Escape by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer (a review)

I’ve been having a lot of trouble writing reviews recently, in part because I’m feeling overwhelmed by the number of books I need to review at the moment (which doesn’t help, of course, as they just keep piling up). In an attempt to jumpstart my reviewing process, I thought I’d review my most recent read instead of the book I read the longest ago.

I first heard about Mormon fundamentalism when I read the eye-opening (and horrifying) non-fiction book Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer several years ago. I have since read the novel The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff (read my review) and I’m a big fan of the TV series Big Love. So I figured it was about time I read a book written by someone who grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon community. Escape by Carolyn Jessop (with Laura Palmer) is the autobiography of a woman who was a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations. At the age of 18, Jessop was forced to marry a 50-year-old man (Merrill Jessop, who is now the de facto leader of the FLDS), with whom she would have eight children over the next 15 years. In 2003, she fled her community with all her children, including a disabled toddler, and was the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a suit involving the FLDS.

Carolyn’s story is shocking. Abuse, violence and neglect are common occurrences in the FLDS community. Once Warren Jeffs takes over as prophet, things get even worse, and some of the stories she relates are really hard to read. Unfortunately, the writing in this book could have done with more editing. At least twice I had to go back to see if I’d missed something because the storyline was confusing. For example, in one chapter, Jessop’s sister-wife Cathleen was her only ally among her husband’s wives; a couple of chapters later she’d “grown closer to Tammy than any of the other wives” (p. 156), without any explanation for this shift. Despite the clunky writing, I would still recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about Mormon fundamentalism from the inside. Escape is far from being a literary masterpiece, but it is an amazing story told by a courageous woman who “chose freedom over fear” and won.

Read what other reviewers thought by visiting these blogs:
2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews • Book Addiction • Books of Mee • Maw Books Blog • Mindless Meandering • So Many Books, So Little Time • The 3 R’s: Reading, ’Riting, and Randomness • What Was I Reading?

Friday Finds (May 29)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.

Here are the books that made it onto my wish list this week:

Precious by Sandra Novack was reviewed by Wendy at Musings of a Bookish Kitty, who says: “From the moment I first entered the world Sandra Novack created in Precious, I was in awe.”

I first came across The Blue Hour: A Life of Jean Rhys by Lilian Pizzichini in a Shelf Awareness newsletter. I went looking for reviews and found this review at Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover.

True Murder by Yaba Badoe was reviewed by Fleur Fisher reads, who says “Yaba Badoe is a wonderful storyteller: she writes wonderful rich and evocative prose, weaves her different themes and plot strands together perfectly and slowly but surely builds tension as the story advances.” You can also watch an interview with the author at theinterviewonline.co.uk.

A World I Loved: The Story of an Arab Woman by Wadad Makdisi Cortas was reviewed by Eleanor at the Feminist Review.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters was reviewed by Luanne at A Bookworm’s World.

A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg is “quite possibly the best book of the year,” according to Tara at Books and Cooks. Her review definitely convinced me that I should read it. (Not to mention the photo of Molly’s lemon yogurt cake that Tara baked!)

I came across Frida’s Bed by Slavenka Drakulic in a mini-review by teabird on her blog, Tea Leaves.

Last but not least, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal was one of the memoirs mentioned by Carrie at Books and Movies in her post, “Favorite memoirs, part 1.”

Sometimes I want to read negative reviews...

This feels like a strange admission, but every now and then I feel like I get bored of reading rave reviews and want to read something a little more negative for a change. Does this make any sense? Does anyone else feel this way? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I wish bad books on my fellow book bloggers. I know it sucks to read a book you don’t enjoy. But just because you didn’t enjoy it doesn’t mean I won’t. And variety is the spice of life, right? Humour me please: What negative (or at least semi-negative) reviews have you written lately? (And if you don’t write negative reviews, let me know why not!)

Another trio of the same woman (and a strange coincidence)

Here we go again with a threesome of covers using the same image: Defiance by Carole Maso (first published in 1998), Cries of the Spirit: A Celebration of Women’s Spirituality edited by Marilyn Sewell (first published in 1991) and Decision and Destiny: Colette’s Destiny by DeVa Gantt (which just came out this year). Although all three use the same image, they are quite different. I think my favourite might actually be the most recent book, Decision and Destiny: Colette’s Destiny. I like the crispness of the top image and I’m a fan of split cover designs in general.

