Customer Reviews

Girl in the Cellar: The Natascha Kampusch Story

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just finished this book. It is an amazing story containing photos of her tiny underground cell plus people and places of importance. It's the true story of a 10 year old girl who was kidnapped and escaped after 8 1/2 years. It makes my head reel just trying to imagine what that was like. She, however reveals little about her daily life. She says even less of her captor ( I remember she said he read to her). We are left with speculation. If she revealed more about her experiences this easily could have been a 5 star book.

I found this book compulsive reading. It presented a well written picture of a really complex crime, one which I think we have not heard the last of by a long way. The authors have pieced together a portrait of Natascha's dysfunctional family, reconstructing their links with Priklopil: They all drank in the same bar and the police never even knew! And their portrait of the failed police investigation to find her was both detailed and compelling. These guys packed a lot of detail in, if only other instant crime writing was as good. There were interviews with every one involved, including Natascha, her father, teachers, her doctors - and, oh yes, one of the cops who led the hunt for her who also found her mother flakey! A thoroughly good read I would heartily recommend.

There are a few tidbits in this book that offer more information than can be found in news articles, but mostly the book is speculative, exploitative, and short on real insight. The authors quote "experts" who never met the principles but only reviewed media reports, use psychobabble about long-debunked theories of psychopathology and human development, interview people peripheral to the events with lots of speculation and few verifiable facts, distort what facts they do gather to spin conspiracy theories, take a few generalizations in a psychic's otherwise totally erroneous prediction and seem to offer them as proof of something, imply the victims are at least partly to blame for the crimes, and generally practice really poor true-crime writing. Add to these many problems writing as awkward as "Long before Wolfgang the master pupated from Wolfgang the servant" and you have a really distasteful book. Don't waste your money or time.

This book provided some valuable detail regarding the kidnapping of Natascha Kampusch. I was particularly impressed that statements from former work colleagues of Wolfgang Priklopil were provided, and also statements from people who knew Natascha. However, it was quite an anti-climax that we received no statements from Natascha. In summary, the book provided some interesting details, but I felt that it was more of an investigative journalistic piece, rather than a two dimensional account of events, and as noted previously, this was because there was no direct comments from Natascha.

Nicholas R.W. Henning - Australian Author
Author of: Boomerang Baseball and The American Dream: From Perth to Sacramento

In March 1998, ten year old Natasha Kampusch was kidnapped on her way to school. Investigations as to the identity of the abductor or Natasha's whereabouts come to a dead end. Then more than eight years later, Natasha, now a young woman, escapes to tell the world a story that will horrify the world. Natasha has spent this time as a prisoner in Wolfgang Priklopil's cellar in a suburban home that on the surface looks ordinary. No one looking from the outside would ever have suspected that this ordinary man in this ordinary looking life held the key to an unimaginable nightmare. Does Natasha's difficult childhood hide a clue to her future fate? What kind of monster would commit such an evil act? What kind of person was Natasha to be able to survive? How was she abducted and why did the trails and investigation lead nowhere? How did she escape? How did this young woman, a woman imprisoned and living her childhood mostly alone, handle the instant media fame frenzy after her escape?

In THE GIRL IN THE CELLAR, journalists Allan Hall and Michael Leidig summarize the main facts behind this horrific true crime without sensationalizing the case, especially given the fact that Natascha Kampusch herself refuses to reveal personal details about her life and her relationship with Wolfgang Priklopil and Austria's strict privacy make such information less available. Without being a detailed psychological treatise that most lay persons might find tedious, the authors turn to those in the field to give readers some insight into the main psychological issues raised by this case. Allan Hall and Michael Leidig also turn to history and literature to draw a picture for readers of the few existent cases of similar but not identical situations that might help a reader imagine the dynamics of Natascha's captivity and her relationship with Woflgang Priklopil. As such, this book is helpful in separating fact from media hype. Readers of true crime familiar with some of the modern classics of literature will appreciate the author's literary examples to spark the imagination. As with the parallels drawn to concentration camp prisoners, or their examination of the psychology, the authors do not turn this true crime story into a scholarly examination, but rather use such examples to fill in the reader's imagination and/or provide readers with other areas to explore without turning away from the case and issues in hand.

