Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland

Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland is a memoir written by Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus; it chronicles the story of how they were both at young ages kidnapped by Ariel Castro who would keep them locked in his house for the next ten years. He routinely raped the girls and only fed them when he felt like it. Both girls showed miraculous courage in the way they responded to the abuse they suffered on a daily basis. They were being raped, starved and beaten by Castro and yet they found it within themselves to not react harshly to the things he did to them. They chose to as much as they could make him think that they cared about him and that he could trust them. Although they were all at different times chained for years this plan did eventually work and because Amanda Berry was for once in her captivity left in an unlocked room without being chained she was able to get out of the house and call police to set the other two girls free. I remember seeing this story on the news as it was happening and the girls were being rescued; I have to say that I was very curios about each girls story and how they had made it for a decade plus in such a hell hole. Reading this memoir/book really answered a lot of the questions I had and I really liked that it was in the girls own words and that even though I'm sure that yes they did have help from writers, and editors and such I think the gist of the book and the spirit of it comes directly from Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus who in my opinion were very brave to share such a personal story with the world. The writing and pace of the book flowed very well in my opinion; you don't have to worry if the research is correct since the victims (aka survivors) wrote it themselves and of course they would know what happened and when etc... I read this book in one and a half days because I simply could not put it down, It draws you in and as a reader you want to see what happens next and you start to yearn for the day when they are rescued because of all that Ariel Castro is putting them through; he played so many mind games and would even chop off large chunks of their hair and leave bald spots as a punishment if they weren't doing exactly what he wanted or even sometimes just for imaginary crimes that they DID NOT DO. There was a third girl Castro kidnapped who was in the same situation as Amanda and Gina; but they have not remained close since their escape from Castro and the girl (Michelle) has written her own book/memoir which I plan on reading soon. She was invited to participate in this book but declined and has not kept in contact with Amanda and Gina. (Amanda and Gina remain close today both working on school, getting jobs, and just being happy being reunited with their families and they both seem to just want to live normal lives. This book was fast paced and I liked the font it was written in. It made it very easy to read and get hooked on. While I won't say I enjoyed the horrors these poor girls had to go through I will say that the style in which they chose to share it with the world and the language, font, and everything about how the book was formatted made it very easy to relate to and to want to keep reading until you had finished the whole story. As a reviewer and reader I heartily recommend this book to anyone really because I think its a story that can inspire courage and really let the reader know that there is never such a thing as no hope. We may not always get the answers we want in life but hope is something we can cling to even in the most horrific of situations. These two young ladies did just that and they escaped from hell back into heaven in their families waiting; loving arms. (I would add that this memoir/book should only be read by mature audiences who can handle some of the graphic details that are present in the story.)

Very sad and tragic but hopeful and I couldn’t put it down. So happy these girls wrote their experience and are healing.

Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus described their years of captivity with a realness that was jarring at times. It should be jarring, though, because they went through hell at the hands of their captor. I liked the honesty Amanda, especially, expressed in telling of the conflicting feelings she experienced.

This saga had me in tears over and over. That these brave women survived more than a day in those wretched conditions with so evil and sick a "man" would be a testament to their spirits, but over 10 years-- and in Michelle Knight's case, over 11 years-- is so amazing it is hard to believe it. I was glad that the co-authors who helped them were able to let the girls' stories be told. I only wish it had been written in a less prosaic style and that we could hear the voices of these girls more conversationally, not in so "polished" a derived narrative. I also read Michelle Knight's book and I felt it was better at conveying her true words, it was written in a rawer style. That being said, it was an achievement to get all this in print and leave it as a legacy. There is much to learn-- especially young girls and women-- from what happened to each of these three girls: 1. never, EVER get into a car with a man alone, even if you know him "casually" 2. assume any man driving a car wanting to give you a ride is a predator 3. never walk alone on the street, especially in an isolated area 4. never enter a home with a strange man 5. accept the world has evil psychopaths and that you have to be less trusting, even if you think you are being rude. It amazes me how he duped each one of the three girls-- Michelle with the promise of a puppy for her son, Gina by saying her friend (the demon's own daughter!) was there in the house, Amanda by offering her a ride. Please teach your young girls and women to NEVER accept such offer from ANY MAN EVER, turn around, walk away, and then report it to the police. In our area there is a man on the loose right now who has been trying to lure girls into a white van. This is a reality we need to teach our daughters and girls and young women. Outsmart these psychopaths! My other reflection was that Michelle Knight was very generous in her telling of her experiences regarding Amanda and Gina and yet neither of them even thanked her in their respective acknowledgements-- even when it was Michelle who helped Amanda deliver her baby and probably saved the newborn's life. That is a sad outcome here, I hope it will not be permanent for these women. Only they will ever share the bond that binds them, and I hope in time they can find respect and friendship with each other than can transcend whatever has happened between them to cause this rift. But none of us can judge what they are doing now, only they endured these horrors for so long and only they can deal with their horrid past and their hopeful future. I pray great blessings on each of the women and the innocent child whose father was that monster.

