I read this book for my YA Book Club. Here is the goodreads description:
Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.
Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time, I didn’t know how lucky I was.
When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.
Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.
This is Alice’s story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.
WOW! This book is crazy! First off it is very short. I read in about 2 hours. I hadn't heard of it before until my book club picked it for this month's book of the month. This book is about a girl who is abducted in the 5th grade and is forced to live with a man for 5 years. He has done it before and threatens that if she leave or do anything he will hurt her family.
I will say that it was a good book, but I don't know why anyone wants to read this. It is sooo depressing. The worst part is this really happens to people. Here is an article form one case:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/jaycee-lee-duga...
This girl was kept for 18 years.. and the man even fathered two children with her!
Another story is the story of Steven Stayner.. how sad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Stay...
Another big story is of Elizabeth Smart. That case was horrible as well. I lived in Salt Lake at the time and it was always on the news. I still can't believe that girl was taken right out of her room. Now there is a girl who turned her life around and is a wonderful woman now. I guess this just goes to show that you can go back to normal society after all the mental and sexual abuse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_S...
Here is a great video on her turning her life around
This book will disturb me for a long time.... I am not really sure if it should be classified as young adult.
I read this past summer, and I felt exactly the same way about it. It's well written, but what happened was so horrible, it's hard to say it's a "good" book. Have you read Push? It's the book that the movie Precious was based on. It's another one that is really hard to read for all the horrible things that happen to the author.
ReplyDeleteLindsey @ babiesbooksandsigns.com
I have this book in my tablet & ws gonna read it for the YA Book Club on Goodreads too but for some reason couldn't do.
ReplyDeleteI hear ppl like it. I am sure it is good but sad.
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Books and Beyond
Sounds like a Lifetime movie or something. Great review - I've added this one to my wishlist.
ReplyDeleteI'll ditto your "WOW"--Love your review!--I haven't heard of this book before, but I was intrigued by the title...and then even more curious about the author. I've read some of Elizabeth Scott's books before, and their usually very thoughtful, but *much* more fun and lighthearted--so to see something from her that is so dark is very surprising.
ReplyDeleteI can also see how this story sticks with you...I've heard about the tragic girl-kidnappings recently, where the girl has been rescued/saves herself...and I didn't even need to click on the link about Steven Staynor--There was a made-for-tv movie when I was a kid, and I've never forgotten it.
Also, when I was middle-schoolish(?) I read a story called "The Girl in the Box."--one of the most hauntingly disturbing stories I've ever read, and I also question whether that was appropriate for young adults (not sure, but someone once told me it was also based on a true story)... on the other hand, I'm not sure that would have stopped me from reading it back then, and though it was haunting and disturbing, I wasn't scarred by those stories... I know there was an article talking about the dark side of YA, and while some of us may even flirt with the ideas of of witches and vampires and werewolves, I don't think most young adult readers would give those monsters much credit in the real world... And of course it's good to protect our young people, but maybe sometimes it's not such a bad thing to be reminded that there are REAL monsters out there?
WOW--hope I didn't ramble too much, just such an intense topic and brought up a lot of thoughts.
I don't mind the ramblings at all! In fact this book is so crazy it just makes people want to discuss it. I guess we just never imagine this stuff can happen, and if it does we just think people should be able to just leave the situation. Call the cops... something. But I guess this has to do with the disorder where people begin to like their kidnappers. They get so brain washed they just live with them. It is an intense read and very short... almost like a short story.
ReplyDelete@Books and Beyond. I am actually the moderator of that group. We are having some good discussions about this book so even if you want to peek into the conversations to add your two cents about abuse feel free!!
I think I'd feel the same way about this one as you. I could see it being really good, but also very disturbing.
ReplyDeleteI want to read this one still, I think!
ReplyDelete