The Little Prisoner

Jane Elliot lived through a childhood that most never survive to tell the tale. The things this woman went through are unimaginable horrors. From being a sex, and domestic slave for 17 years to being beat down for speaking out against her abuser by her very own brothers. I'm angry that her mother was never charged with neglect. I know Jane wants to believe that her mom didn't know about the sexual abuse she endured but deep down I think she knows that really her mother could have cared less. This is a tale of survival. Once you open this book you will not want to set it down.

First off I need to say that this book was amazing, but not at all for very emotional people. I say that only because it tells such a brutally horrifying story that I kept having to put the book down. I always read books, particularly memoirs, of similar topics, and I can honestly say that there is not another book that has affected me this way. I was only onto the 30th page or so, and disgusted, yet I also wanted to get to the end and see what happened, so I didn't want to put it down. And the end of the book I was truly crying and I couldn't really say if it was happy tears or not. I don't know how anybody could have lived through the years of abuse that are discussed in "The Little Prison," yet I can sort of understand "Jane's" explanation that when you are a young kid, what you see at home is really all you see, so it's hard to clarify what is normal and what is not. It is also truly disturbing how a person could be so evil to treat other people the way her step-father treated her. And eventually the whole family started treating her the same way, it's just horrifying. I think that "Jane" is an amazing woman for being able to live through this terrifying childhood, bring the scumbag to court, deal with the results of the case and her family's hatred towards her from it, write a book about her experience, and raise a family. I am just amazed and I sincerely hope the rest of her life is positive. I'd highly recommend this book be read. Although it is sickening to read the things Jane lived through, it's also reality, and the only way we as a society as a whole can help to stop these sorts of things is to be educated about them.

How do you really give a review on something with such a hard subject matter to digest? Well, in this case the author did a great job of letting the reader into such an awful portion of her life. We get to "try" to understand what is was like to endure years of pain, both physical and mental. We get to "try" and figure out how these awful things could have happened...and WHY it is so important to "get involved" as citizens. Nobody wanted to take a stand for this little girl...nobody wanted to be brave...but she was. The author mentions a book I read years ago called "A Child Called It" by Dave Pelzer, and I'd agree...if you read it and found it engaging...you'll find this engaging as well.

This whole subject is not for the "faint of heart". It is horrific and beyond the understanding of those of us not touched by actual experience. A blind eye has been turned on these poor children for long enough. We must keep them safe and prosecute the perpetrators.

This young child is forced in to a terrible ordeal with a man. Her life is filled with painful twist and turns. hard to imagine that such things could happen to children byt even more amazing that a child can come out of it and fight with courage and dignity to survive it all. Also read Nightmares Echo and Smashed