I learned so much and am so glad I read this book even though it is really out of my usual genre of nonfiction/fiction historical books base on current findings. But the idea of young girls being kept in prison for any amount of time hurt my inner person so much that I had to find out how they were able to survive. And fortunately Amanda and Gina have told the story in such a way that it kept my interest right through the footnotes. I cannot fathom their sufferings but the book has helped me grasp the very sad truth of ten years of being controlled by a mad man. The book is so suspenseful that I could hardly turn the Kindle off for the night. When I got to the day that your child told you that the captor had gone I suffered those same misgivings and fears that you had at first. The acceptance of all the dangers that you faced and the protection you gave to your imprisoned companions were so heroic that the world was awakened to just what a woman can do. I really enjoyed Gina's parts of the book because she functions from such devotion and interaction of her close knit large family. She kept her family alive to all the captives with her art work and journals. They kept her alive by keeping the public, police and media involved through vigils, hand outs and organizations for missing and exploited children. All in all it is a book that had to be written and must be read to be abreast to all the dangers out there for all people who are careless and too trusting. I would like to make a suggestion to Amanda and Gina; That you open your heart forever to be companionable with Michelle because she does not have the loving family that sustained you in bad times. Plus her life was made up of misery even before the kidnapping. https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Survival-Cleveland-Amanda-Berry-ebook/dp/B00OYXWLCE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469069676&sr=1-1&keywords=hope+by+amanda+berry+and+gina+dejesus

Good

As a resident of Cleveland and someone who has been involved with the justice system and the police, I read this book with great interest. Knowing the locations and some of the caste of characters and remembering the years of searching for Michelle, Amanda and Gina really brought the story close to home. It is one of those tragic stories that started with a bad decision - getting into the car with Castro. Of course you can't blame them for that, but each one thinks back and wonders how their world would be different if they had taken a different route, not gone to work that day. or not gotten into the car. In reading the book the natural inclination is to put yourself in to the places of the girls and wonder what you would have done. Everyone probably feels that they would have escaped, fought with Castro, done something to harm him. But until you are put into the situation you can never know what you would do. Castro clearly played mind games with the girls and pitted them against one another. This psychological damage was as bad as the physical harm. Nowhere had the split between Michelle Knight and Gina and Amanda been more obvious then in the Cleveland media. A recent Lifetime movie - ABDUCTION IN CLEVELAND - that aired Saturday night focused primarily on Michelle. At the end of the movie you see Gina saying to Michelle that she is taking her life in a different direction and essentially breaks of their relationship. I, for one, am very curious as to the break between the two sides, but that is something that the public will probably never know. I believe that Michelle was in a different place in her life when she was kidnapped and has dealt with the experience differently than the other girls. The fact that no one was looking for her, like the other girls must have been very painful. She was also older and I believe had a different relationship with Castro - one sick cookie - by the way. I also believe that Michelle has things in in background that has caused her to have demons that she has to deal with. While she frequently says that she wants to be out of the lime light, she frequently brings herself into the limelight. She has been very brave and out spoken and I commend her for speaking at the sentencing and for other victims. While Gina and Amanda have spoken out about other victims, they have not been as public as Michelle and chose not to speak at the sentencing for their own reason. I'm don't want to judge any of them for their reactions. Unless you went through what they did, its hard to make a judgment call. I wish them all well and hope that they can someday overcome the great harm that was done to them. The book is a heart wrenching story of pain and cruelty and one persons inhumanity. While its hard to say that I enjoyed the book, it was a page turner and brings a terrible situation to life.

