Cellar Girl
Author: Josefina Rivera
Description:
‘I stood there for a moment, silently speaking to myself: Josefina, you will survive this. You are strong. You are a fighter. You adapt.'
“As a young mother of three, Josefina Rivera was determined to get her troubled life back on track. But then she met Gary Heidnik and the next four months became a living nightmare. Along with five women Josefina was held captive in a cellar in Philadelphia where she was starved, beaten, and repeatedly raped to fulfill Heidnik’s desire of creating a "family" of 10 children. This book tells the shocking but ultimately inspiring story of how one brave, young woman saved herself and others from a life worse than hell.” (From Goodreads.com)
My Book Review (possible spoiler alert):
I personally found this book to be an easy read. I was so compelled by the story I couldn’t put it down. While the text its self is easy some of the content, specifically the torture scenes, were extremely hard to read. As more girls are abducted and introduced into the story I had a sense of what Heidnik would do to them creating such a dread within myself while I was reading. The scene that affected me most was when Hiednik realized the girls could hear him outside so he came up with a horribly painful way prevent that and ruin their hearing. This book is written from Josefina’s point of view and she asks the reader to think if they would have made the same decisions as she did. I don’t think anyone can truly know how you would react in this situation unless you had the unlucky circumstance of ending up a victim but I don’t not think any decision she made was wrong. I wouldn’t suggest you read this book in public because there was many times it brought me to tears. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would suggest it to most people.
- Jess
Description:
‘I stood there for a moment, silently speaking to myself: Josefina, you will survive this. You are strong. You are a fighter. You adapt.'
“As a young mother of three, Josefina Rivera was determined to get her troubled life back on track. But then she met Gary Heidnik and the next four months became a living nightmare. Along with five women Josefina was held captive in a cellar in Philadelphia where she was starved, beaten, and repeatedly raped to fulfill Heidnik’s desire of creating a "family" of 10 children. This book tells the shocking but ultimately inspiring story of how one brave, young woman saved herself and others from a life worse than hell.” (From Goodreads.com)
My Book Review (possible spoiler alert):
I personally found this book to be an easy read. I was so compelled by the story I couldn’t put it down. While the text its self is easy some of the content, specifically the torture scenes, were extremely hard to read. As more girls are abducted and introduced into the story I had a sense of what Heidnik would do to them creating such a dread within myself while I was reading. The scene that affected me most was when Hiednik realized the girls could hear him outside so he came up with a horribly painful way prevent that and ruin their hearing. This book is written from Josefina’s point of view and she asks the reader to think if they would have made the same decisions as she did. I don’t think anyone can truly know how you would react in this situation unless you had the unlucky circumstance of ending up a victim but I don’t not think any decision she made was wrong. I wouldn’t suggest you read this book in public because there was many times it brought me to tears. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would suggest it to most people.
- Jess