A Stolen Life
by Jaycee Dugard
- Percentage of approved critics who have given this book a positive review.
Critic Rating
90%
Critic Reviews: 20
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- User rating from iDreamBooks & iTunes
Reader Rating
90%
Reader Ratings: 15224
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Synopsis
An instant #1 New York Times bestsellerâJaycee Dugardâs raw and powerful memoir, her own story of being kidnapped in 1991 and held captive for more than eighteen years. In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen. For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to... more
About Jaycee Dugard
- All Critics: 20
- Positive: 20
- Negative: 0
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The Hollywood Reporter | 14 Jul 2011
The prose is spare and simple, but what it lacks in polish it more than makes up for in immediacy and emotional intensity.
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LA Times | 13 Jul 2011
The book is more than just a horror story with a recovery at the end -- although it is that -- because Dugard's survival shows such extraordinary fortitude.
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The New York Times | 17 Jul 2011
Her book is brave, dignified and painstakingly honest, even when it comes to the banal particulars of how she stayed afloat.
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The Telegraph | 25 Jul 2011
What’s remarkable about this book is not the writing, which is touchingly childlike in its innocence, but the tone.
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The Washington Post | 22 Jul 2011
Dugard surprises, in the end, by her lack of bitterness.
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San Francisco Chronicle | 31 Jul 2011
Here is a woman who suffered 18 years of captivity by a demented, drug-abusing rapist. . . and can tell the saga believably, unflinchingly.
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Independent.ie | 23 Jul 2011
. . .a voice that is calm, wise, mature, balanced rather than bitter, and full of the joy of being alive and being free.
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The Express Tribune | 30 Aug 2011
. . .the memoir gives the readers a chance to hear Jaycee’s actual voice, which is why the grammatical missteps seem almost inconsequential.
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BuffaloNews.com | 22 Jul 2011
The book opens with an author's note that the structure of her memoir "might be confusing to some,". . .Despite Dugard's note, the book is neither jumbled nor significantly disconnected.
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Entertainment Weekly | 14 Jul 2011
I didn’t finish the book thinking she was damaged. I finished it feeling blown away by her courage.
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Story Circle Book Reviews | 6 Oct 2011
This enduring story of survival left me amazed at the inner strength of one little girl.
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Writer's Diary | 14 Jul 2011
I came away with a profound respect for Dugard, and I wouldn’t give that up for any of the tears I shed reading it.
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Reference Counterculture | 17 Jan 2012
The most spectacular thing about the book is the fact that it is written with such hope for the future.
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Shykia Bell | 15 Feb 2012
. . .the book is often written in simplistic language. . .but in all fairness, I think the author did well considering her level of education at the time it was written.
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Read, React, Review | 2 Sep 2011
Is it a difficult book? Yes. A book full of fear and sorrow and loss? Yes, absolutely. But it is also full of hope and resilience and love.
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The Garfield Book Review | 8 Aug 2011
The prose isn’t fancy, but it’s exceedingly honest, and for a case like Jaycee Dugard’s, that’s far more important than literary merit.
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Opinions of a Wolf Blog | 18 Aug 2011
Eliminating the ghost writer and letting the victim speak grants us, the readers, the opportunity to truly connect with a survivor.
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Paulette Alden | 21 Nov 2011
The story she tells is incomprehensible and yet she lays it out straightforwardly, candidly, bravely, without self-pity and with calm sanity.
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