Elissa Wall

Big change in subject for me - this one was a case of thrift shop serendipity found when I had reason to wish to understand an inflexible religious mindset a little better. I remember this book from the days it was $30 or so brand new at Borders.

I can hardly believe that the FLDS members are an American people practicing an American religion. Goodness gracious, have they no care for freedom??? Have they not heard of the American taste for freedom? No, not so much. They have taken to their show more slavery like ducks to water and reason will not change minds there. They can actually "keep sweet" when such outrageous demands are made on them by their powers that be? Remove a man from his family, assign his woman and children to another man, exile the boys, and everyone cooperates? All I can say is.... wow. I had no idea. How horrible and frightening cult behavior is when you shine a light under the rock that people like David Koresh and Jim Jones live under.

I had sort of a panic attack at the mere sight of Warren Jeffs in the picture section. My Spider Sense literally screamed "CREEEEEP!" and I was literally frightened for just a moment, sitting safely in my home with a hardback in my hands. World of yuck. So glad he's in jail, so sorry the faithful are apparently waiting around for him to come back and take up the reins of power again.

It is probably quite relevant to say here that I'm not necessarily put off by tall, skinny and weird. I think Joey Ramone is one of the more adorable human beings to have graced the planet for awhile, and I do freely admit that seeing "Rock and Roll High School" at an impressionable age may have had something to do with this affectionate feeling for the Ramones.

High praise to author and escapee, free woman Elissa Walls, who somehow managed to maintain a most laudable sense of grace, forgiveness, love and hope concerning her True Believer mother and sisters, escaped siblings and and even her sad sack cousin-ex-husband. I tip my hat to her.

As for the FLDS, they are throwing away their children in the name of their religion, and I fear it is always a mistake to turn out your family. No matter why, even if it's in the name of religion. Especially when it is over religion. I can say that with some authority at the moment. Thanks Elissa, reading your story brought me comfort after my fight with a fundamentalist. show less

Stolen innocence: My Story of Growing up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs. Elissa Wall, 2008. The title says it all. This is a fascinating and horrifying look into the FLDS, the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, and their practices. The author grew up into a family with one father and 3 wives and all their children. She was forced into marriage at the age of 14 to a man she had never liked. She details daily life under the hideous show more dictatorship of the Prophet Jeffs who controlled every aspect of the lives of the members of the sect. It is hard to believe that people still live like this. This is a very readable detailed account of Walls life and escape from this sect. show less

Everytime I give a memoir about a heartwrenching topic less than four stars, I tend to feel a tremendous amount of guilt. I always feel like the author will read my less than stellar review and think "Well I'm sorry that what I went through wasn't GOOD enough for you! What, did you want me to go through more so that you could me entertained?" While this wasn't my issue with Stolen Innocence, I do have to give it three stars (and that's being semi-generous).

My main issue with Stolen show more Innocence was that it lagged big time. A big chunk of this book was very repetitive. In fact, the first 100 pages were good and the last 100 pages were great. However, the middle was just a repeat of what she had mentioned in the first 100 pages repeated throughout about 200 more. This book would've been way better if it had been a bit on the shorter side sans any repeating.

Stolen Innocence was also terribly written. I do understand that Elissa Wall isn't a writer and hence this book wasn't going to be some literary masterpiece, but I did expect it to be semi well-written. Shouldn't her ghostwriter have made it a bit more readable? And the editor really should have done a better job. There were glaring typos all over Stolen Innocence. I had to resist the urge to take out a red pen and correct them all. This was a FINAL copy, not an Advanced Reader's Copy and therefore should have read like one.

Again I state that I did find Elisa Wall's story incredibly heartwrenching and the way that the FLDS treats its women really pisses me off. I am incredibly happy that Wall managed to escape and survive that ideal and I think it's great that she's sharing her story. I just wish it would've been better written. show less

I’m always interested in how upbringing and circumstances affect belief, and in Stolen Innocence Lisa Pulitzer has helped Elissa Wall write a fascinating account of her gradual transition from mildly rebellious believer to someone who would leave behind the only world she had ever known, even though she still worried her actions might cause her eternal damnation. Wall grew up in the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints, the polygamous sect Warren Jeffs, now jailed, led, but since show more her father and the first of his wives were converts and hadn’t been raised in the faith themselves, they had a harder than usual time adjusting to the dynamics of plural marriage, making trouble for the whole family.

Though it was never idyllic, life deteriorated in the community after Warren Jeffs anointed himself prophet and began a series of self-serving proclamations that eliminated most celebrations, banished potential rivals, and tore families apart. The unraveling, and the way believers struggled to maintain their faith while coping with the changes make gripping reading.

For me, the most intriguing, though heartbreaking, part of the book covers Wall’s life after being forced to marry a first cousin she despises when she is only fourteen. Still young and isolated enough to be naive, her nature and strict way of life also allowed her to be much more resilient and self-sufficient than a lot of young teenagers. She’d run to her mother for comfort, but she also found numerous jobs so she wouldn’t have to ask her “husband” for money, and many nights she slept alone in her pickup truck on isolated desert roads a to avoid spending the night with him.

For those interested in Warren Jeff’s trial, that is covered in detail because Wall was a star witness in the case. show less