Amanda Berry (1) (1986–)

In the spring of 2003, 17 year old Amanda Berry, walking home from work, was lured into a van by the father of a schoolmate. She was then taken to his house (still believing he was taking her to see her friend), where she was grabbed, brutally raped, and then chained up in the basement. She, and later Gina DeJesus, would remain in this house until 2013. Also there was Michelle Knight, who decided to tell her story on her own, so she is largely absent from these pages.

For ten long years, show more they were held inside without even a window to look out of. They were chained up, repeatedly raped, not fed nearly enough, terrified the whole time. Amanda had a baby girl while captive. Her rapist, Ariel Castro, was very proud to be a father and doted on the baby- while still keeping Amanda chained up. Amanda tried to raise the little girl with some sense of normalcy, teaching her to read, write, and do arithmetic. Castro enjoyed allowing the girls to watch the TV news when their families were on, begging for the return of their loved ones- an extra little bit of sadism.

The story is nothing short of horrifying. Castro and his treatment of the young women was viscerally revolting to me. The families and the police searched for them for years without finding anything. They despaired that they would never be found, never get out. Castro lied to each of them, telling them how he liked each one better than the others and that the other girls were saying bad things about them, driving a wedge between them so they could only look to him and not have warm feelings for the others. Now, Amanda and Gina are best friends- who else could understand what they have been through?-and have the support of their families again. I’m amazed at how well they have settled back into normal lives. They are very strong people to have survived as they did- I know I could never have survived in their situation.

The book alternates points of view, not just of the two girls, but also third person sections that show what their families, the police, and Castro himself were doing at the time. Amanda kept a diary of sorts; she intended to remember every detail and wrote in notebooks Castro bought her; when she filled those, she wrote on pizza boxes, receipts, and any other piece of paper she could find. The book was riveting; like a bad auto accident, I wanted to look away but couldn’t. Five stars, but very, very hard to read. show less

This is a hard book to read because it's emotional. I can't speak for outside the Cleveland, OH area, but in this area, it was big news. So at the beginning of the book, you already know that Amanda and Gina are going to be kidnapped and held for 10 years. You might find yourself, like me, wanting to warn them to not get in the van--to not give him the cell phone when he asks to see it--to not go into the house. Even though you know it's futile because it's already happened. For awhile, the show more only thing that kept me reading was the knowledge that the ending is a good one.

The middle part is sad (detailing what he did and said to them and what he put them through), but it was interesting to see what sustained them and their hope during the decade that they were held captive--and how things changed after the arrival of Jocelyn Jade Berry. I am not sure what made Ariel Castro leave the house that day without taking his usual precautions--I am glad he did and glad that Amanda was able to escape and summon help for Gina and Michelle--but part of me wonders if he didn't do it to bring an end to it in his time rather than waiting for Jocelyn to let something slip to the wrong person when he had her out with him.

I am glad both Gina and Amanda seemed to be moving on with their lives post-Castro. I heard that Amanda was doing segments on missing children on a local TV station, which is a good thing. In fact, just today I heard about a 56 year old woman who is missing and it is suspected that her boyfriend is holding her against her will. Very scary world that we live in. show less

Quite a difficult story to read just because of the subject matter but I think this is one of the best "awful stories" I've read. The now-women are surprising honest in how they were manipulated by Ariel Castro and it's refreshing to hear them discuss the Stockholm syndrome of which they were all a part as a simply a fact of the story rather than trying to resist that it happened. They were young, it's a fact of many kidnappings (contrast Elizabeth Smart's story and her adamant refusal that show more stockholm syndrome occurred all while discussing behavior all part of the syndrome).

I highly recommend this book for an inside look at the behavior of perpetrators and their young victims if you are interested. Although the book gets a little repetitive in some of the mundane activities described by two of the girls in two different ways, it is stunning and thorough in its description of the 10 year plus ordeal.

I can only hope that, though all the girls will have good days and bad, that they truly can gain the peace they describe. show less

This is the true story of the 3 teenage girls abducted in Cleveland, Ohio in the early 2000s by Ariel Castro. Their escape captivated the nation, but they didn't speak much publicly about what they endured during their captivation. This story is written in their own words (by 2 of the 3 survivors), aided by the diary kept by Amanda Berry during the 10 years she was held prisoner. The story is rounded out by reporters who lend details about what was happening in their community during this show more time. The story is fascinating in its details, especially in the coincidences and tiny, seemingly insignificant decisions that led to the abductions, and in the sheer volume of interactions that their captor had with their friends and family members while the women were missing.

The book is easy to read. Each short chapter is headed by a date. It is both heartbreaking and voyeuristic without being too graphic. And the title "hope" is fitting because so many of the people involved maintained hope in the face of adversity. show less