For the most part I enjoyed reading Carolyn Jessop's Escape. It confirmed and strengthened a lot of views I already held—always a nice thing to have happen. The story itself was at times gripping. There was sex, sometimes borderline kinky—another plus. The big BUT, however, was my feelings about the author when I reached the last few chapters. We'll get to that later.
First, there were many passages that fed my belief that a Mormon should never, ever hold an elected office in this country. "Strong," you might say. "Haven't they reformed?" They say so, but—sorry about this—I can't support anyone connected in any way with a religion that claims their path is the only way to whatever god there may be, that they are the chosen people while everyone else is evil, that one individual man is the only way to approach or understand god, and that holds such disdain for the wellbeing of women and children. (Yes, I know all religions have similar tenets, but Mormons seem to put all four front and center.)
Examples of when my opinion was strengthened:
1) Talking about local schools, Ms Jessop writes, "In theory, at least, religion is not to be taught in public schools, but in fact it was an integral part of the curriculum there." (page 11) Oh, let's not even go there.
2) "Understand that we were taught to believe we were better than everyone else in the entire world because of our beliefs." (page 18) Couldn't we give at least lip service to equality?
3) "She (the author's grandmother) taught me that I had been blessed by God with an opportunity to come into a family where generations of women had sacrificed their feelings and given up things of this world to preserve the work of God and prove worthy of the kingdom of God." (page 19) And apparently in the Mormon that is the sole purpose of women.
There were other times when I reacted negatively, appalled by what I read:
1) "Shortly after Jeffs (a maniacal leader) took over, he decreed that all worldly material goods—including books—be banned from he community. My husband ordered us to comply. Our house was scoured: all literature was confiscated and destroyed, including my children's books." (page 3) "Oh, no!"—to be said with a dismissive shoulder roll. Touch my Little Women or Alice in Wonderland and there'll be trouble.
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2) Definition of "'keeping sweet,' a religious phrase we said to one another to remind us not to react to things that made us mad." (page 141) Gotta keep them women in line, any way one can.
3) "In order to have power in Merrils's (author's husband's) family, I had to make myself important to him. … Only the strong survived. No one in our family ever tried to look out for a sister wife." (page 179) Kinda makes HBO's Big Love look like a pipe dream, doesn't it?
4) "Women were being instructed to listen to the whispers of God and pray to know their husband's hearts. A wife's goal was to be able to meet his every need without ever being told. If she asked questions when her husband gave her an order, it was only because she still had contamination in her heart." (page 205) Grrrrrrr!
5) "It is a sin for a woman to talk about abuse; if she is being abused, it is because she is not in harmony with her husband." (page 277) Penultimate grrrrrrrrrrr!
6) "But Merril's family had shunned her (Agnes, an older daughter of the author's husband) after she got sick. Her illness was seen as a sign that she had disgraced her father by not being in harmony with the husband she never wanted to marry." (psge 301) And finally: GRRRRRRR!
For the last, my feelings about the author at the end of the book: granted Carolyn Jessop was brave and overcame a lot, but ultimately I disliked her. Why? Because one of the things she prides herself on is doing it all herself. Horse feathers! She's continually thanking people for things they gave her, be it laundry soap (page 384) or a year's college tuition for her oldest child (page 422) And. wow, she even managed to fill out, all on her own, the forms for government assistance. I read that both Whoopi Goldberg and J D Rawlings, who accepted aid when they were struggling, paid the money back. I hope Carolyn Jessop did, too. Escaped doesn't say.
