Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed: A Memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings Review

TITLE: Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed: A Memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings
AUTHORS: Michelle Knight with Michelle Buford
NARRATOR: Maria Cabezas
PUBLISHER: Recorded Books
PUBLICATION DATE: 5/6/2014
FORMAT: Audiobook
LENGTH: 7 hours 14 minutes
SOURCE: Bought
MY RATING: 

COYER SCAVENGER HUNT #26: READ AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 2 POINTS

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): Michelle was kidnapped in 2002 by a Cleveland school bus driver named Ariel Castro. For more than a decade afterward she endured unimaginable torture at the hand of her abductor. In 2003 Amanda Berry joined her in captivity, followed by Gina DeJesus in 2004. Their escape on May , 2013, made headlines around the world. Millions of well-wishers now wonder: What really happened in that house, and how did Michelle find the strength to go on?

Barely out of her own tumultuous childhood, Michelle was estranged from her family and fighting for custody of her young son when she disappeared. Local police believed she had run away, so they removed her from the missing persons list fifteen months after she vanished. Castro tormented her with these facts, reminding her that no one was looking for her, that the outside world had forgotten her. But Michelle would not be broken. Heartbreaking, shocking, and ultimately triumphant, Finding Me reveals the details of Michelle's story, including the thoughts and prayer that helped her find courage to endure her unimaginable circumstances and now build a life worth living. In sharing both her past and her efforts to create a future, Michelle becomes a voice for the voiceless and a powerful symbol of hope for the thousands of children and young adults who go missing every year.

MY THOUGHTS: It's hard to put an actual rating on this, because this isn't a story that I necessarily "liked" as the subject matter is extremely unpleasant, so my rating is more for the fact that I was drawn into the story and my inability to put it down.

I am fascinated by Michelle's story. I first heard her talk on Dr. Phil and was completely invested in her story. I enjoy reading kidnapping stories, especially when I know there is going to be a happy ending. I guess I'm just fascinated and curious about how someone could do these things to another person. I was so enthralled by this story and could not stop listening. I cannot believe that these young women were trapped for long and went through everything that they did, but managed to stay hopeful and come out of it on the other side. I cannot imagine having to deal with anything like this for even one day, and yet Michelle managed to make it through 11 years of this torture. She and her fellow kidnapees are just so incredibly strong and I admire them all so much.