Okay, here’s the weird part: In writing this post, I noticed that Marilyn Sewell has edited another book with a very familiar cover, Claiming the Spirit Within: A Sourcebook of Women’s Poetry (first published in 1996). Coincidence? Or was the person who designed the cover for Defiance “inspired” by Sewell’s books? (Both were published before Defiance.)

I’ve also updated two of my previous “similar covers” posts: backs of women’s heads and sealed letters.

Wondrous Words Wednesday (May 27)

Kathy at Bermudaonion’s Weblog hosts this weekly meme in which she asks us to share new words we’ve come across in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun.

All my words this week are from Crossed Wires by Rosy Thornton.

Parky – “. . . Nana had much more often had call to complain of its being parky, up there on the deck access” (p. 3).

Parky means “chilly.”*

Chipolata – “Which of course made her begin at once to worry herself, taking all the enjoyment out of her single Lincolnshire pork chipolata” (p. 38).

A chipolata is “a small thin sausage.”

Jalfrezi – “She would have called out but her tongue was fat and uncooperative with sleep, her throat as dry as if she had had those lagers with Murray and a jalfrezi as well, instead of her solitary mug of tea and two cold sausages on a saucer” (p. 44).

Jalfrezi isn’t in my dictionary or in Dictionary.com, but Wikipedia defines it as “a type of Indian curry in which marinated pieces of meat or vegetables are fried in oil and spices to produce a dry, thick sauce.”

Invidious – “But the lecture on fire safety which was forming itself upon his lips suddenly struck him as invidious” (p. 49).

Invidious is an adjective used to describe an action, conduct, attitude, etc. that is “likely to excite resentment or indignation against the person responsible, especially by real or seeming injustice.”

Gennel – “Where they left the pavements for a short way to cut up the gennel beside the newsagent’s and then past the swings on the triangle of untidy grass . . .” (p. 65).

No sign of this word in my dictionary, Dictionary.com or Wikipedia, but the Urban Dictionary provides this definition: a gennel “is a covered alleyway connecting two terrace houses.”

Giro – “‘No, she gets her giro, so she ought to be able to make do all right’” (p. 157).

Giro is “a system of credit transfer between banks, post offices, etc., or a cheque or payment by giro, especially used for unemployment benefit or social security payments.”

Cutting – “‘Sat in a cutting near Baldock for nearly an hour’” (p. 213).

In this context, a cutting refers to “an excavated channel through high ground for a railway or road.”

Excursus – “. . . once they were away, she settled back in the passenger seat happily enough, keeping him distracted, as he negotiated the multiple roundabouts of the ring road, with an excursus on how greatly the state of Sheffield’s public housing stock had suffered . . .” (p. 267).

An excursus is “a detailed discussion of a special point in a book, usually in an appendix, or a digression in a narrative.”

Viva – “‘The best thing is to try to forget all about it until we hear about a date for your viva’” (p. 307).

I think viva is short for viva voce, which is “an oral examination for an academic qualification.”

What new words have you discovered lately? Share your Wondrous Words on Kathy’s blog.

*Unless otherwise noted, all definitions are from the Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2004).

Teaser Tuesdays (May 26)

Should Be Reading hosts the Teaser Tuesdays weekly event.

My modified rules are as follows:

Grab your current read. Pick two or three “teaser” sentences more or less at random from the book, anywhere on the page. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your teaser from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given! (Please avoid spoilers!) (Read the official Teaser Tuesday rules.)

My teaser:

“People tried on Miriam’s pain in that way, modeled it for her, almost as if they expected her to be flattered by their interest. But they never had any trouble shedding it when the time came. They plucked it off and handed it back to her, continuing with their blessedly uneventful lives” (p. 151).

This is from What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman.

Mailbox Monday (May 25)

As you might have guessed, I couldn’t resist dropping into a couple of bookstores while I was on vacation. My first stop was Banyen Books and Sound in Vancouver, where I picked up a copy of Top of My Lungs: Poems and Paintings by Natalie Goldberg, one of my favourite authors. (If you write or aspire to write, you must read Writing Down the Bones, one of the best writing guides out there.) I also bought Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: A Woman’s Guide to Unblocking Creativity by Susan O’Doherty, which sounds good too.

While I was in Squamish, I popped into The Bookshelf, a new and secondhand bookstore, and picked up a nearly brand-new copy of What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman, which I’d seen on someone’s blog recently. (This was the only book I managed to finish in its entirety during my vacation!)

Finally, I just had to buy a book at the airport (!), so I picked up Escape by Carolyn Jessop (with Laura Palmer), the memoir of a woman who escaped a polygamist sect with her eight children. (I read most of this one on the plane ride home.)

