Escape

Escape
by Carolyn Jessop, Laura Palmer
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Publisher: Broadway
Salesrank: 19
Released: 2007-10-16
List Price: $24.95
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Customer Reviews:
Fascinating and timely (2008-04-15)
Especially given the current news articles about the children from Texas who have been removed from the YFZ Ranch, this book is very timely in its story that needed to be told. (Interestingly enough, CNN interviewed both the author and her “sister wife” Cathleen for one of its news stories.) Reading this book will give you a perspective on a little known community that might never have been told. Carolyn is a brave woman for standing up to a powerful family in a powerful tradition. I could not put this book down, and if I had to, I couldn’t stop wondering about what would happen next. I highly recommend this enthralling read.Unbearably intense. (2008-04-14)
There is a lot of heart-wrenching child abuse, crimes against humanity, and insane levels of animal cruelty. An example: a woman, who was giving birth to her first child, was not allowed to go to the doctor when her baby became stuck in the birth canal. She was forced to endure an episiotomy made with sewing scissors (at her husbands orders), and then stitched back together with dental floss (and that is the more mild form of abuse mentioned throughout the book).

For anyone who wants to get the nitty-gritty details of a polygamous woman’s life, this is absolutely the book to read. I became clearly aware why many polygamous women don’t leave - the brainwashing is outlined clearly. In some communities, even the local police that respond to domestic abuse calls within the FLDS communities are FLDS men - who punish the woman who call, and then they tell her husband that she called. One police officer decided to teach his pregnant wife a lesson, by tying her to a bull who dragged her around the bull-pen until she miscarried her baby. Even some ambulance drivers are FLDS men, who require the husband’s permission before taking a woman, or her child, to the hospital. There are so many dynamics at play, that many things make more sense to me now.

This book genuinely leaves me with wondering if the FLDS men are, quite literally, insane; or, if they are the most power-hungry, control fanatics who relish in the absolute denigration and pain of women, children, and animals. I don’t know. But the things they do are horrible and most of these women are born into it.

Everyone Should Read This Book! (2008-04-14)
As the news media is reporting the horrible goings on in ElDorado Texas, Carolyn Jessop gives us a real eye opener to what is really happening down there. What a brave and loving lady to actually escape from this nightmare and then have the courage to tell us her story.

I read this book in less than 2 days and couldn’t put down! Way to go Carolyn!Excellent First Person Account (2008-04-12)
I bought this book at about 9:00 PM on a Thursday night, read most of it, slept for a few hours, and was finished with it by 8:00 AM the next morning. I simply could not put it down.

What I found extremely interesting about the book was not the scintillating details about the FLDS religion, but what a truly classic escape from abuse narritive it is. Many, many survivors of domestic violence will recognize their own story in the pages of this book. The fear, manipulation, deprivation, control, violence, the planning, the escape in the middle of the night, dealing with the legal system - even the plastic bags!

I really appreciated that this book showed how crucial a balanced education is. The FLDS leaders purposely deprive their followers (particularly women) of education to keep them ignorant, subserviant, and fearful. She doesn’t come out and say it, but it is clear that Jessop believes her education was key to her ability to escape. I have no doubt that her ex-husband realizes that it was a “mistake” to let her go to college, as well.

In her dedication, Carolyn Jessop dedicated this book to those who have not yet escaped and assured them that they have the power and stength to do so. I think that this book has the potential to reach millions of those living in abusive relationships outside the FLDS subculture. I hope that people read this book, see Jessop’s strength, and realize they do not have to live in fear, pain, and chaos no matter how insurmountable the odds seem.

Some of Jessop’s critics (like the SLTRIB reporter that seems to want to join the FLDS half the time) have written that Jessop didn’t talk enough about the “good times” living in her community. After reading the book, I didn’t think that was true, I felt Jessop described some very sweet and poignant moments which balanced the narrative well.

I give this book a full five stars because the story is brilliantly told. I do share some of the other reviewers’ concerns about editing (the repeating gets tiresome). As others have noted, I also wondered whether Jessop was completely honest about her role in the family. I can’t imagine living in that environment without ever once retaliating or joining in with the disfunction - but this was her memoir, so I suppose the other members of that family can write their own books if they want to explain their side. I would also imagine that her lawyers wouldn’t have let her be fully self-disclosing due to the fact that anything negative could be used against her in future potential custody disputes. The story is so well-told, I don’t think these editing/content isses detracted from the narrative overall.

(On a side note: I hope that the raid on YFZ in Texas has the unintended side-affect of selling millions more copies of this book. Jessop and her children deserve every dime. I hope that she uses the financial freedom to continue dispell the secrecy that has allowed the FLDS sub-culture to dehumanize and terrorize men, women, and children for generations.)An amazing story of bravery and endurance (2008-04-11)
Carolyn was born and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (a religious sect which is in no way connected to the Mormon Faith). At the age of 18 she was forced into marriage to Merril Jessop, a leader within the FLDS and a man who was older than her father. At that time he already had 3 wives and 33 children. In time she would become one of 7 wives and bear him 8 children of her own. Her life was very restricted. She had to turn over any money that she earned to her husband and was dependent on what little he gave her to support herself and her children. She couldn’t do anything without her husband’s permission - not even calling an ambulance if her child was sick. In the FLDS culture, a man’s wife is his property and he can do whatever he wants to her. Abuse is frequent.

In this environment, Carolyn had few friends that she could trust. The other wives were not her friends but her competition for their husband’s favor, because even if they didn’t love their husband, he had the ability to improve the quality of their lives. Also, members of the FLDS community were actively encouraged to spy on one another. But even though life is immensely difficult, most women stay because they are conditioned from birth to believe that the outside world is corrupt and evil and that they will be doomed to Hell if they leave. (It was interesting to me that they did have some exposure to the outside world: Merril had outside business interests and also took his wives on occasional holidays to other parts of the US. Carolyn also had access to the internet through her work.)

When Carolyn finally does escape, the tension is almost unbearable. I found the final chapters of the book especially interesting and moving, when Carolyn is describing what happened to her family after they left the compound. She found it immensely difficult to adapt to being allowed to do fun things with her children after having been conditioned her entire life to believe it was a sin to enjoy yourself. Even something simple like going to McDonalds was terribly stressful for her. The adjustment to having the freedom to make her own decisions was not an easy one. Her children also struggle in their different ways with the change from the life that they have always known.

The reason that I have given this book only four stars is that I felt that the writing let it down. Carolyn’s story feels like it just kind of poured out of her in a carthatic jumble of “this happened, and then this happened”. This is perfectly understandable given what she went through, but a better co-author or editor would have pulled it more into shape. At times she repeats things she’s already told us, while other parts get confusing (there are, after all, so many family members to keep track of). So it’s not the most well written book that I have read this year, but it’s still an amazing story and it could well be the book that I will remember the most vividly. Carolyn’s bravery is astounding and very moving.

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