Finding Me

I’ve just finished reading “Finding Me” by Michelle Knight. You all know about Michelle Knight, one of the three women kidnapped by Ariel Castro and held for more than a decade. Since this book was written by Michelle Knight, my review of the book will focus primarily on her, but most definitely Gina and Amanda are not forgotten.

This book is not only an important read for all women but for everyone. I feel compelled to suggest you read it during the day, not before going to sleep. Anyone who has a heart, will feel and understand to some degree, what she went through. The first night of reading, that’s exactly what I experienced. I just couldn’t get the visions out of my mind that her writing had put there. I  knew that I would have to read the rest of her book during the day.

Had I not read this book, I, like so many others would never have known or had any kind of real understanding of the level of abuse she endured. Abuse is not even a strong enough word to describe the horror. I would like to think that there couldn’t possibly be something so horrendous that it would keep me from sleeping after reading it. If you have ever watched an interview that Michelle Knight has had with Dr. Phil or clips of her on the news, you can expect to read her book exactly the way she speaks. It’s pure raw emotion and comes from her heart.

Michelle takes you right there to the house, to every minute she spent there, to every abusive torturous experience she had at the hands of that monster. The only thing that kept her from giving up was her memories of her son, without those, she would surely have died. She very nearly did.

It is a page turner, but not for the reason you might think. It’s not salacious or something that is pleasurable to read, what it does is draw you into her world and you find yourself needing to keep going because you just don’t want to believe what you are reading. Did these things happen, could these things possibly be true…and yes they are and yes they did happen. I won’t give details here because there isn’t anything before chapter 25 that I would be able to share. From chapter 25 onward, the book takes on a new feel and a renewed sense of hope that he didn’t succeed in breaking her will. All through the writings, it was made obvious that Michelle was treated worse than the others but through it all, she survived and will be fine given enough time, and with the friends she has now that will protect and guide her.

I recommend anyone interested in her story, read this book but be prepared to feel any number of emotions as you go from page to page of her 11 years in captivity. You will wonder how could she possibly survive but in the end, she  did survive and is thriving with the help of all her hero’s. Her hope is that by writing this, that she can help others to know that they too can make it, and to not ever forget those who are still missing.