📘 My Story
by Elizabeth Smart
Genre Nonfiction ◦ Memoir ◦ True Crime
Format & Source Print ◦ Library
Publication St. Martin's Press ◦ 2013
Dates Read February 27 – March 9, 2014
Rating ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
📝 My Review
It’s always hard for me to rate and review books that contain such personal stories and ordeals, like this one.
Many of you probably remember the story of Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home in 2002. She was 14 years old and held captive by Brian David Mitchell and his wife. She was held in captivity for nine long months in outdoor “camps.” She was abused both physically and mentally, starved, raped, and made to live in fear with the constant threats made by her captors who convinced her that if she ever tried to escape, her family would be killed.
It was extremely heartbreaking and fascinating to finally hear the whole story directly from Elizabeth herself. I was shocked by all of the horrors that she endured and how delusional Mitchell appeared to be. It sickened me how he pretended and faked his way through life. He pretended that he was a prophet and that he was doing all of these horrific things because he was told to do so by God. He was a master manipulator who “preached” on the streets for money, stole things from stores, and convinced others he was doing it all in the name of religion. He was a phony and a criminal and how he got away with it for so long, I will never understand.
This account of Elizabeth’s ordeal is quite detailed and all encompassing. If you’re interested in following crime cases, as I am, this would be a good choice for you to pick up. I’m also planning on reading some additional books about this case from other authors just to get some other perspectives and information, but this is obviously the definitive account and one that I’d recommend. I will add that it is NOT amazingly well written, but the more important thing is the content and that Elizabeth was able to have her voice heard. I would also highly recommend A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped and endured some very similar things for 18 years.
“Life is a journey for us all. We all face trials. We all have ups and downs. All of us are human. But we are also the masters of our fate. We are the ones who decide how we are going to react to life.”
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