Memoir Reflections (Part 2)

After watching more memoir presentations, I have picked out four more memoirs that really caught my attention. The first, most eye-catching memoir, was A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. Jaycee wrote her memoir about her life as a kidnapped child for almost two decades. She was kidnapped at age 11 when she was at her bus stop waiting for the bus before school. At first she thought the man and woman who pulled over in a van were going to ask her for directions, but next thing she knew she was being shocked by a taser and thrown in to the back of the van. For the first month of imprisonment, Jaycee was kept in a shed and the months following that, she was constantly being moved from shed to shed. The reason behind this was because Phillip Garrido, the kidnapper, was hearing the evil spirits talking and so he moved Jaycee to be safe and away from those spirits. Phillip Garrido was not completely sane and he was convicted of rape towards two young women. In his mind, he thought that if he kidnapped one girl than he was saving himself from having to rape anyone else. At the age of 14, Jaycee had given birth to her first child and her second one a few years later. Phillip would not allow Jaycee to go to the hospital to give birth so she had to give birth in the backyard. Another thing he did not allow her to do was say her name. So for the next 18 years she lived nameless. Finally, when Phillip went to a University to ask about having an event, two police officers noticed how strangely his two daughters were acting. As a result, they were spoken to one on one and that was the moment they realized something was up. At the age of 29, Jaycee Dugard was saved and  once more reunited with the real world. To help cope with her past, Jaycee wrote her memoir, A Stolen Life. This memoir really brought to my mind about the saying, "you don't know what you've got until it's gone." Viewing my life, it seems so normal, nothing to really brag about. After hearing about how Jaycee's life was basically ripped out from underneath her, it really makes me think about how lucky I am that I even got to live this normal life.

The second engaging memoir presented was Lucky by Alice Sebold. In Alice's memoir she refers back to her freshmen year at Syracuse University in NY. She was walking alone on campus at night and was suddenly attacked and raped by a man on top of broken beer bottles in a tunnel. Throughout the months following Alice's rape, she was constantly being told how lucky she was that she managed to survive since she was put in such a horrific condition. Although she had lived, she never considered herself to be lucky because now she had to live with this weight throughout her life. On July 13, 1982, Gregory Madison was caught and sentenced for the rape of Alice Sebold. With his capture and the writing of her memoir, Alice was able to find some closure and leave this chapter of her life behind. Alice brought an idea to my mind about the concept of being lucky. In her memoir, everyone is telling her that she is so lucky to have survived such a brutal rape. However, Alice sees that as being unlucky because now she has to live with this burden of being a rape victim for the rest of her life. I found it interesting that she thinks that dying would be better than living with a horrific moment in her past. 

The next intriguing memoir presented was Marley and Me by John Grogan. This memoir is about a young couple who is looking for dog to take care of as practice before they bring a child into the world. The young couple find their puppy that was actually on sale since it was just a little bit more hyper than the others. Not knowing what they were in for, they bought the puppy and named it Marley. Marley was out of control and a huge pain but Jenny and John refused to give up. They continued to deal with and attempt to discipline Marley through the numerous Thunderstorms and even after he was expelled from dog training school. After a few years, Jenny and John had their first child, Patrick, and two more a couple years later. Feeling that their current neighborhood was unsafe to raise a child, especially after their neighbor was stabbed, they packed up and moved to Boca Raton, Florida. A few years following this move, John got a job in Pennsylvania so they ended up moving there where Marley spent that last years of his life. In his memoir, John explains that although Marley was a huge pain, he learned from him that the most important things in life are the intangible things, such as love. Dogs don't care if you're rich or poor, just as long as they have someone to love. 

The last memoir I enjoyed hearing about was The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This NY Times bestseller was about a family that constantly moved around the country and usually to very desert like places. Throughout this memoir, Jeannette talks about how her Dad would constantly carry about blueprints for this glass castle he hoped to one day build. Jeannette explains her crazy childhood living in poverty and how her crazy, selfish mom would refuse to go work despite the fact that she has a teaching degree and would not share her food with her kids. This memoir really brings the thought to mind that people really do have it worse than than yourself.