When I got home, there were two notices waiting for me: one saying that Purolator had tried to deliver a book and I had five days to claim it (but the five days passed and I still hadn’t come home!) and another from Canpar saying they’d try again today. They delivered Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality by Barbara Bradley Hagerty from Penguin Canada.

I feel really bad that a book sent to me for review was sent back to the publisher because I wasn’t here to claim it. Has that happened to any of you? What did you do?

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Marcia’s blog, The Printed Page.

I’m back (with photos)!

I’m back from my 10-day whirlwind vacation in British Columbia! The main purpose of the visit was to go to a wedding in Vancouver, which was held at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden. (If you’re ever in Vancouver, this garden is definitely worth a visit.) Despite the 100% chance of thunderstorms predicted for that day, the sky was blue, the sun was shining and the bride looked stunning in her purple dress. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera... Luckily there were three professional or semi-professional photographers in attendance, although I haven’t seen any pictures yet!

Next, my partner, Mr. B, and I headed to Squamish with some friends, and from there spent a day at the Skookumchuck Hot Springs (also known as St. Agnes Well Hot Springs). Well, to be more precise, we spent half the day getting there and back (driving along a crazy twisty logging road) and only a couple of hours soaking in the hot pools! (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Me in front of the Shannon Falls on the way to Squamish

Lillooet Lake on the way back from the hot springs

Then on Monday, Mr. B headed home (he had to go back to school on Tuesday) and I hooked up with my sister and her son. We spent the rest of the week in Whistler, where she was attending a conference. The highlight of that portion of my trip was definitely the hike to the ancient cedar grove on Cougar Mountain, although we couldn’t complete the loop trail because of all the snow!

Ancient cedar grove on Cougar Mountain

I’m feeling a bit shy about sharing photos of my trip (and a photo of me!), since I’ve mostly kept my blog strictly about books, so I hope you enjoy them! Thank you to everyone who stopped by during my absence to wish me a good trip!

Away on vacation until May 25

Well, folks, I’m taking a blogging break while I’m on vacation (and I’m leaving tonight!), so I won’t be posting anything new until May 25. When I get back I promise I will:

• Post more reviews!
• Announce two new giveaways
• Catch up on replying to all my comments
• Post about the awards I received in April

Thank you to everyone who has been commenting recently. Just because I haven’t been very good about replying to your comments doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate them all!

Have you seen these women?

The first lot of similar covers I’m featuring this week are Lives of the Saints by Nino Ricci, Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor and Verbena by Nanci Kincaid:

The second lot are the French translation of The Facts of Life by Graham Joyce, The Midwife’s Tale by Gretchen Moran Laskas and a translation (I’m not sure in what language) of Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes:

Now, you might think it’s kinda impressive that I’ve managed to find two sets of three books that use these same two women on their covers. The truth is that the first woman appears on at least five other book covers, while the second appears on at least four others! Check them out at Reusable Cover Art, a page maintained by Sarah Johnson, who blogs at Reading the Past. (Scroll down to about the midway point on the page to see these ones.) Crazy, eh?

Have you seen either of these women before on other covers?

Teaser Tuesdays (May 12)

Should Be Reading hosts the Teaser Tuesdays weekly event.

My modified rules are as follows:

Grab your current read. Pick two or three “teaser” sentences more or less at random from the book, anywhere on the page. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your teaser from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given! (Please avoid spoilers!) (Read the official Teaser Tuesday rules.)

My teaser:

“A cross between a goblin and a tadpole, the monkfish has a broad shovel-shaped head that appears to taper into its tail without bothering to pass through the intermediary of a body. With its beady eyes, warty skin, and scowling froglike mouth filled with needle-sharp teeth, the monkfish resembles the flattened Halloween mask of some Texas chainsaw psycho” (p. 15).

This is from Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe.

A special Mailbox Monday (May 11)

I received two exciting packages in the mail this week. The first contained a hardcover copy of The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville, courtesy of Harper Collins Canada. I peeked at the first couple of pages and it already sounds like a great book. I loved The Idea of Perfection, so I’m very much looking forward to reading this one!

The second package was even more exciting though! I got a fabulous package from Amanda at Life and Times of a “New”New Yorker, who held a Pay It Forward giveaway last month. This is what the package looked like when I took it out of the envelope:

And this is what I found inside (click on photos to enlarge):

Thank you so much, Amanda! As many of you know, I adored Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (read my review), so I’m thrilled to have won the sequel, Belong to Me! And the t-shirt fits perfectly. It’s just too bad I’m not going to be in New York for Book Expo America at the end of this month—the map would have come in handy!

