My hope was to read this book and then watch the movie. After just getting through a short part of it, I realized that was not going to happen. Actually, I'm amazed I made it through the entire novel. But in a time when there are way too many news stories of people (mainly women) being held captive by maniacal men, I wanted to see it through. It is heartbreaking and poignant and at times I really just wanted to get away from it. But the story of survival is valuable even as hard as it is to imagine.
This story might take a minute to tell. Bear with me. When my sister and I were little girls, my mother took us to a large baptist church in town. Even as a child, I never remember feeling welcome there. But I do remember the lovely older couple that kept my Sunday School class. They gave us saltines and kool-aid, and I remember thinking they would be nice grandparents to have. At Christmastime, the Sunday School class was set to have a random gift exchange. Every child was supposed to bring a gift that could be exchanged with any other child.....no specific gift designations. I received the gift of an Avon 7 bead necklace which was very popular at the time. I loved it so much and was thrilled to have it! I was somewhere between 5 and 7 at the time. (Back in the 1970's and 80's, Avon was a cosmetic company that was also known for it's inexpensive jewelry. I couldn't find a price on what this necklace would have cost back then, but apparently there is ...
