Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Before I go into my review, I have to say something first. About two years ago, I read much of what Elizabeth talks about, in her trial transcript. A Utah online newspaper published her testimony and it was just as hellacious sounding to me, back then, than it was two nights ago, when I finished her book. After I read all of that, I contacted Ms. Smart on Facebook. I did not expect to hear from her and that was not the point of my contacting her. I wanted to tell her that one of the happiest days of my life, was when she was found alive. Why? Because I thought she was dead. I assumed it. I assumed it, because I thought her little sister's story was ridiculous, and I thought that Ed and Lois Smart were no better than John and Patsy Ramsey. Meaning, I assumed they killed their daughter and made up the whole story about the man in her bedroom. Then I heard she was alive. Then I saw a picture of that piece of filth, Brian David Mitchell and I knew what happened. I had just never heard the details before. I told Ms. Smart that I feared she would never be seen again, that I admired her courage for actually fighting to stay alive, JUST to make sure that her cousin Olivia(who looks a lot like her) was not Mitchell's next victim or fantasy 'bride'. Ms. Smart wrote me back, thanking me. She also sent me a poem. I am not into poetry, but this one spoke of blue seas and other pretty things, and I was not only touched, but happy that this young woman was able to forge a life for herself, after such a harrowing time in her young life. Now on to my review of 'My Story' by Elizabeth Smart. I gave this book five stars, because not only did she tell the Good(how her faith sustained her), the Bad(Brian David Mitchell and that loathesome accomplice of his, Wanda Barzee) and the Ugly(Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee) of her ordeal, but Elizabeth walks the reader through her time before she was abducted, to the night it happened and her trying ordeal for nine months. I now understand why she didn't run, why she couldn't escape. All anyone has to do, that can't understand that, is to think back to what it was like to be fourteen. When you're fourteen, you can't see the whole picture. If this had happened to Ms. Smart when she had been 20 or even 25, and she had been taken in a way, where in which one scream for help, might have halted being taken, chances are, she would've done it. And she would've taken the chance that Mitchell was crying wolf about killing everyone in her family, if she had made any escape attempts. But Elizabeth was not an adult. She was a child. A teen, but still at an age where an adult can tell a child anything, and they'll believe it, even if it belies common sense. Factor in being sexually assaulted daily, starved and let's face it, who feels up to doing anything when you haven't had a good shower or bath? Add all that up and this book is just a heart wrenching, God awful nightmare. I could not have survived what Elizabeth Smart did, at fourteen, and not be writing this review from some nut house now. I couldn't. But 'My Story', is an example of what the human spirit can survive when tested.