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100 Books in a Year: Escape by Carolyn Jessup

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Book Reviews | Comments (14)

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Escape by Carolyn Jessop tells the author’s story of escaping from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) with her eight children. Ever since reading Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, I have been interested in the lives of these polygamists, and this book kept my attention easily.

Carolyn Jessop grew up in Utah with a large family. When she was young, her father took a second wife as part of his religious beliefs. As Carolyn grew up, she was accustomed to the lifestyle of FLDS. Still, she was saddened when at the age of 18, her father told her that she would become the fourth wife of Merril Jessop, a man much older than her.

Although she was married to Merril, Carolyn was able to attend college and become a teacher. Still, she became enmeshed in the Jessop family, with its constant infighting among the wives to try to claim superiority. Along the way, she had eight children as Merril also gained other wives. Carolyn spent most of her time trying to avoid her husband and protect her children. Eventually, she began to realize that maybe the religion she had grown up in was not what she really wanted, so she decided to escape.

Escaping the FLDS is not simply a matter of leaving - those who leave are tracked down and persuaded to return. What made things more difficult for Carolyn is that she refused to leave any of her kids behind. With the help of family members and sympathizers on the outside, she was able to leave and start a new life.

Escape was a fascinating book to read, as Carolyn Jessop described what life was like on the inside. It is hard to imagine that her experience was actually a true story that happened in the U.S. As I read, I did find myself comparing it to “Big Love” and looking for resemblance between the characters. Jessop is admirable for her courage and she definitely has an interesting story to tell.

This review is part of the Cannonball Read series. Details are here and the growing number of participants and their blogs are here. And check here for more of Mr. Vlach’s reviews.







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Comments

What job was this guy working that he could afford such a massive number of children (what was the total number?). And what happens to all the men who can't get wives because the other men have more than their fair share? Why would anybody choose to have 8 children by someone they tried to avoid? Weren't they allowed contraceptives? So many questions...

Posted by: ChrisD at March 17, 2009 9:37 AM

The wonders of wikipedia. Apparently the surplus men are a whole demographic, ejected from the community as teenagers and declared dead to their families.
And poor Carolyn had to keep having babies even after it became medically dangerous. Ouch. She should have her husband charged with GBH.

Posted by: ChrisD at March 17, 2009 9:58 AM

Contraceptives? Are you kidding? In a religious cult where women don't have the right to choose their partners, why would they be allowed to choose when to get pregnant?

Posted by: marya at March 17, 2009 9:59 AM

I usually follow a policy of live and let live (when it suits my purposes) but Polygamy, in a religeous, context is just wrong.

Posted by: admin at March 17, 2009 10:09 AM

I was just reading about this book on Amazon a couple of days ago! I read Under the Banner of Heaven last month and was so intrigued by it that I was searching out similar books. Now that you've given it the thumbs up, I will definitely have to read it.

I too try to not be too judgmental about people's religious affiliations, but some of the stuff that takes place on polygamist compounds is really disturbing. And so I of course want to read more about it.

Posted by: tbean at March 17, 2009 10:48 AM

Wow, Chris. I love your outrage, but your innocence is blinding.

These women have NO CHOICE. I was raised in the so-called "normal" Mormon church, where polygamy is not practiced, and even that environment was incredibly stifling and sexist.

These men are supported by an entire community. You would be surprised how many women are vehement supporters of polygamy; I guess they figure they don't have a choice (which is true) and they become a minion of the situation they think they cannot escape.

It's the same mentality that keeps a woman with an abusive husband, and that happens all the time, even in the "real world."

Also, on the subject of eight children: the whole purpose of polygamy is to divide and conquer go forth and multiply, so increase the number of members in the church. And that is true for the normal LDS church, not just the fundamentalist sect.

I'm not saying that Mormons are bad people—fundamentalists fuck it up for everyone, really, and I have many good friends and close family still active in the religion—but having lived it first hand, I know how hypocritical and toxic it can be.

Definitely gonna pick up this book. It is all so fascinating, now that I'm not forced to live it.

Posted by: boo at March 17, 2009 10:53 AM

There is also "Stolen Innocence: My story of growing up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and breaking free of Warren Jeffs" by Elissa Walls.

Posted by: grinder at March 17, 2009 12:55 PM

Ultimately shows like "Big Love" end up legitimizing more the concept that is being implicitly criticized.

"Lifestyle choice" my ass.

I'd probably take less issue with it if they were up-front about it: "We like having young and multiple wives and this is our excuse for being able to have this." This sounds better than actually believing this outrageous bullshit: "God told us to enslave young women and force them into lives of bondage and submission. If we don't do this we're not going to heaven."

Yeah, "they" are so advanced.

Cavemen living in the midst of civilization.

Posted by: Recondite at March 17, 2009 3:31 PM

Oh don't fool yourself, Recondite. They aren't cavemen. They are master manipulators.

Posted by: boo at March 17, 2009 4:21 PM

Wow, Chris. I love your outrage, but your innocence is blinding
Unfortunately too true, at least I'm learning now.
Question, is this kind of institutionalised abuse related to population density? The arial photos of that community in Texas (were the recent raid was) showed it was really in the middle of nowhere, allowing the total isolation of the community, so you only ever meet people with the same values. If they lived in a city they would constantly be bumping into other people who didn't think arranged marriages where normal and you could (more) easily sneak out to a GP (for clandestine contraceptives). Isn't this kind of isolation almost impossible in the more densely settled Europe?
You need some foundation to drop feminist 101 leaflets in the surrounding countryside (or enforce free internet access) and then offer scholarships to runaways. It wouldn't help most people, but it might help a few. Plus if these communities are really expelling 2/6ths of their entire population and if they are really too badly educated to get jobs, then the government would have a pretty good argument to step in with school reforms.


Posted by: ChrisD at March 17, 2009 5:05 PM

Wow, according to wikipedia, Rainbow assasin will be playing Carolyn Jessop in a movie.

Posted by: Alli at March 17, 2009 5:07 PM

Rainbow Assassin herself is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Posted by: JJ McClay at March 17, 2009 8:45 PM

Has anyone read "Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife" by Irene Spencer? That is a rough memoir. She married at 16 into a family with eventually 9 other wives and a total of 58 children (13 of her own). She was forced to do hard manual labor in the fields of Mexico while she was nine months pregnant because they were living in horrible poverty for decades. Reading it really affected my mother, for some reason.

Posted by: Al at March 18, 2009 12:21 AM

ChrisD, they choose the isolation for the exact purpose. The didn't just spring up in the middle of nowhere; they want the most isolated place they can find. Every aspect of this religious culture is carefully cultivated by its leaders to keep the "members" in line.

There is absolutely NO government intervention because it oversteps the bounds of religious freedom in the U.S. For the most part, they are completely self-sufficient: run their own schools, grow food, etc.

There are women that try to get away, and there are many support groups that try to help them when they do escape. But it has to come from the victim. The only reason government officials went into the Warren Jeffs compound was because of substantiated allegations of child abuse.

Posted by: boo at March 18, 2009 10:01 AM


















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