My Story

My Story by Elizabeth Smart

Review by Lillian W

The memoir, My Story written by Elizabeth Smart, was eye opening.  It recounts her experience being taken from her home by a self pledged prophet of God, Brian David Mitchell.  But this kidnapper was anything but godly.  Through each chapter, Elizabeth explains her torture in vivid detail.  Her biggest motivations to escape were her faith, family, and yearning for the life she had ahead.  The determination she had was unbreakable.

On a summer night in June, Elizabeth was stolen from her home.  She trudged up a steep mountain all night, just miles away from her home.  The trek to the camp hidden away in the trees would become her home for the next few months.  Here, she lived through days plagued with starvation, manipulation, and abuse.  Behind a veil of white, Elizabeth would walk in the daylight with a covered face.  Hidden in plain sight.  She came close to rescue but was reminded of the threats Brian had hammered into her brain.  At times like these, Elizabeth felt the most despair.  But every time it got really bad, she saw a flash of hope, a sign from God, a memory of kindness from her family and it pushed her forward.

This book gave me a lot of respect for the power of the mind.  Elizabeth was very good at expressing all of her internal thoughts from the kidnapping on paper.  Elizabeth showed weakness in the absence of her family.  But, it was her optimism in appalling situations that kept her alive.  The most captivating of them all was her relationship with God and her Mormon beliefs.  I am not a very religious person but I saw how much her faith aided her in the times she felt most alone.  It was very inspiring, considering her situation.  Another thing I enjoyed about her book was how much her voice came through in her writing.  All of the words she chose were very raw with emotion.  Her writing style guided me along the pages with ease making it hard to put down.

One thing I did not enjoy about the book was her redundancy.  Many times, she repeated the same thought or phrase.  Often she said, “I was only a little girl,” when it added nothing to the story.  Elizabeth could have been a bit more creative with her title.  My Story is vague and I did not consider this book an option until I read the description.  A title should be encompassing and exciting so that the copies fly off of the shelf and My Story does not do that.  Lastly, some of her thoughts were not completely developed; however, this did not rid the book of its overall message.  One thing I learned after reading this story was to be thankful for three simple things: safety, family, and life itself.  You never know how long you have on this earth so giving gratitude for the simplest things is one of the most fulfilling things you can do for yourself and those around you.