A Stolen Life: A Memoir
Written by Jaycee Dugard
Narrated by Jaycee Dugard
4/5
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About this audiobook
In the summer of June of 1991, I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother that loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen.
For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation.
On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I don’t think of myself as a victim, I simply survived an intolerable situation. A Stolen Life is my story—in my own words, in my own way, exactly as I remember it.
Jaycee Dugard
Jaycee Dugard is the author of the memoir A Stolen Life, which tells the story of her kidnapping and eighteen years of captivity. Her second book is Freedom: My Book of Firsts.
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Reviews for A Stolen Life
1,220 ratings118 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be an incredibly moving and intimate look into Jaycee's story. It is a heartbreaking tale of a brave and strong young woman who endured unimaginable abuse and captivity. Despite the horrors she faced, Jaycee's story is filled with wisdom, dignity, and grace. Her narration is excellent, and her positive attitude and joy of life are truly inspiring. This book is a powerful and emotional read that will leave readers in awe of Jaycee's strength and resilience.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jaycee was insightful as a child and insightful as she grew into a woman. A personal account in to her captivity.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was such a difficult thing to know about, but she told her story with no self pity & full of positive affirmations.. She is amazing!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great read, what a brave, strong, articulate, beautiful young women Jaycee is. To have lived through what this wise young women went through and come through it with wisdom, dignity and grace is a credit to her.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such a sad story however definitely makes you appreciate life and the blessing of having your children next to you. Recalled every detail so vividly and gave honest prospective of her real accounts. I am glad I have come across this book
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What can anyone say after reading a book like this? I'll do my best.This book is about the hell JAYCEE LEE DUGARD went through in a sick bastard's backyard for 18 years. She had to endure things that no child should ever go through. She was stolen, raped, humiliated, & abused. All these things could have been prevented had the court system done their job the first time this sicko did his sick things to an innocent female. But no, the court system fails to protect the little Jaycees' of America as they will continue to fail & protect innocent children.To JAYCEE: You are a remarkable young woman. You went through this because you had to, but you made it. You survived. You're strong, & unstoppable. Now, you help children & families going through the same thing you and you're family went through. You deserve the moon. You go girl, and you will. :)One last thought: I strongly believe in the death penalty.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An amazing book. Jaycee tells the story from the day of her kidnapping up to her struggle to adjusting to real life, interspersed with memories of her childhood. It's told very matter-of-factly, not necessarily without emotion, but without pity. Jaycee doesn't want to be seen as a victim or a hero - she's just sharing her story because it's all she knew, and all she could do was live each day as it came to her. Still, it's very inspiring, especially when she shares optimistic journal entries she wrote when she was thirteen, then ones she wrote when she and her daughters were much older. It's a fascinating look at how someone can be trapped for so long, then exposed to the real world and not want to be in it. Jaycee says that she never wanted to go back to her captivity, but with the media in her face, she pretty much felt like she was still being kept from having her own life. Very sobering book.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An incredibly moving and intimate look into Jaycee's story. I will say though, don't go into this expecting a true crime novel. This is her story, her perspective of her imprisonment. You don't hear about the search for her, or how her captures were punished. I don't mind this, because there is plenty of resources out there that covers the case in depth. Instead this is her retelling her experience and memories, what she did to survive, what she went through, and where she is now. Also her narration is excellent!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Well written and emotional story of girl who's life was taken
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A sad book, but very well written. Makes me want to help victims.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This book would have been such great therapy for the author.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thank you Jaycee for sharing your story... you are a wonderful writer.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5incredible. jaycee stays optimistic and hopeful the entire way through. hearing her read her own story is so beautiful.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thank you for having the courage to share your story!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5truly was amazing but heartbreaking to hear her story, it was well written considering she didn’t get educated past 5th grade, wow!! much love to her and her beautiful family.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God bless this young lady. I would love to know how her life is now. I pray she is living a blessed life
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5It was very disturbing. Don't read it if you are not willing to sacrifice your will. You'll have to be brave and not lose yourself for reading or listening to the audio.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5this was hard to read/listen too, i was in tears by the end. i fell in love with jaycee and her story, i wish her all the happiness and healing.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow, for a little girl to have endured so much and still come out with a positive attitude and joy of life is amazing. My life seems ideal compared to this and it makes me realize I have nothing to complain about. I can now understand how Stockholm syndrome could develop in a kidnap victim. Mind manipulation is a powerful tool. This is truly an amazing story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A very brave little girl who learned how to servive. She was subjected to terrible circumstances and today she seems to be a happy, healthy young woman. Therapy has helped her to recover but it is so very sad to have lost all the years she did to this monster and his codependent wife.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a heart wrenching tale. It is such a blessing to see Jaycee has had so much healing after such a terrible trial.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely iconic. Thanks so much for sharing your story and helping inspire me and others.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was an incredibly emotional book some parts were hard to listen to but throughout the book you do see how even though this young girl had to go through all of this she was able to be happy and embrace her new found freedom. I highly recommend this book it is inspirational and touching.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved that Jaycee did the audio for this book. It made you really feel what she felt. It’s a terrible story , but it is her story, and I loved the book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow Jaycee is an amazingly strong woman. I never followed this case. This book was fascinating and heartbreaking. I couldn’t stop listening
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heartbreaking story, but amazing how strong she stayed over the years. I will be reading her 2nd book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Awesome read! Great book. She is such a strong woman and mother!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such an amazing story. Strongest women I’ve ever come across
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5a very powerful book. beautifully written and narrated by jaycee, she is a very strong woman
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great story - made even better because the author read it!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a good book. I give Kudos to Jaycee for having the courage to write it. Something tells me that the book is incomplete because there may be details that her memory has repressed and may come out in years to come. And this is perfectly OK.
I am amazed at the courage she had shown during her captivity. I feel so bad for her in that indeed, her life was stolen. I am curious as to why Phillip kidnapped her for such a long time. True, his sick and twisted and demented mind had an obsession to have sex with Jaycee, but what confused me was that after the sex was kind of over because of the myriad of reasons, such as her being older, them having two children and not being able to afford it. If he truly was this child molester-sex offender, why didn't he just let her go and kidnapp another young girl?
It is a very interesting read in that it left me with many more questions that I am sure Jaycee couldn't answer and probably didn't want to answer. More questions on the psychology of the whole thing. I would have liked to have seen notes from her therapist and from the police as well. It would have completed a bit more of the picture, I think.
However, again, I enjoyed reading this book as it brought awareness of some of the sick individuals we live with. I would recommend this book to anyone just for the fact that you come away with appreciating what you have. You think you have it rough now? Get in a time machine and trade with Jaycee...I am sure she would not mind at all...