A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard captured my interest and empathy from the first page. This story did make me jumpy for a few weeks, though, due to the heaviness of the subject.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: child abduction, child molestation

Synopsis: Jaycee Dugard is stolen at the age of eleven while walking to school. Her friends and family do not see or hear from her for eighteen years after that. This book tells the story of what happened in those eighteen years.

Would recommend to people who like sad stories that turn out okay in the end (not really a spoiler in my opinion, since obviously we know she’s okay enough to write this book).

Other people have complaints that the syntax and vocabulary in this book are not complex. However, I think the simple syntax and vocabulary are perfectly understandable due to the fact Jaycee was kidnapped before formally completing the fourth grade. I think the simplicity of the writing style also helps the reader more deeply understand what Jaycee went through during those eighteen years, though I know I will never completely understand since I did not go through the same. If the accounts of what Garrido, her kidnapper, did to her were told with long words and complex sentence structure, I think it would be easier for the reader to detach himself from the story. Jaycee’s simple sentence structure and vocabulary just reminds us more that she was only a child, and even when she became an adult during her time in captivity she still didn’t have the same mental capacity as another person her age would due to her inability to learn much. To me, her writing style reminds the readers of how outraged we should be for her and other children like her.