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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
This woman is amazing and does so much good to help others considering her ordeal. However, I felt this book was very thrown together and could have been more organized.
While I so admire Jaycee and what she went through, this book needed a better editor. Man the writing is bad. Many of the sentences and paragraphs were jumbled and not focused.
Also, the overall theme was okay but very scattered and I wish would have followed more a timeline.
Also, the overall theme was okay but very scattered and I wish would have followed more a timeline.
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
It feels disrespectful to give this book a low rating considering everything Jaycee went through. I'm glad she's able to find some measure of joy and peace after her captivity.
Touching and heartfelt. I am so happy for Jaycee - that she can move forward and have good things in her life after all she has been through.
I was so impressed with Jaycee Dugard's first memoir, which covered her 18 years living in captivity after being kidnapped at age 11 in Northern California. Among the mind-boggling abuse, she birthed two daughters for whom she cared for alone as a teen living in isolation. I've never read anything that spoke to the strength of human spirit like that book did.
This follow-up is much, much lighter as it details her adventures and adjustments in the seven years since she was found in 2009. This memoir was unique in that they clearly let her write it without a ghost writer helping, so it reads more like a blog than a memoir. She's quite funny, for example, when Oprah introduced her as a speaker she mentioned her peeing into a bucket for a decade and Jaycee writes "LOL! Yep, that would be me!" She has a way of acknowledging the nightmare of her life in full, while still enjoying the usual joys and annoyances of life as a daughter, friend, and mother. Although the writing wasn't especially advanced and like her first book I skimmed over some of the long parts about her animals, overall I thought the candid nature was special and so very honest.
This follow-up is much, much lighter as it details her adventures and adjustments in the seven years since she was found in 2009. This memoir was unique in that they clearly let her write it without a ghost writer helping, so it reads more like a blog than a memoir. She's quite funny, for example, when Oprah introduced her as a speaker she mentioned her peeing into a bucket for a decade and Jaycee writes "LOL! Yep, that would be me!" She has a way of acknowledging the nightmare of her life in full, while still enjoying the usual joys and annoyances of life as a daughter, friend, and mother. Although the writing wasn't especially advanced and like her first book I skimmed over some of the long parts about her animals, overall I thought the candid nature was special and so very honest.
I feel like this book would have been better as a blog.
Jaycee Dugard's story is one that will stick with me forever. I read and thoroughly enjoyed her first memoir, A Stolen Life, a few years ago. So when news broke that Jaycee was coming out with a follow-up, I was intrigued.
It feels almost ungrateful to say I was disappointed in Freedom. Her fifth grade-level writing style added to the impact of the first book (seeing as her formal education stopped then), but here it just seemed out of place. I know her writing was left that way on purpose the first time, but I don't know if it was necessary for this one. It reads very much like a 10-year-old's diary, which makes it weird when she talks about hangovers and the odd curse word is thrown in there.
With that all being said, I'm happy to see that Jaycee was able to reintegrate into society after enduring 18 years of unimaginable horror. She's capable of having a normal life, and that's wonderful.
Jaycee Dugard's story is one that will stick with me forever. I read and thoroughly enjoyed her first memoir, A Stolen Life, a few years ago. So when news broke that Jaycee was coming out with a follow-up, I was intrigued.
It feels almost ungrateful to say I was disappointed in Freedom. Her fifth grade-level writing style added to the impact of the first book (seeing as her formal education stopped then), but here it just seemed out of place. I know her writing was left that way on purpose the first time, but I don't know if it was necessary for this one. It reads very much like a 10-year-old's diary, which makes it weird when she talks about hangovers and the odd curse word is thrown in there.
With that all being said, I'm happy to see that Jaycee was able to reintegrate into society after enduring 18 years of unimaginable horror. She's capable of having a normal life, and that's wonderful.
I hate to score this so low considering everything Jaycee has gone through and how amazingly positive and upbeat she has seemed to be since her recovery. That said, the book, to me, was just "ok." It didn't grab my attention and it didn't keep my attention, unfortunately.
I feel so bad giving Freedom only two stars, but I just can't help it. I read A Stolen Life a few years ago and remember being awed by Jaycee and her resilience as well as being heartbroken for everything she had been through. With Freedom, I didn't feel much, mainly because there's not much depth involved in this book like in the other one.
I get that this book is Jaycee's book of firsts, but I just thought that this would be more engaging. But there wasn't much here. She writes about her animals, she writes about her first hangover, her first speeding ticket. Most of this book is filled with mundane things such as this. I guess I was expecting more about her life with her family. Not with her daughters, mind you, as I completely get her decision to keep their lives private, but I would've liked to hear more about her interactions with her mom and her sister.
The one thing that I just couldn't get over in Freedom was the writing. Now I get that given everything that Jaycee has been through, this book wasn't going to be fabulously written (seeing as how she didn't get a chance to finish her schooling). But there were tons of clunky sentences that I had to read over in order to fully grasp their meaning. This book should have had an editor that was willing to keep the meaning of what Jaycee was trying to say in tact while making sure that the sentences flowed more smoothly.
In the end, I wasn't that wowed by Freedom the way I was with A Stolen Life. I completely admire Jaycee and am glad that she seems to be doing so well. That knowledge is enough for me, so chances are if she writes another book, I probably won't check it out.
I get that this book is Jaycee's book of firsts, but I just thought that this would be more engaging. But there wasn't much here. She writes about her animals, she writes about her first hangover, her first speeding ticket. Most of this book is filled with mundane things such as this. I guess I was expecting more about her life with her family. Not with her daughters, mind you, as I completely get her decision to keep their lives private, but I would've liked to hear more about her interactions with her mom and her sister.
The one thing that I just couldn't get over in Freedom was the writing. Now I get that given everything that Jaycee has been through, this book wasn't going to be fabulously written (seeing as how she didn't get a chance to finish her schooling). But there were tons of clunky sentences that I had to read over in order to fully grasp their meaning. This book should have had an editor that was willing to keep the meaning of what Jaycee was trying to say in tact while making sure that the sentences flowed more smoothly.
In the end, I wasn't that wowed by Freedom the way I was with A Stolen Life. I completely admire Jaycee and am glad that she seems to be doing so well. That knowledge is enough for me, so chances are if she writes another book, I probably won't check it out.