Rate this book

I'm No Monster: The Horrifying True Story Of Josef Fritzl (2009)

by Stefanie Marsh(Favorite Author)

3.5 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0425230031 (ISBN13: 9780425230039)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Berkley Hardcover

review 1: The place: ViennaThe year: 2008The story: incomprehensible and appalling For over 20 years, Elisabeth was kept locked up in the basement of her family's house. Her father beat and sexually assaulted her repeatedly. Over the years, she gave birth all alone in a dark, unventilated basement to several babies as a consequence of the rapes. Through it all, she survived to tell the tale.Thank God Stefanie Marsh left out the most horrifying details of how Josef sexually treated his daughter - the reader can only imagine what that must have been like. What Marsh DID convey was still pretty horrific. I picked up this book because I wanted to know how a wife and the rest of the family could not know that Elisabeth was locked up in the cellar for over twenty years - having ba... moreby after baby and all of them, children included, locked up downstairs. Those children never knew what it was like to be outside, to feel the sun on their skin, to feel and smell a rainfall, to hear the wind blow. They knew what grass looked like because they had a tiny television in the cellar, but they didn't know what it felt like. One particular scene is heartbreaking: Occasionally, Josef would "treat" them all to something and one day he came downstairs with a bucket of snow. The children were beside themselves with excitement. I had to put the book down for a while after reading that. If you don't believe in the death penalty, you may change your mind once you've read this story. Unfortunately, Josef didn't get sentenced to death. He's enjoying a relatively easy existence in prison where, by law, his rights are protected. And he is treated humanely, something that Elisabeth never got at his hands.
review 2: I was given this book by a friend, otherwise I don't know that I'd ever pick it up! The Title...I have no idea where it came from. "I'm No Monster"??? This man was very sick. I suspect that it was written right after the offences came to light, and was published probably right after a guilty verdict. I'd be very interested to see how the victim and her children are NOW coping. He can't explain this away...Not for the faint of heart. Written very matter of factly. less

Download links for: I'm No Monster: The Horrifying True Story of Josef Fritzl

Advertising