Review of
Instaread Summary of Freedom My Book of Firsts by Jaycee Dugard
Five out of five stars
Jaycee Dugard was abducted when she was eleven by Phillip
and Nancy Garrido and held captive for eighteen years. During that time, she
gave birth to two daughters, the original purpose for the abduction was for her
to be a sex slave. Once she was released, she was physically an adult but had
not passed through the socially awkward teen years. Therefore, at the age of
thirty, she found it necessary to learn the things that one normally does when
going from a pre-teen to an adult in American society.
According to
the summary, the book is very positive in tone, there is very little
recrimination or expressed bitterness towards her captors. Humor is used to
describe some of the unusual circumstances where Jaycee is learning how to do
things such as drive a car, shop for goods and cook wholesome and delicious
food.
One of the main
themes of the book is the role that pets and other animals can have in therapy
and recovery from trauma. While several animal types are mentioned, the
emphasis is on horses. The value of having close relationships with animals is
not news to people like myself that spent time living on a farm. Yet, it is an
important lesson that always is worthy of relearning.
Dr. Rebecca
Bailey is described as Jaycee’s primary therapist, so it is clear that there
has been a great deal of work done in re-integrating Jaycee into the world.
That is mentioned in the summary along with Jaycee’s work in developing
mechanisms for people like herself that need to adjust to society after years
of being isolated from the world.
This is a great
summary, for it gives the reader enough of the book to understand that while
Jaycee will always have to live with her experiences, they are not controlling
her life and what she does from now on.
This book was made available for free for review
purposes.