Finding Me by Michelle Knight

Full Title: Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed: A Memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings by Michelle Knight and Michelle Burford

Michelle Knight, in this memoir, allows us, as readers, to experience through her words, imprisonment in the home of a psychopath for eleven years. Michelle was vulnerable in that her pubescent years had been marred by abuse by a family member, unidentified by her.  Neither of her parents made the slightest attempt to shield her from this continuous torment.  During her high school years, she met a young man who seemed trustworthy and claimed to love her.  Reluctant to trust him at first, in time she began to believe in his genuine tenderness to the point of risking pregnancy.  

Horrifically, by the time she became aware of her condition, she had learned her seaming boyfriend was involved in an established relationship, and was glad to dismiss his relationship with Michelle as just a bit of fooling around.  Determined to bear her child, but too proud to inform its father or ask him for financial support, she had minimal choices. Eventually, financial need forced her to allow her two-year-old Joey to be adopted.

Later, her mishap made her a pariah.  This made her grateful to find a friend in Emily Castro.  Hence, when Emily’s father Ariel, divorced but appearing friendly and kind, offered her a ride home from an event, Michelle felt safe in accepting it.  Tragically, having found a means of maneuvering her into his house, he confined her there for 11 years; her friend had absolutely no idea this had happened.

In time, this pathological sadist kidnapped two other young women, via similar ruses.  Although saddened by this, Michelle did find some joy and stimulation in their company.  One of them, Gina, saved Michelle’s life when Ariel Castro’s brutalities had all but erased it.

Readers of this book are almost bound to find parts of it wrenching. Still, in the end, all three young women were rescued and freed.
There is joy and triumph in their liberation, after enduring tortures to which many would have succumbed via apathy or suicide.

At the end of her memoir, Michelle Knight’s ultimate regret is loss of contact with her son, Joey.  Having no wish to disrupt his relationship with his adoptive parents, she can only hope he may contact her if and when he feels prepared to do so.  I finished reading this memoir with the hope that he will, having reached an age where he can decide for himself, find Michelle Knight, his birth mother.