Escape
by Carolyn Jessop, Laura Palmer
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Book Reviews of Escape
Book Review: Hard to believe...
Summary: 4 Stars
It's hard to believe that women could be oppressed on this level in the United States. Carolyn Jessop's story reminded me of the mistreatment of women in Afghanistan - Colorado City was a completely mysogynistic culture. Carolyn was born into a large family in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church (completely separate from the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS). When she was a young girl, members of the FLDS were restricted from things like celebrating Christmas, wearing certain clothes and hairstyles, and associating with those outside the FLDS.
As she grew older, Carolyn was given less and less control over her own life and decisions. At the age of 18, she was forced into a polygamous marriage to Merril Jessop, who was in his 50's. She bore him many children - 8 in all, and lived her life as a single mother, with little to no help from Merril or the other wives. The real thorn in Carolyn's side was Barbara, Merril's first wife and the only one he really loved. She really made the decisions in the family, or rather, Merril made them based on what she wanted. To eliminate some competition, Barbara allowed Carolyn to attend college across state and obtain a teaching degree.
Carolyn had life-threatening complications during some of her many pregnancies, and the children had health problem as well, including one with cancer. She received very little support from her family, as all health problems are seen as being a direct result of sin on the part of the afflicted. In other words, God was not pleased with Carolyn, and was punishing her. The children were mistreated, beaten, starved, or not given nutritious food, the women were punished, raped, forced into marriage to serve their men as gods - and this was just the way of the FLDS.
I was completely disgusted with Merril's self-righteousness, selfishness, and arrogance. I could not imagine living with someone like that for one day, let alone as long as Carolyn did. He literally did not care about anyone but himself and Barbara. It made my stomach turn. I rejoiced when Carolyn was finally able to make her escape. I know her story must be an inspiration to any women living in an abusive situation.
The only drawbacks were that the book was longer than it needed to be - I think it could have easily been shaven down by 100 pages or so. Some parts were repetitive. It could have also used better editing. There was quite a bit of awkward wording. However, these things are easy to overlook due to the fascinating story.
Book Review: This book swallowed my life for 3 solid days
Summary: 4 Stars
I couldn't put it down! The last book to hold my attention was HP & The Deathly Hollows - and this book isn't too far off that mark: both contain magic, wizards who predict the weather, fortune-telling, mystical clothing, and outright magic!
The narrative is powerful and gripping, despite it's somewhat amateurish writing. I read this book and kept wondering how the author possibly made it though it all (a sign of an excellent survival-type story like "Adrift" or "Left for Dead").
What struck me the most was the systemic and wholesale abuse of children. I am not a father, but I've got enough of the 'preserve the species' genes in me to WISH that I get the chance to meet Merrill and Barbara Jessop. At risk of sounding like a Keyboard-Warrior (or worse some bible thumper), it would please me deeply to be able to act as a righteous hand of punishment to both of them. The way Carolyn describes how Barbara savagely beat her 4 year old son Patrick and in no way was punished/scolded/warned/murdered by her husband makes me deeply, deeply angry...and sad. These children are going to need decades of deep, deep therapy and counseling just to ensure they wont be a danger to themselves or others in their adult lives.
One piece I found to be ironic was that Brian, Carolyn's boyfriend after her escape, turns out to be Jewish. For a woman to go from one man who's CULTure that degrades, denigrates, and devalues women to another man's culture that places women in a high place of status (and damn near reveres you if you're really old) just for being a woman, regardless of your ability to please his sexual desires, was perfect poetic justice.
I will cite the book for a few points, though:
1. The author spends a great deal of time (90%?) describing the terrible people of the cult whom are almost all men, but spends very little time speaking about the men that really did love their wives and children. She makes a few token mentions but that makes me want to know more about the decent men who live in the cult. This is out of my desire for accurate reporting, not for gender equality.
