Escape

This book exhausted me....mentally and emotionally. As I read of what this woman went through, I found myself drained and worn out.

I could not put the book down. A compulsively readable story of a young woman, raised in a strict polygamist offshoot of the Mormon church, and how the male hierarchy began slowly and methodically gaining more and more power over the lives of the women and children, and eventually some of the less powerful men as well.

The oldest "prophet" died, leaving the highest position open for the son to claim....but in time, the new prophet's rules and regulations began to appear to be based on the whims of his growing madness. Warren Jeffs fanaticism and power caused Carolyn Jessop, fourth wife of Merril Jessop, to show more realize that her life and the lives of her eight children were in serious jeopardy. Without a complete understanding of the outside world, she knew it was the only chance she and her kids had of survival....the FLDS community was imploding and she took the opportunity when it came, to escape the clutches of the religious cult.

Reading of day to day life in the FLDS community, it seemed as though the women were nothing more than baby making machines, under the thumbs of their husbands. They could not do anything without clearing it first with their "priesthood heads". Any money they earned at jobs were transferred into their husbands hands. They were not to argue or question anything their husbands told them to do, no matter how bizarre or outrageous.

Carolyn had several life-threatening pregnancies, constant tension between her and her "sister wives", and obstacle after obstacle thrown at her by those in the community that wanted to crush her spirit and stop her growing rebellion against the abuse that she and the children were enduring.

Eventually Carolyn managed somehow to get out...but her children continued to be confused and filled with anxiety due to their upbringing, and how they had been brainwashed to believe that anything outside of the FLDS community was of the devil. With time, patience and love, the kids started to come around, with the exception of Betty, who returned to the FLDS.

I will never forget this story and especially will never forget the unquenchable spirit of this amazing young woman. show less

Carolyn Jessop's story of life in a religious cult and her subsequent escape is riveting and fascinating, right from the beginning. That people live as they do in this cult in our times is sheer madness. Carolyn is so strong to have made it through this experience without losing her sanity - that crazy honeymoon bus trip to San Diego alone would have pushed me over the edge had I been in her place! Read this for a demonstration of courage, strength, and bravery, and to witness Carolyn's unending love for her children and burning desire to live free.

Fascinating in a can't-look-away fashion of a polygamous household in the Fundamentalist LDS Church. The details of this young girl's life, marriage, subsequent 8 births is a litany of stupidity, naivite, and misogyny. There is abuse on many levels but the keenest is reserved for the 30 some children (offspring... he hardly treated them like human beings) of the Patriarch. It should be required reading for any young woman as a reminder of why education and financial independence is key to a worthwhile life.

Maddening and Emotional

I have such a love/hate relationship with this book. I love that the author was able to tell her story and bring awareness to a huge issue (which has nothing to do with religion itself and everything to do with extremism). I hate this book because I kept yelling at it screaming “what the f***!” A book that can make you feel a strong emotion is an amazing book in my eyes. I’m so happy that the author was able to find her way out and be an active participant in helping the future.

Carolyn Jessop's tale of her life in the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints and her escape from abuse and oppression at the hands of her husband and her religion is heartbreaking as well as inspiring. It is depressing to me that people In this day and age and in this country are still living in such a confining and brainwashed society.
Ms. Jessop's writing is very good and extremely compelling. My only complaint is that she has a tendency to be repetitive in her explanations of FLDS doctrine, as well as explaining multiple times who people are. It almost seems as if the book came out in a serialized fashion, where all information necessary to the narrative is given, even if it had been mentioned in a previous chapter.
I was show more fascinated by this book, as well as grieved for this woman and her experiences. I would recommend this to any reader of memoirs, as well as students of religion. show less

I have to admit that I simply do not understand polygamy. There appears to be little in it for the women, and the whole concept seems to be virtually impossible to execute in a manner that is fair and equitable to all parties concerned. The particular strain of polygamy experienced by Jessop, that of the FLDS, appears to have little to recommend it to thinking women. Abusive treatment on earth is accepted as the price to pay to be a god in heaven at the side of one's husband, who is her "priesthood head". At one point Jessop began asking herself the question that I was asking myself on page 2 -- what's the point of enduring torture on earth when to disobey meant torture in the afterlife? And rest assured, there is no way for the women show more to succeed in this system, so damnation is the best they can hope for. Alternatively depressing and hopeful, this was a book that I could not put down. show less

Carolyn Jessop's story of her life in the polygamous community the FLDS is one of those books that is simultaneously hard to read and difficult to put down. It's hard to read because her tale is one of non-stop abuse, from the apocalyptic nightmare that was drilled into her head as a child to the regular violence committed against women and children in the community in the name of God. But it is when Carolyn is given at 18 to be the fourth wife of a man 30 years her senior that things really become twisted. Though those in favor of polygamy may wax poetic about how wonderful and supportive it is to have "sister-wives," the dynamic in Jessop's family was one of ruthless competition, with women who had no rights of their own battling for show more their husband's attention in order to ensure such basic needs as food and protection for their children.

Having been born at a time when the women ahead of me were fighting hard so I could have rights that I pretty much take for granted, Jessop's story is a chilling reminder of what life is like for women who are raised in a religion which tells them that their only hope of salvation is perfect devotion to their husbands and, if their husband beats them, it is simply because of their own failings. Those who think the women of the FLDS should just refuse to put up with such treatment and walk away fail to understand that these women are held captive not only by their life-long belief systems, but their extreme isolation and community practices that ensure that, if they do speak up, they get no support from anyone. Even the local police were members of the FLDS and would not interfere with another man's right to run his family as he saw fit, no matter how visible the bruises. Should a woman get up the courage to actually leave the only lifestyle she has ever known, orchestrated searches, enormous pressure from family and religious leaders and a total lack of familiarity with and skills for the outside world will make it very difficult for her to survive on her own.

In the wake of the recent raid that removed hundreds of children from an FLDS ranch in Texas (a sister community to Jessop's that is reportedly now run by her ex-husband) I heard a lot of talk about freedom of religion. Those who think the State of Texas acted too overzealously would do well to read this book. If there is anything that Jessop's account makes abundantly clear, it's that women who have had obedience beaten into them since they were children are anything but free. The question of how much the government should intervene in groups like these is, to say the least, a thorny one, particularly when most victims are too terrified to go against everything they have been taught to eestify against their abusers. Jessop's disturbing recitation of how things got even worse after Warren Jeffs rose to power is also chilling reminder of how easily blind obedience to irrational doctrines can be horrifically abused by ambitious, power-hungry men like Jeffs.

Jessop was lucky in that she was permitted to go to college, and her work experiences and occasional contact with the outside world enabled her to build the determination to fight the abuse and make a better life for her own children. It is this determination that makes the book hard to put down, as I was anxious to discover just how, in fact, she ultimately managed to escape her hellish life with no money, eight children, and suspicious sister-wives watching her every move. show less