READ: 14.08.17 - 17.08.17
BOOK: 3,096 Days
AUTHOR: Natascha Kampusch
GENRE: Memoir
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: On 2 March 1998 ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was snatched off the street by a stranger and bundled into a white van. Hours later she found herself in a dark cellar, wrapped in a blanket. When she emerged eight years later, her childhood had gone.
In '3,096 Days' Natascha tells her incredible story for the first time: her difficult childhood, what exactly happened on the day of her abduction, her imprisonment in a five-square-metre dungeon, and the mental and physical abuse she suffered from her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil.
'3,096 Days' is ultimately a story about the triumph of the human spirit. It describes how, in a situation of almost unbearable hopelessness, she slowly learned how to manipulate her captor. And how, against inconceivable odds, she managed to escape unbroken.
REVIEW: I don't think a book has hit me this hard ever. Period.
'3,096 Days' is one of favourite films of all time (it's a film based on Natascha Kampusch's real experiences), and so I wanted to learn more about those hellish eight years of her life. It is possibly one of the most horrifying, sickening, inspiring, depressing, but fascinating books I have ever read.
There were points where I felt physically sick as she recounted the physical and emotional abuse she suffered, and it isn't a read for everyone. My stomach flipped, my heart was in my mouth, my body shook, and I had to look away. It's because the account is the raw truth, it isn't panned out to sound overly dramatic or positive.
While you read this book you feel like you are trapped too, the writing pulls you into this reality and you feel completely helpless. I was engrossed, and a book has never moved me in so many ways.
FINAL VERDICT: It's one of the most disturbing books I have ever read, but also one of the most important. It makes you place yourself in her position, and I know I would not have been as strong as she was. A really incredible read.
RATING: 10/10
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A Bookaholic's Book Log
Random2017. My New Year's resolution: read at least one book every week. Like actual, physical, made-of-dead-trees books. This log will contain the result of this maybe ambitious plan. A book containing my thoughts, opinions and recommendations about the...