As promised, I will be holding my own Pay It Forward giveaway sometime soon. I’m actually flying to Vancouver this week primarily to go to a wedding, but also to visit some friends who won’t be at the wedding and see my sister (all in 10 days!), so I’m hoping I might find a few suitable items for this giveaway while I’m away. I’ll keep you posted!

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Marcia’s blog, The Printed Page.

Friday Finds (May 8)

What great books have you added to your wish list this week? Share your Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.



Margaret at BooksPlease has this to say about Star Gazing by Linda Gillard: “I loved Star Gazing. It’s not just a love story, it’s also about how we ‘see’ the world, how we interact with other people and how we cope with our disabilities be they physical, emotional or otherwise.” Head over to her blog to read the rest of her review (and enter her giveaway)!


Kylee at Kylee’s 2009 Blog mentioned A Proper Education for Girls (aka The Peachgrower’s Almanac) by Elaine Di Rollo in her Friday Finds post last week. The product description on Amazon makes it sound so good: “A dazzling debut novel, both comic and dark, about the Victorian obsession with science, inventions and experiments. Two sisters . . . communicate via coded messages that reveal deep secrets, and lead to adventure . . . with a twist.”



I almost forgot to mention Becky’s review at Becky’s Book Reviews of The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams, which she highly highly recommends! You can also read her interview with the author.

Birds of a feather...

Here’s another set of lookalike covers I came across recently: I own a copy of The Romantic by Barbara Gowdy with this cover (published by Vintage Canada in 2003), so I was surprised to see the almost identical cover on Saving the World by Julia Alvarez (published by Algonquin Books in 2007). However, I think I like the Alvarez cover better. Interestingly, I find that the bird on the cover of The Romantic looks like it’s about to land on the woman’s cupped hands, whereas on the cover of Saving the World, it looks to me like she’s just released it. What do you think?

Wondrous Words Wednesday (May 6)

Kathy at Bermudaonion’s Weblog hosts this weekly meme in which she asks us to share new words we’ve come across in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun.

All my words this week are from The Wishing Year by Noelle Oxenhandler.

Schizophrenogenic – “That is, my still rented and increasingly schizophrenogenic house in which there is till no respite from the voices” (p. 87).

Schizophrenogenic is not in my Canadian Oxford, but Dictionary.com defines it as “causative of schizophrenia.”

Expatiation – “Lacking rituals of expatiation, we rely on illness and other forms of catastrophe to earn the fulfillment of our wishes” (p. 142).

According to my dictionary, expatiation comes from the verb expatiate, which means to “speak or write at length or in detail.”* However, that doesn’t seem to fit the context here, so I also looked it up on Dictionary.com, which provides an additional (archaic) definition: “to move or wander about intellectually, imaginatively, etc., without restraint.” This still doesn’t totally make sense to me in this context though...

Zafu – “Everyone falls off their zafus with laughter” (p. 145).

Dictionary.com defines zafu as “a round thick cushion for sitting meditation, sometimes used on top of a mat.”

Keratosis – “‘But what you have is not a wart. It’s a keratosis’” (p. 207).

A keratosis is “a skin condition marked by hairy growths.”

Theurgist – “And then, as though I had the ancient gift of theurgists to make the statues talk, I feel as though I hear a voice—a strange voice, somewhere between a neigh, a bray, and a snort” (p. 245).

Theurgist is from theurgy, which means “supernatural or divine agency especially in human affairs, or the art of securing this.”

What new words have you discovered lately? Share your Wondrous Words on Kathy’s blog.

*Unless otherwise noted, all definitions are from the Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2004).

Teaser Tuesdays (May 5)

Should Be Reading hosts the Teaser Tuesdays weekly event.

My modified rules are as follows:

Grab your current read. Pick two or three “teaser” sentences more or less at random from the book, anywhere on the page. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your teaser from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given! (Please avoid spoilers!) (Read the official Teaser Tuesday rules.)

My first teaser:

“Katie was a merciless interrogator, and she had an uncanny way of reading Ida’s most secret thoughts. Katie always had to know all, down to the most intimate and embarrassing details, which she picked over with relish, like a carnivorous bird” (p. 75).

This is from Katherine’s Wish by Linda Lappin.


My second teaser:


“She was always getting lost or losing people only to find them again, to her great surprise, round the next tree or the next corner. ‘Oh, there you are after all’” (p. 27).

This is from “Prelude” in Bliss and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield.