My Story

My Story by Elizabeth Smart is a very quick read. I read it in only a few hours. I’m not sure if it is out of a sense of urgency-as if the faster you read the book, the faster she will get rescued. I actually had no interest in reading this book, but after hearing her referenced as an inspiration for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which is in my queue, and as a source of inspiration for Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, I felt like I would be remiss NOT to read My Story.
Once again, if anyone ever says that slavery wasn’t too bad, just hand that person Elizabeth Smart’s My Story. Smart correctly identifies her position in relation to her male and female captors though they used her for different purposes: a flesh light and a donkey respectively.
What I didn’t expect from Smart’s My Story was a sense of humor and sarcasm. It makes sense-she was kidnapped as a teenager, and devout, obedient, Mormon or not, teenagers are sarcastic. “By then, the Antichrist (yeah, who else) would have come and conquered the world.” pg. 82
Unfortunately no amount of humor can temper the shock of reading how truly depraved some people are and what those people think is normal. And how those people have no shortage of finding willing partners! Unlike most of her kidnapped counterparts, Smart thought that she would have to be with them for thirty years or whenever her captors died. Fortunately her time with madmen was much shorter: nine months.
My Story is a bit preachy so if you don’t like frequent references to God, I’d skip it, but if you get tortured for nine months, I would say that you write about whatever gets you through. Smart found endurance through God, her family and the public’s nonstop search for her. The lesson of Smart’s My Story: don’t believe what someone else’s representation is for another person. Separate that person from the speaker and try to get them to talk. Always question something that looks odd, but have a buddy system, because the person could be armed.