Girl in the Cellar: The Natascha Kampusch Story [Hardcover]

I couldn't wait for the release of a book about Natascha Kampusch. After the media frenzy over an unparalleled story, everything went quiet in the UK, and nobody in Natascha's camp was speaking. So I was surprised at the size of the book- if nobody was speaking, what was there to say? But from the first page I was gripped, and padding, repetition and assumption were thankfully left out. The authors have left no stone unturned, from examining Natascha's parent's -and the slightly unconventional way they were raising their daughter, - to speaking to doctors, friends, family, neighbours and teachers. This was a whole story, the past, present and future of a beguiling young woman who has lived through the unimaginable. Extremely well written, every paragraph enticing the reader on to the next, leading to a conclusion I was fully aware of yet couldn't wait to reach.

My overall impression of Natascha and her family has changed entirely. From the press we get a picture of a highly dysfunctional situation, and a neglected child who emerged from hell to become a controlling primadonna, rejecting contact with her guilt-ridden mother and father. But the sympathetic approach the authors adopted showed the lengths the traumatized parents went to, their unending search for their little girl in the face of accusations, suspicion, and a less than competent police force, and their refusal to give up hope for 8 long years.

And Natascha? When I first saw her interviewed on TV, I felt guilty for not feeling sorry for her. There was something about the way she held herself that left me feeling cold. " Girl in the Cellar" has changed my opinion completely. I feel nothing but deep admiration for her now. Reading about how this frightened and bewildered little girl managed to hold herself together with only a depraved twisted monster for company makes me feel ashamed I ever doubted her.

This book will definitely whet your appetite for the inevitable "NATASCHA, MY STORY" Lets hope we don't have to wait too long.

Having picked this book up on the way through the airport, I was gripped from the off. The relationship between Wolfgang and Natasha is truely remarkable and due to the fact that Natasha is unwilling/ unable to reveal their true relationship you are left asking questions as to what really happened in the cellar! An interesting read and questions remain.

I knew along with so many others that the girl the media portrayed was not the person who lived in that cellar. Only others who have lived a similar life can come close to knowing why, she reacted in public like she did, why, her voice remained silent, to explain her feelings towards her abductor. Being abducted and brainwashed at a young age you will do what ever you have too, to survive and come away with your life. I was mortified when the media started making assumptions about her lack of explanation, a little girl of ten can not possible be held accountable for the actions of an adult,who manipulated and moulded her world as he wanted. This little girl lived through the horrors of her freedom and liberty snatched from her; she lost a childhood that will never be regained, her standing in her own family,and has to come to terms with the emotional trauma of swinging from elation, for regaining her freedom, anger of the situation she was in, and the emotional attachment she would have built with her abductor. Then when freedom is hers, she is thrown into a media frenzy of judgmental innuendoes of a life with her abductor. Until she writes her own account I don't believe any one will ever understand the whys, and wherefores. Natascha Kampusch will tell her story when she feels able, if ever. Until then people should give this woman space to be just Natascha, a young woman starting out in life.