After discussing this book with friends today, I feel kind of at a loss for words. I must have said most of them already. But, this is one of the most bizarre and chilling books I've read. It was interesting to read part of the tale behind all the headlines. And, after I finished the book, I felt so incredibly grateful for my life. I can't imagine having so little control over my own life. But, literally, it seems that as AG Mark Shurtleff put it.. we have the Taliban in our own backyard.
I've read as much as I can and still am reading about the Founding Fathers of the United states that I found this comment in the book quite touching, "Dan was telling me (Carolyn) about the crimes he was hearing about in the FLDS and said I was right to get my children out. 'I never knew what this country's Founding Fathers fought for until I left (the FLDS)' he said quietly. 'Even so, it took me years to grasp what it really meant and how deeply it mattered." Yes. It matters so much.
It interested me how many times she talked about liberty and freedom, and it saddens me to think how many live in a free country in bondage of one kind or another. I found it devastating at the end when Carolyn's daughter chooses to go back. Very sad.
I had a real problem in the book with the idea that a child's education could be so random and so halting. Children have a right to be educated. They must be prepared to do the work of the world and to be able to think for themselves and provide for themselves as adults. I think that was one of the saddest parts of this real story.
This is just kind of an aside. But if you read the book, you have to see this clip I found on the Huffington Post about the HAIR..., probably the least bizarre thing about this story, but still. Sadly, it reminded me too much of my own senior picture. I also found it interesting that the women in this clip all seemed to have new dresses cut from the same pattern all in pastel colors and no prints. That picture confirmed some of the things Jessop said in her book.
