Every Secret Thing, Patricia Campbell Hearst

"Every Secret Thing" is Patricia Hearst's attempt to explain what happened to her after she was kidnapped in the '70s by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a leftist militia group. The thing that made Hearst's kidnapping so bizarre (besides the fact that she was part of the Hearst family) was that she chose to join the group and, in fact, participated in bank robberies and other criminal activities. Hearst claimed brainwashing as a defense during her trial (bank robbery), which neither the judge nor the jury bought. The president (Carter), however, did, and she received clemency. Frankly, Hearst's explanation for her behavior is not all that convincing, perhaps because her defense -- brainwashing a la the kind suffered by prisoners or war -- is an intensely strange, unusual and hard to understand phenomon. Hearst, though a victim, is by no means an expert. An explanation by a medical expert would have added a lot to the average reader's understanding of why Hearst behaved as she did. In fact, I kind of think that Hearst was in a terrible position in trying to explain herself what happened. Having said all that, I now have a much better understanding of the political environment of the time, and the circumstances that led to extremist groups like the SLA. The book, overall, is boring and pedantic, poorly written and much too long. Somehow, despite her sensationalist topic, Hearst fails to engage the reader or even to create sympathy for herself.
Posted by supersusie at July 16, 2004 2:13 PM