One of my librarians recommended this book to me after I asked what she was reading. Carolyn Jessop was one of many wives to a prominent member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Her escape with her 8 children was a sensation because she was only the second woman to leave the “church” (it’s classified as a cult by the US government) and retain her full parental rights.  I found this book a tedious read. It’s salacious for sure — Jessop is married at 18 to a 58 year old man with multiple wives. Her life in that household is one of abuse and deep, deep dysfunction. But it reads like a slightly embellished daily-diary. There’s little reflection or theme, just relentless cataloging of drama. I wondered for days after finished this if Jessop’s lack of deep thought on her past is part of having survived it — some sort of post-traumatic loss of affect. The back of the book has a huge quote from John Krakauer, who writes narrative nonfiction, the most famous of which is probably Into Thin Air. That book was a GREAT read, a dramatic, taut story with lots of reflection. I wish he had written this story.
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