A Stolen Life is an auto biographical memoir written by Jaycee Dugard; Simon & Schuster published the book on July 11th, 2011 with 288 pages. Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped in 1991 at the age of eleven and was held in captivity for eighteen years. The setting of the book is South Lake Tahoe and Antioch, California; past time. Jaycee Dugard describes the events she had endured while imprisoned by Phillip and Nancy Garrido. Jaycee Dugard was a normal child with the worries any other pre-teenagers had, she didn’t like her stepfather, was jealous of her little sister, and wanted the full attention of her mother. On June 10th 1999 her life drastically changed, drug addict pedophile Phillip Garrido kidnapped Jaycee with the help of his wife Nancy (Dugard, …show more content…
She stated “survival is your strength not your shame, hold on to any hope to survive”. Jaycee wrote the book for victims of sexual abuse who tend keep their experiences secret. She hoped sharing her story would allow other victim’s to share theirs and receive the help that they need. The book has many strengths, being very well written is one. The book is set in chronological order which helps people understand the time line of her life. Jaycee added pictures of her journal entries while she was being held captive, this emphasizes the reality of the situation and hits close to the readers hearts. The weakness of this book is the corrupt subject of the book. Only a mature audience would be able to read and understand the disturbing details of this book. A Stolen Life is a disturbing, powerful, and yet heartwarming personal experience. The topic is difficult to discuss, nobody wants to talk about abduction, rape, and/or mental abuse. Jaycee presented the world her experience which took great courage, she discussed what happened to her in a very calm and informative way. This book allows victims of abduction, mother and fathers of the victim, and companions of the victim hope; hope that one day their love one will return, hope and optimism, that they are safe and will be