There's no arguing that this is an astounding story with a wonderful, triumphant ending. And I was a little blown away by Jaycee's humble attitude--she actually writes that she's grateful she didn't have it worse. I'm not really sure how much worse it can get for a kid living in America, but I applaud her for her positive thinking. I'm also genuinely glad that this book is doing so well, because if anybody deserves to make some money and have a comfortable life, it's this woman. 
 But it fell a little short of the mark. The book is poorly written. It's difficult to follow in some places because of the conversational and mixed-up syntax of some of her sentences, and it's overwhelmingly repetitive all the way throughout (which is probably a result of the long, repetitive nature of her captivity). But the real problem with the writing is the lack of good "showing" details. The most often repeated phrase in the book was "I felt," and telling someone how you feel isn't going to make them feel it too. I wanted to know what the room smelled like, what his hands felt like, what the inside of the tent looked like. And I get that she wanted to protect her kids from scrutiny, but it kept the reader from knowing anything about them at all. Were they adjusting okay outside of the backyard? What did they think of Phillip while they were growing up? Did he ever hurt them? I wonder. I suppose that isn't Jacyee's story to tell, though. 
 So, even though I have buckets of sympathy for Jaycee on an intellectual level, it was difficult to feel anything for the protagonist of this memoir. I don't think she conveyed the experience of her captivity successfully. It isn't all that surprising, since her education was halted at 5th grade, but as a reader, I was disappointed.