteen years. On 26 August 2009, Dugard, her daughters, and Phillip Craig Garrido appeared in the office of her kidnapper's parole officer in California. Their unusual behaviour sparked an investigation that led to the positive identification of Jaycee Lee Dugard, living in a tent behind Garrido's home. During her time in captivity, at the age of fourteen and seventeen, she gave birth to two daughters, both fathered by Garrido. Dugard's memoir is written by the 30-year-old herself and covers the period from the time of her abduction in 1991 up until the present.
Reviews
The Mail on Sunday
Kathryn Hughes
“It would be impossible to write a dull book about such an extraordinary life. It would, though, be understandable if Jaycee had written an evasive one, fudging the more painful recollections. She is, though, too tough and honest a writer to do that. Some of the details included here will make you shudder. But you will end the book marvelling at just what the human spirit can endure. Odd though it might sound, A Stolen Life is, in its own way an uplifting, even exhilarating, read.”
17/07/2011
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The Sunday Times
Stephen Robinson
“Her memoir can be syrupy and one can see from some of her rather trite observations that she suffered an arrested childhood: “Families are like snowflakes — they come in many shapes and sizes and no two are the same.” But it would be unfair to judge this book on such stylistic lapses, or on its frequent resort to the unsophisticated language and explanations she has clearly acquired from her team of therapists. If this book is painful to read, it is because it is unstinting in describing what it is like to be the child captive of a sexual monster, and the awful things that the incarceration does to your mind as well as to your body.”
17/07/2011
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