Rating: 
Summary: I was inspired
Review: There is a lot floating around about the entire story of Elizabeth Smart...she brought it upon herself. She ran away with the man. Her parents staged the whole thing....and Heaven knows what else. I read this book as soon as I saw it and was very much inspired by it. I wasn't sure what to think about the Smarts at first, but this book altered my outlook. This is a family with a lot of faith and courage; they feel that they have been blessed in their lives, and they are choosing to share it with the world. Okay, so there's the whole publicity question: Why are Elizabeth's parents throwing their daughter into the media after all the trauma she has been through? My feeling is this: Imagine going through what the Smarts did and hearing all the horrible things that are circulating because of it. If all the things been said are indeed untrue, then it is an act of true injustice to this family, and I admire Ed and Lois Smart for seeking to earn their daughter and their family some justice. It seems like they are doing it out of respect for Elizabeth, and they are to be commended for that. This is a beautiful book that draws its strength from the fact that Ed and Lois Smart do not try to put words in their daughter's mouth or relate her whole ordeal for the entire world to read. They speak of everything from their point of view, explaining how this whole thing made them feel and how it affected them, NOT the actual details of Elizabeth's experience. As they wisely state, "Sharing her story is Elizabeth's choice to make, not ours." They respect her wishes while being courageous enough to move forward with their beliefs and their desire to bring some truth to the world. Whether or not people choose to believe them or support them, they can know that they at least spoke the truth for their child and their family's sake. This book touches base with many faith-related issues, sometimes wandering from the subject of Elizabeth but never failing to motivate and inspire. Elizabeth's parents tell us why God is such a moving force in their lives and how it has helped them before, during, and after their daughter's kidnapping. There is a lot of good to be found from this book if people took the time to read it and not just think the worst about the Smart family. Some may think I'm oblivious to the truth; some may call me naive or clueless. But I personally choose to support the good and give respect to this family. They know that the very fact that their daughter was kidnapped and returned to them 9 months later makes them a rare minority, and they know that things like that don't just happen. May God bless the Smarts for all they have had to go through and the way they have handled it. After reading this book, I would have to say that I think they have done very well for themselves. I strongly encourage you to give their story a chance, even if you have mixed feelings about the facts. If anything, a refreshing new perspective is always worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Some of these reviews are puzzling
Review: Hey dear readers, why don't you put your money, money, money where your mouth is? Not to mention your time. Why did you buy this book? Why did you spend the hours reading it? Wouldn't your time and money have been better spent contributing to some organization for exploited and missing children? Did you buy it because you were curious? Were you disappointed after reading it because you didn't get the salacious details that you were hoping for? Or maybe you didn't read it at all but for some puzzling reason feel like you need to speak out here. The Smarts were consumed with finding Elizabeth for the entire year that she was missing. They spent thousands of dollars in that effort. If they can make a few bucks from the proceeds of this book to help defray some of the costs of that search and make up for the missed earnings of that year, then I say more power to them. Would you respect them more if they went on public assistance?
This book is thoughtfully written with a life affirming quality that is rare in books about such tragedy. That may be hard for some people to understand, but I for one really admire all of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time reading this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Let me start by saying how bored I was reading this so called book. It has nothing to do with Elizabeth and it has all to do with her parents. Like they want to make some money out of Elizabeth being kidnapped. Why are there pictures of her parents wedding, pics of them growing up? I just don't get this book. This book should be about Elizabeth and only her. Thank goodness this book was a gift to me so I didn't waste my money on it. I was really disappointed as I read this book. It took me 2 months to read it because I can only read a couple pages before I fall asleep. I'm telling you don't waste your money. What is the purpose of this book? It sure wasn't about Elizabeth. The movie they made was better then this. I am so glad I am finished this book because trust me, I will never read it again and I don't recommend it to anybody either.
Rating: 
Summary: A must-read!