Sixteen pages of color plates and diagrams accompany the text, allowing readers, particularly American readers perhaps less conversant in the case, to identify the key characters and events, then and now. An index at the back helps readers relocate particular references after finishing the book. Most intriguing are the author's insight into the media frenzy surrounding her escape, Natascha's marketing and branding of herself, and the effects this case has had within Austrian society. Since enough time has elapsed between the hardcover edition and the release of the mass market paperback that some details have changed, this reader would have appreciated an afterward in this mass market edition to update readers on Natascha Kampusch's life and the possible official closing of the case.

Written in a journalistic style that summarizes vast amounts of material into a logical, informative narrative, THE GIRL IN THE CELLAR presents the facts of the case while also identifying as unknown those details on which outsiders can only speculate. As such, this book is helpful in separating fact from media hype. THE GIRL IN THE CELLAR is a refreshing change from true crime stories this reader has previously read thanks to the Allan Hall and Michael Leidog's ability to tell the story without tabloid-like hype and also without romanticizing the culprit into a literary hero. The case becomes all the more shocking and horrifying in the author's ability to describe the ordinariness of the perpetrator. The authors do an excellent job showing the courage and strength of Natascha Kampusch without idealizing her. The more troubling aspects of her media created image are not omitted.

Courtesy of Book Illuminations

This book does a good job in giving a very good background into the events that transpired resulting in the kidnapping, and into the life and mind of Wolfgang Priklopil.
A lot is speculative, and what actually happened during the 8 years of confinement is not covered in any great detail - possibly because Natascha herself has not divulged anything from her own journal or diary etc.
Nevertheless it is still an inspiring story of one individuals will not to be "broken" by anothers, and ultimately out survive her captors.
The final chapters are particularly enthralling, almost like out of a "thriller" movie, and leave one to be inspired by Natashcha.
Derek

This was an interesting and easy book to read. But the thing I liked best was the description of the strength of the victim, her personal ethics, and her refusal to share any details that she didn't want to share. The young woman is a good role model for other young survivors.

This review is going to be very short because it just didn't do anything for me. I love reading storys about kidnappings and crimes and hearing survivors storys. This story wasn't told from the victim Natascha's perspective and instead told from two journalists perspectives, which made it feel very cheap in the respect that I feel like a lot of the aspects of the story were made off assumptions and here-say instead of factual information.

Because there were two differenet authors I felt like a lot of information was repeated and irrelavant at that. I feel like the story would have been better if told from her perspective or at least with one authors voice versis two.

This book just didn't kept my attention and was very mundane unfortantally...

This is a very well written book that contains a lot of information considering it was written just a few months following the escape of Natascha Kampusch. It appears that she was absolutely HOUNDED by the press and others almost from the very beginning of her freedom, and it is a miracle to me that she was able to be true to herself in deciding what the public had a right to know about her ordeal, and what it doesn't. Talk about the strength of one's convictions! I think it is more than admirable that she has been able to set boundaries for herself and stick to them! Who's to say that she shouldn't be allowed to do this?

The book is what a reader should expect from journalists. The authors gathered all available sources and information and put it all together, always seemingly non-judgmental. We, the public, have no right to any personal information that another person decides to keep to his- or herself. For heavens sake, this girl was TEN YEARS OLD at the time she was abducted off the street while heading to school.

At the time I am writing this, Elizabeth Smart has just finished her testimony against her captor; everyone agrees that she is a fearless and brave girl. Natascha Kampusch never had the opportunity to accuse her kidnapper since he was dead. I am sure she would have made the right choice for herself regarding testimony if given the chance, and I think the so-called public should give up the diatribe against her. It is unfair and un-called for! She is a brave girl, and I wish only the very best for her.

Wow. I didn't know anything about this true story before I read this book. I expected this book to only be about the kidnapping of Natascha. However, the authors wrote it in a way to give you the perspective of the media, society, her parents, police, therapists, and detectives as well. I enjoyed that because it left me to come with my own conclusions about what really happened, why it happened, and whether or not it could have been prevented. At times I found myself wondering if Natascha's mother was involved in the kidnapping itself--although it's hard to believe a mother could do that to her own child. My husband and I had many discussions about while I read this book; including how we would behave in the same circumstances Natascha found herself in.

I am curious why Natascha keeps quiet about her relationship with her kidnapper, but it is her life and she's entitled to some privacy. It is disturbing to know that there are people in this world who are like Natascha's kidnapper and it almost turns me away from wanting kids, just so they won't have to deal with the evil found in this world.