Book Reviews

Sorry it has taken me so long to get to this, but I haven't had time to look up all the websites, post the pictures, links, etc. I'm going to try my best to do it now, though, because I really want other people to read these books.

Stolen Innocence - My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs by Elissa Wall



This book was one of my first looks inside of the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints - the polygamous sect) and it blew me away. It is told by the woman who testified against Warren Jeffs in court, which resulted in him being sentenced to prison for I can't remember how long. The story is an autobiography of her life and it gives a lot of background on the religion and culture of the FLDS. I read this right after the police raid on the sect in Eldorado, Texas in March of this year and I have to say, I feel they were justified in doing what they did. The women live very oppressed lives and are told that if they do everything they are told by their husbands, they will go to heaven. If not, they won't be worthy. Above their husbands sits the prophet, though, which is currently still Warren Jeffs. He claims to receive word directly from God and he uses this information to run the community. The prophet can do pretty much anything he wants, including arrange marriages, kick people out of the sect, etc. without any opposition from the people. After all, he receives his information from God :P. Anyway, Warren Jeffs made Elissa Wall marry her first cousin at age 14, even though she protested and did everything she could to change his mind. Warren basically told her that if she refused to marry Allen (her cousin) that she would go to hell.

Here is a short description of the book from the publisher's website (above link):
Elissa Wall tells the incredible and inspirational story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice. Offering a child's perspective on life in the FLDS, Wall discusses her tumultuous youth, explaining how her family's turbulent past intersected with her strong will and identified her as a girl who needed to be controlled through marriage. Detailing how Warren Jeffs's influence over the church twisted its already rigid beliefs in dangerous new directions, Wall portrays the inescapable mind-set and unrelenting pressure that forced her to wed despite her repeated protests that she was too young.

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It definitely opens your eyes to a completely different world that lives and operates inside of the United States. Oh, and it was so good, I read it in less than 2 weeks :).

Escape by Carolyn Jessop



I read this book immediately after I finished Stolen Innocence. This is another version of a woman struggling with life inside the FLDS, but it's a very different story. Carolyn grew up in the FLDS and married Merril Jessop, a very powerful man, around age 18. She joined 3 other wives in his household where she had to constantly compete not only for personal time with her husband, but she also had to fight for her education and basic necessities for herself and her children. She offers a different look at the religion and, because she's a little older than Elissa, she tells more about the origins of the religion.

Here is a description of the book from the publisher:
When she was eighteen years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man thirty-two years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn’s heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church that had settled in small communities along the Arizona-Utah border. Over the next fifteen years, Carolyn had eight children and withstood her husband’s psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of his other wives who were locked in a constant battle for supremacy.

This book is also excellent and even though both books are over 400 pages in length, I breezed through them like they were nothing. They are so interesting and engaging that you just want to read more and more. If you do want to read them, I suggest looking for them either at www.amazon.com (you can buy it used for really cheap) or on www.half.com. Oh, and if you do read either one, please let me know what you think! My mother-in-law read both of them at the same time as I did and she also loved them, so I think just about any woman would enjoy reading them. They definitely made me feel grateful for what I have - a loving husband (with only 1 wife), freedom to make my own choices, and freedom to serve a loving and merciful God (unlike the God they believe they're serving).

That's all I have right now for book reviews, but I'll be back soon to tell you about some of the movies I've watched recently :). Also, I've made all of the FLDS links on the right of my page available for you to check out in case you're curious :). Have a great day!

~Lex