Natascha Kampusch

I don't even know how to rate a book like this? It's kinda like "ah, no, your story wasn't good enough for me, but thanks for trying". Which obviously isn't the case. It's a horrible story, but well told I suppose.

I am very impressed by her attitude of not wanting to be reduced to a weak victim abused by a horrible monster, but instead pointing out that while everything that happened was wrong, the criminal was still human and had his good sides as well as the many bad ones. I'm appalled by the response this attitude has generated from the general public: and I've read that in her most recent interviews she said that she was not comfortable with other people and had stopped studying. I just can't believe that people are willing to turn on someone like her just because she doesn't fit her narrow definition of a victim.

I've been wanting to read this book for a while, and I'm happy she got to tell her story her way. I do hope everything works out for the best for her in the end, and that people stop being assholes.… (more)

How do you begin to rate or review something so personal?

This book was hard to get through, not only because of the content but also the writing style. It was at hard times to follow and she seemed to contradict her experiences throughout. She spends multiple pages vehemently denying she has suffered from Stockholm syndrome all the while saying how evil but kind her kidnapper was.

A huge portion of the book is dedicated to her "difficult" childhood. From someone who suffered so much later it was rather strange to hear some of her complaints of her childhood. "I was now 5 years old and I had gone from being a cheerful toddler to an insecure, taciturn person who no longer liked life."

I cannot begin to imagine the difficulty of writing of such experiences so I don't want to sound harsh but many things felt glossed over about her times in captivity.… (more)