Escape by Carolyn Jessop
October 2007 by Broadway Books
Hardcover, 413 pages
Purchased
Book Synopsis:
The dramatic first-person account of life inside an ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect, and one woman’s courageous flight to freedom with her eight children. (GoodReads)
Review
How does one write a review on a person’s life…? You can’t- what I can do is share with you what the book is about and how I reacted reading Carolyn’s story.
I almost feel guilty that Big Love was one of my favorite shows. Leave it to Hollywood to glamorize a warped few of Polygamy. Bill, Barbara, Nikki and Margene live a life of glamorous luxury compared to the horrendous life Carolyn survived. Neglected, abused and once starving, the horrors growing up in Polygamy and becoming an actual polygamist was enough to make my stomach turn.
Nothing really gets better from that night on. Carolyn is the new wife (which eventually becomes a house with six wives and later more) and has sexual favor in the beginning, she soon learns that if Merrill is sexually gratified, that she would gain power in the house. The six wives competed with one another for that status and when tempers and jealousy would strike some of the wives would pay a huge price.
One of those prices included children. By the polygamy law, a child belonged to all the wives in the marriage -that meant they could help in the raising and ….disciplining. When anger was targeted towards a wife (which was usually Carolyn) that anger was also directed to that wife’s child. I tried to put myself in this situation, and because I was never -brain washed to believe this was right- I might be thinking harsh, BUT if another woman ever put her hands on my child in the form of discipline I might just wind up in jail for beating the crap out of her. Carolyn of course did not have that option, Merrill would support the beatings and punishments of his thirty some children. He never protected any of the wives, except for his first wife, who had the main power in the home. The abuse targeted at her children seemed to be the last straw, after years of mental and emotional abuse, having sex with an old nasty man, eight kids and more wives showing up, Carolyn finally got the courage to……ESCAPE………..
It took a while to get through Carolyn’s story- and only because you don’t sit to read this for entertainment. You read it because of the bravery and courage Carolyn had to save her eight children. You read it to get a true insight of what polygamy looks like- and it’s not an HBO television show. You read it to see a woman become victorious and make it into a new life, after the battles with the FDLS church are won and the battles with the courts are won, Carolyn comes out a stronger, smarter and more hopeful woman.
The only part of Carolyn’s story that I wish was elaborated on was her view point of faith. The book ends with an update, but nothing about Carolyn’s stance on being a Mormon or if she still is one.
Rating
Recommended for adults- the entire book is sexually graphic. Violence, brainwashing, religious cults, divorce, polygamy and abuse are all topics surrounding Escape.
3.5/5- Memoir, Polygamy
I found this book in a charity shop and got it for my husband, but I may read it some time. Big Love is also one of my favorite shows, even though I know all the characters are nuts!
ReplyDeleteI read this book when it first came out and WOW was it fascinating!
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