2. The writing really was bad in some places, forcing me to reread the same paragraph a few times.
3. She should have broke her husbands knee caps.
Book Review: gripping, intense, and not what I expected
Summary: 5 Stars
I went into this book a little prejudice. I thought it would be full of half truths and exaggerations. Instead, I found an eye opening tale so gripping that I couldn't put it down. As a Mormon, I've always been irked by the general public's tendency to see the religious extremists of the FLDS church in connection with my church. But, to my surprise, I quickly forgot about that as I read. I found myself almost crying out, "Somebody help these people!" Such injustice and cruelty should have been brought to the proper authroities' attention long ago. The level of manipulation presented in this book is so grotesque that it literally made me sick. The worst part was knowing that my previous desire to let these people alone, to let them live their lives, was the very tool the FLDS leaders used to reek mass abuse. They knew that most people would have no desire to intervene or oppress the religious beliefs of a community. They exploited this notion and put an entire community under conditions on par with the Taliban. Not only women and children were abused, but the young men of the community were dropped off in the middle of nowhere with no money, no supplies, nothing and no way to fend for themselves, all so that there would be a higher population of females to go around. Women and young girls were given in marriage against their will, used as status symbols, as if they were monetary objects, something to be owned and bartered, used, and worst of all, to appease the sexual desires of the men in power. Women were given as gifts, or taken away from their husbands and families and given to another man, all at the whim of a monster.
I applaud the author for being willing to open up about such a personal and heartbreaking story. I am grateful she had the strength to bring this information to the public's attention. Hopefully, it will help alleviate the suffering of others in the future.
Book Review: Now with new & improved lies
Summary: 1 Stars
I see Carolyn's come out with an update, but like the rest of the book, she filled it with outright lies & gross distortions. She wants to scare us about the children's diet of "carbohydrates & little protein," yet "forgets" to tell us that their diet was primarily vegetarian (with home-grown fruits & vegetables), supplemented by dairy products supplied by their own dairy, as well as eggs & chickens from their poultry farm. This is the kind of diet our own ancestors followed & one that nutritionists & doctors would love us to follow. She also conveniently "forgets" to tell us just how sick the children got once they were put on the CPS-approved & -supplied diet of junk food. Later, she tries to explain away the fact that CPS could not verify all of her wild claims of widespread physical abuse of the women & children. The reason CPS didn't find any evidence of widespread physical abuse is there wasn't any to begin with. No bruises, cuts, scrapes, secondary trauma, head trauma, scars, etc were found on the children or the women. She then states at one point that she was not allowed access to the children, but then states how the children told her 2 daughters they looked "scarey." Unless CPS was allowing her unfettered access to children she wasn't related to in foster care (which is against the law, btw), the only place she could have had access to them was at the concentration camps set up by CPS. She & others were reported to have been there by media at the time.
She has no proof of any of her wild claims. Her wildest allegation, that of "waterboarding," wasn't even mentioned in her book & she never said anything about it until reports of waterboarding at Abu Gharib & Gitmo were made on the national news. How "convenient" of her to "remember" this happening while she was in the FLDS.
Save your money. Don't buy this book.
Book Review: disgusted
Summary: 4 Stars
I was horribly disgusted by the abuse related in this book. The amount of power and control that the men in this "religion" have over the women and children is abuse in it's most vile and refined form.
If the things Carolyn recounts in this book are remotely true, this book reads like a finely choreographed dance of abuse and manipulation that's had over a hundred years to perfect itself.
I actually found myself wondering if even the men could be blamed for what's gone on...after all, they, TOO, were raised to believe that they have the power and authority to physically, emotionally, and spiritually berate their families into heaven.
GENERATIONS of this abuse has been ALLOWED, in the name of "religion"? Religion should not be accepted as giving a person the right to abuse their spouse/children.
And there are a lot of ill-educated people around who wonder why these women don't just leave if all this stuff is supposedly going on. Well, if all this stuff is going on and it has been for several years, and they are raised to believe that it's not just acceptable, but NECESSARY in order to enter heaven, what else do they know? For generations this abuse has been permitted to exist, to become fine-tuned, and to take over every facet of their lives.
It's a self-contained brothel of physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, and sexual abuse that is encouraged and expected of its followers.
I am disgusteed to think that when this stuff goes on OUTSIDE the confines of a "religious" shroud, it is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Yet these people have been allowed to practice this for generations with only the slightest slap on the wrist for doing so.
Disgusted.