Before I begin my review of the book, I'd like to address the many comments that were made about Amanda and Gina, but especially Amanda. I have read negative comments about how she confusingly had feelings for Castro, that she's immature, snobbish, etc. I've read comments about it would have been better had they described their treatment in more detail, it was vague, and so on. They are usually followed by comments about Michele being left out of everything, and how much Michele is felt sorry for. The book was about Gina and Amanda, not Michele. They had no right to tell the story about Michele. That was very personal and was up to Michele to decided what to tell, when to tell it, and how to tell it. They invited her to write the book with them, but she declined (I have my own theory as to why), so it was not for Amanda or Gina to tell. It stated in the book that Michele would only be mentioned when significant things happened that also involved them that this was Amanda and Gina's story and Michele decided to go her own way. After they were rescued, Michele was ready to talk immediately. The other two ladies weren't. That doesn't mean that they are bad, they just weren't ready to talk. Don't forget people that they had no obligation to talk. Michele wrote the first book, so what was written was taken as the God's honest truth. Anything after that would have been doubted or judged. Though I have to admit that no one seemed to pick up and talk about those. I first came across all of this when I came across a youtube video of Michele's interview with Dr. Phil. I picked up on some body language of Michele's that made me question some of what she was saying. The first being about her five miscarriages. Did she have five? I don't know. The only one's who really know are the three ladies. There was only one miscarriage mentioned by others that didn't have to do with Michele's book. The authorities even only charged Castro with one miscarriage. I question the number of miscarriages she had. One time she said 4-5 miscarriages. If you had a miscarriage, you would know. You wouldn't say four or five. She had only one tattoo of a baby, and was asked was that THE baby she lost, and she said yes. She didn't have a tattoo of 5 babies. Was one baby cared for more than another? I don't think so. If there were five miscarriages, I feel she would have wanted to make a memory of them all, not just one. When I was watching the Dr. Phil interview, he played the 911 tape of Amanda. Did anyone notice Michele roll her eyes when it played? I did. I'm sure there is animosity between them. First of all, Castro played mind tricks and played the girls against each other. He couldn't play Gina against Michele because they "lived" together. Gina even had animosity towards Amanda until she began to talk to her and get to know her. Michele didn't seem willing to get to know the real Amanda. I believe Castro really planted some deep hatred in Michele's mind, after all of those years and hearing all of the lies. Michele was convinced that Amanda was the person that Castro made her out to be. I can't honestly say that I would have felt any different. I may have held so much hatred for Amanda that I didn't want to get to know her either. I just don't know because I was never in a situation like theirs, and if you've never been in that situation, you can't say how you will react. In the Dr. Phil interview and her book, she seemed to take the "mama bear" roll and get everyone through it emotionally. When I read Amanda's and Gina's book, it seemed like many of the things Michele staked claim to were actually said or done by Amanda or Gina. I think that might be why they said they wanted to get the truth out and tell the real story. I don’t think Michele had the capacity to do or say some of those things. If she were “not challenged”, then why did she live in a nursing home for several months afterwards. And why did her lawyer question leaving her by herself in her own apartment? I think Amanda and Gina were taken aback by Michele’s book and claims that she was making. They just wanted to get the truth out there. Does that mean that they were required to describe every rape or beating in complete detail? No. They did just what they set out to do. Get the truth out there, and tell what happened. They did that and didn’t need to go into such great detail. I know I’m going to get hammered by many people with negative comments. I don’t care. What people think of what I write doesn’t bother me. I don’t look for approval when writing a review. I write what I feel. Now about the book, I feel that the book was very well written. There were times that I couldn’t put the book down, as well as times I had to put the book down to gather my emotions. It was so well written that I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn’t a fictitious novel. It was real life occurrences that took place over 10 years. The abuse that these ladies endured over the years is horrendous. I don’t know how they got through it without losing their minds. Amanda amazed me with how she raised her daughter in those four walls. She had the strength to make everything seem normal to her and to give her as much normality as possible. I loved what she did about her schooling, the realness that was put into it. I had to keep reminding myself that she was a 16 year old kid when she was taken and in many ways her development stopped at 16. She was so mature and I don’t think she could have handled things any better. Gina amazed me as well. She was only 14 years old when she was taken, yet had the strength to endure all of that and still come through with a strong mind. I like that book even though it was hard to read because of the abuse. I would recommend this book to others if for no other reason than for them to know that we should never give up looking for missing because they could still be alive and come back home even after many years.

As I read their words it reminded me of my own past events and struggles to no longer be a victim and become a survivor. They are both very strong women and I wish them great things in the future. I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks they can't go on. We are not responsible for what others have done.

È arrivato in ottime condizioni. Come nuovo. Bellissimo!

Could not put this book down. I would recommend.

I read Michelle Knights Book and wondered about the other two girls. This book filled in all the things I was missing. I can see how and why Amanda created a relationship with Castro. She had just had the baby and he was the father. Also she had to create a way for her daughter to be as happy as she could. Both girls were well aware of his true character. It's beyond cruel, to treat those girls that way. I'm happy to see news of the girls moving on. It's amazing to come out of that and create new lives.

A great tale of bravery and survival. A must read for all the bookworms.