Review: Before I start saying how much I loved the book, I want to get out of the way all the things that I didn't like about the book. The style was too simple, and I often found myself bored at how elementary the language was. Otherwise, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has even a passing interest in the Elizabeth Smart Case. My primary motivation for reading this was to learn more about the Churc of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from real people. As someone who had been raised to believe that Mormons are dangerous and subversive, I found the Smarts' openness about their relationship with Jesus Christ, their steadfast faith in God, and their reliance on our Heavenly Father to be inspiring. What great faith they had! The book itself begins before Elizabeth's kidnapping to tell about their family, continues through the tumultous 9 months that Elizabeth was missing, and ends with the legislations that have since passed to aid in cases with missing children. After all the media attention that the Smart Case received, I feel that everyone who heard about it should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly Written
Review: This was a wonderful story of hope, faith and love all but spoiled by a completely incompetent ghost writer. The Smarts are not and do not claim to be authors. So they had Laura Morton to co-write the book for them and in 15 years as a freelance editor, I've never seen a writer do a worse job of a project. Instead of organizing the Smarts' story in an engaging, interesting manner, she managed to make them sound uneducated and scatterbrained. The story jumps all over the place and important connecting information is missing or incomplete. It was Ms. Morton's job to make it readable and she has failed miserably. If you can wade through the mess Ms. Morton has made of this book, the story itself is heartwarming. Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Disapointing
Review: I was disapointed with this book. I feel like it was written too soon and could have been much better if they had waited until after the trial. It has the feel of a church talk given by the parents that has been padded out enough to make a book and rushed into production while public interest was still high. I was abducted when I was younger than Elizabeth and was interested to read about how she found the strength from her faith to make it through such a long ordeal. Unfortunately this book only covers her parents side of the story. Had they waited until after the trial and included more details from Elizabeth's perspective along with the frustrations of her parents trying to work with the officials I think this could have been a very powerful book. As it is now I am not surprised that some readers are very critical and feel that the family presents themselves as a little too perfect and looking to make money from their story.
Rating:
Summary: Pathetic. (zero stars)
Review: i don't buy it, i ve read extensively on this case and i am something of an authority on this issue in my home country and the loopwholes in this issue leave me both disdained and disgusted. Tons of kids go "missing" around the globe, most are actually raped, murdered, enter illicit paidophilia rings or, most, die in wars. This case just doesn't add up. From the mormon parents, to the hippy kidnapper, who never actually harmed or layed a finger on the girl, and it seems like she be much better off with that crowd than with their money and celebrity hungry excuse of a family of hers. And then bush photo ops, excuse me while i puke, g.w. bush had better repent for the thousants of innocent girls and boys he's maimed at iraq before ever coming close to an underage child in the world. But that being beside the point, it does come to illustrate the hype furvor sourind this case which imo is fluff. Btw, i wouldn't be as harsh hadn't this book been such a blatant propagandist, money making, entrepsise amaided at the most guilible white trash around. Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: A Journey of Faith and Hope
Review: With a subtitle like "A Journey of Faith and Hope" I would expect a whole lot of religion in there. Apparently the ones complaining about the religion in the book overlooked that part of the cover. It's your own fault for overlooking such an obvious indication of its content. I am pleased with the book, the writing style is a bit lacking but I did not expect a linguistically artistic book given the authors are not a professional authors.
Rating:
Summary: I have an idea!
Review: I have an idea, Mr. and Mrs. Smart! Let's actually HELP missing children! Let's, ya know, give them equal coverage that their very lucky daughter got. Let's NOT capatalize on a family tragedy. I'm sure those six kids just want to get back to normal! Why are these parents dragging them through everything?! It was nice that Elizabeth was found. In fact, ti was a miracle. But, we don't need preaching. We don't need every screw-up of the PD listed. Maybe they should have taken some heat. Letting a strange man in his home, his home that houses six young children? Hmm. I'm not blaming him; but he and Susan Smith's mother are all about the blame-game. We're happy your daughter is home. Now, let's bring the thousands of children that go missing a year home!
Rating:
Summary: good:)
Review: i read this book and it was really good..thrilling and heartbreaking but with the most unbelievably good outcome.. it sickens me for people to think that her parents just did this for the money- first of all, it would be good closure to the family and yes they would get money-money that could help Elizabeth and her family out in the future. so it was good that they did and i really liked this fast-paced book
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