Review: My Story by Elizabeth Smart

Title: My Story

Author: Elizabeth Smart

Genre: Memoir, true crime

Pages: 308

Published: 2013

It's always hard for me to rate and review books that contain such personal stories and ordeals, like this one.

Many of you probably remember the story of Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home in 2002. She was 14 years old and taken captive by Brian David Mitchell and his wife, and held in captivity for nine long months in outdoor "camps." She was abused both mentally and physically, starved, sexually abused, and made to live in fear with the constant threats made by her captors who convinced her that if she ever tried to escape, her family would be killed.

It was extremely heartbreaking and fascinating to finally hear the whole story directly from Elizabeth. I was shocked by all the things that she endured and how delusional Mitchell was. It sickened me how he pretended and faked his way through life. He pretended he was a prophet and that he was doing all that he was doing because he was told to do so by God. He "preached" on the street for money, stole things from stores, and convinced people he was doing it all in the name of religion. He was a phony and a criminal and how he got away with it for so long, I will never understand.

This account of Elizabeth's ordeal is quite detailed and all encompassing. If you're interested in following crime cases, as I am, this would be a good book for you to pick up. I'm also planning on reading some other books about this case from other authors just to get other perspectives, but this is obviously the definitive account and one that I'd recommend.

My Rating: 4/5

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Reviewed by Stephanie

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